BALTIMORE—In the ever-changing world of admissions, what is the best way to support a student applying to college?
That’s the question hundreds of independent college counselors came together to ask during the Independent Educational Consultants Association’s 50th annual conference at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor this week. The work of these counselors—or IECs, as they’re known in the industry—looks very different now than it did when the association formed in 1976, as institutions and students acclimate to the high cost of attendance, the rise of AI and an increasingly anxious student body. At the same time, the college consulting field is growing, Stephanie Simpson, who started as IECA’s CEO last December, told Inside Higher Ed. And it’s becoming more accessible and affordable to a wider range of students.
Simpson and Lisa Carlton, the association’s incoming president, who started her career as an IEC almost 20 years ago working with neurodivergent students, sat down with Inside Higher Ed at the Hilton to discuss what the work of IECs looks like today.
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