No, you don’t.
The vast majority of students who go to college do it without the aid of a private counselor. And 90 percent of colleges are easier to get into today than they were in the 1950s and 1960s. Don’t hire a counselor because you think you have to just to keep up. You’re getting in with or without hired help.
Even worse, don’t hire a counselor just because your friends are doing it. Whether you’re a teenager or the parent of one, peer pressure usually isn’t a path that leads to good decisions.
Your college future deserves to be taken seriously. Seek out the advice of your high school counselor and other people you trust. Go to college fairs. Tour some schools. Ask questions. Read the directions on the colleges’ websites. Use trusted free resources like this one. Be thoughtful and deliberate. There’s no substitute for your own interest and involvement in your college process.
And if you still think you’d benefit from the additional help of a qualified counselor, here’s a past post with some advice on how to choose a good one. And here’s a link to our Collegewise site if you’d like to get to know us and see if we might be a good fit together.