Compare college counselling packages on five things, in this order: who delivers the hours and how many, what is inside the scope and what is an add-on, whether the price covers one destination or two, what the contract says about refunds and the counsellor leaving, and what evidence the firm shows for its results. Price comes last, because a ₹3 lakh package and a ₹6 lakh package often contain the same work delivered by different people.
The reason the comparison is hard is that every brochure lists the same eleven items. Profile evaluation, college list, essay support, interview preparation, application review. The differences are in the nouns nobody defines: how many essays, which counsellor, how many rounds, until when, and what happens if it goes wrong.
What a college counselling package should contain
A package that covers the application year, meaning Grade 12 and the summer before it, should include everything in the left column below. A package that starts in Grade 9, 10 or 11 should add the profile-building items in the middle column. The right column is what firms most often charge extra for, so ask about each line before signing.
| Application-year scope (should be included) | Profile-building scope (Grade 9 to 11 packages) | Commonly sold as add-ons |
|---|---|---|
| Written profile diagnosis in the first month | Two-pillar plan and a 10-activity roadmap | Research mentorship (₹60,000 to ₹2,00,000) |
| Named counsellor with stated cadence | Competition selection and entry deadlines managed | SAT or ACT tutoring (₹50,000 to ₹1,50,000) |
| College list across reach, target and likely | Research or project mentorship to a finished artefact | Universities beyond the package count |
| Personal statement brainstormed and edited, unlimited rounds | Summer program selection and applications | A second destination |
| Every supplement for every listed university | Internship sourcing that fits the pillars | Additional essay rounds after a cap |
| Activity list and honours section wording | Subject and test strategy by Grade 10 | Interview preparation |
| Recommendation strategy and teacher briefs | Termly parent check-in | Aid and scholarship forms |
| Portal review before every submission | Post-decision work: deferral letters, waitlist, appeals | |
| Interview practice | Visa guidance | |
| Aid forms: CSS Profile, ISFAA, university forms |
The Plinth Method is a public version of this scope in five steps, and it is meant to be used against any firm's package, including ours. If a brochure cannot be mapped onto those columns line by line, the scope is not defined, and an undefined scope always expands in the family's disfavour.
What "unlimited" hides
Unlimited is the most common word in Indian counselling brochures and the least useful. It attaches to three things, and each hides a constraint.
Unlimited essay reviews. Usually true, and usually delivered by whoever is free that week. Ask who reads the essays and whether the same person reads every draft. Five rounds with one editor who knows the student are worth more than fifteen with a rotating team.
Unlimited universities. Online platforms that publish prices typically charge per country and per count: a US plan for seven universities at around ₹4 lakh, a UK plan for five at around ₹1.25 lakh, and an all-countries unlimited tier at ₹7.5 lakh or more. Unlimited sounds generous until you notice that a 20-university list is a sign of a list that was never narrowed. Eight to twelve universities across two destinations is the right size, and a package that covers that number is all you need.
Unlimited sessions. Almost never literally true, because the counsellor's week is finite. Ask for the cadence in writing: fortnightly in Grade 9 and 10, weekly in Grade 11, twice weekly in application season is the pattern that works. Then ask how many students the counsellor carries. Above 25 or 30 in an application season, weekly is not possible, whatever the brochure says.
Per-country versus full packages
Most Indian students applying to selective universities apply to two destinations, usually the US and the UK, sometimes the US and Singapore or Canada. This is where per-country pricing changes the arithmetic.
| Structure | How the price works | Where it goes wrong | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per country, per university count | Base fee for one country; second country adds 50 to 100 percent | A US plus UK application costs nearly double the headline; extra universities billed one by one | Students certain of a single destination |
| Full package, two destinations included | One fee by stage or grade, covers a set number of universities across two countries | Fewer universities per country than a per-country plan; ask whether the UCAS five count against the total | US plus UK or US plus Singapore applicants, the majority of Indian profiles |
| Hourly or per-deliverable | Pay per session, per essay or per list review | No one owns the calendar; deadlines slip | Grade 12 students with a finished profile and a good school counsellor |
The question to ask a per-country firm is simple: what does the second destination cost, in writing, today. The question to ask a full-package firm is what the university count is and whether UCAS choices, which are one form, count the same as US supplements, which are five to fifteen separate essays.
Plinth prices by stage rather than by country, with two destinations and up to 12 universities inside each package, and the price list is public so the comparison can be made before a call rather than after one.
Mentors versus counsellors
A number of platforms sell "mentors from your target university". These are current undergraduates or recent graduates, paid by the hour, and they are useful for exactly two things: telling you what a course is like from the inside and reacting to a "why us" supplement as a student who chose that place. They are not counsellors. They have applied once, to one university, and have not read the two hundred other files that were in the pile with theirs.
When you compare packages, find out who does which job. A fair structure is a professional counsellor who owns the diagnosis, the list, the essay strategy and the calendar, with mentors used for specific supplements if at all. A structure where the mentor is the only person you see, and the "senior counsellor" appears in the sales meeting and never again, is the most common shape of an overpriced package.
Ask three questions: who is my counsellor by name, how many students do they have this cycle, and what is their background in admissions. The college admissions counselling service page answers those three questions for us; any firm should be able to answer them for itself in one paragraph.
Refund terms and contracts
Read the refund clause before the scope. The clauses that matter:
- Named counsellor. If the person named in the contract leaves, the family should have the right to a refund of the unused portion or to approve the replacement. Without this, the package is a promise from a firm, not a person.
- Instalments. A third at signing, a third at the start of application season, the balance before submissions is fair. Monthly billing works for long packages. Full payment upfront for a three-year engagement should be refused.
- Withdrawal. A defined deduction for work completed, and a refund of the rest. "Non-refundable under any circumstances" is common and should be negotiated down before signing, because it removes every lever you have later.
- Success fees. Any clause paying the firm extra on admission to a named university creates a reason to write the essays. Refuse it.
- Exclusivity. No clause should stop the family from using another tutor, a research program or a summer program of their choice.
A checklist to take into the sales meeting
- Who is my counsellor by name, how many students do they carry, and what is the session cadence by grade, in writing.
- How many universities, across how many destinations, and what does each additional one cost.
- How many essays: the personal statement plus how many supplements, with how many rounds each, edited by whom.
- Which of research, competitions, test tutoring, interview preparation and aid forms are included, and the price of each if not.
- What the written diagnosis looks like: ask for an anonymised sample from a past student.
- What the results claim is based on: number of students served, number admitted, which cycle, and whether "admits" counts multiple offers to one student.
- The refund clause, instalment schedule and what happens if the counsellor leaves.
- Whether any essay is ever drafted by the firm. The only acceptable answer is no; the alternative risks a rescinded admit and an interview the student cannot survive.
- Whether the firm is paid by any university. If yes, it is an agent, and the list will be its partner list.
- A week to think. A firm that discounts for signing today is pricing your anxiety.
What to do this month
Grade 9 or 10. Get two or three written diagnoses, including at least one free one. Compare the proposed 24-month plans, not the logos. A package now should be mostly profile building; ask what fraction of the fee funds that against the application at the end.
Grade 11. Compare on what can still be built in the months left and how each firm handles a second destination. Budget separately for the SAT or ACT and any research or competition entry so the comparison is between counselling and counselling.
Grade 12. Buy the application only, and compare on essays, list and cadence between now and the 1 November and January deadlines. Anything above ₹2 lakh for an application-year package at an Indian firm needs an explanation, and "unlimited" is not one. For the full range by segment, read how much college counsellors charge in India.
Where this comparison does not apply
The checklist assumes the student is applying to universities that read profiles: the selective US universities, Oxbridge and the top UK courses, NUS and NTU, and India's liberal-arts universities. For most Australian and Canadian programs, which admit on marks, the right purchase is a direct application or an agent, and a package comparison is beside the point. It also assumes you have decided a counsellor is worth hiring at all; if you have not, is a college counsellor worth it is the article to read first. Package structures in this market change every cycle, so treat the figures here as September 2026 ranges and get the current ones in writing.