How Tech Platforms Are Changing College Counseling Access
College admissions prepration is undergoing a quiet transformation, driven by college counseling technology platforms built by and for those most closely involved in the process. As traditional high school counseling models are increasingly strained by understaffing, competing priorities and outdated tools, technology platforms are changing how families and independent counselors navigate one of the most complex decisions in a student's life.
The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students per counselor, yet U.S. public schools average 385:1. Counselors understandably prioritize mental health crises and behavioral issues over long-term college planning, leaving many students and families to navigate admissions primarily on their own. That vacuum has fueled the rise of private educational consultants but at a cost that is often out of reach for most families.
That's where CounselMore and College Sharks come in – two technology innovations designed to address the access and guidance gap. CounselMore, founded in 2016 by higher education veteran Margaret Rothe, helps counselors serve more students with less administrative overhead, offering structured workflows and real-time admissions data. College Sharks, by contrast, is a direct-to-family resource created by college consultant Lee Norwood to deliver high-quality admissions guidance in a flexible, low-cost format. Norwood, founder of Annapolis College Consulting, sought to create a platform that would help more students in a way that was both accessible and affordable to them.
College Sharks packages expert guidance into an engaging on-demand course comprised of multiple short videos. 'Students can asynchronously access college counseling to do what they can when they want,' said Norwood, who explained that College Sharks provides students with short videos and a workbook to drive their own college counseling experience. College Sharks has a particular emphasis on helping students maximize merit-based aid by tailoring their college list and creating a competitive application.
CounselMore CEO and co-founder Margaret Rothe
CounselMore
The innovation focuses on human-centered design rather than AI automation. College Sharks was built to be relatable and real, showing students actual offer letters, sharing candid commentary and emphasizing authenticity over perfection. Meanwhile, CounselMore's professional-grade infrastructure enables independent counselors to efficiently reach more students. 'We're empowering the college counselor to create a local 'DIY' program,' said Rothe, to get resources to more students and remove a barrier to college counseling access.
Both platforms offer more of what students and families need: clarity, structure, and trustworthy guidance at a more accessible price point. CounselMore's plans start at $35 per month for college counselors. Students pay $600 per year for College Shark' programs, compared to an average hourly rate of $224 and an average cost per student of almost $6,000, according to a study conducted by the Independent Educational Consulting Association. Anecdotally, the price for more exclusive services can be $50K or more.
CounselMore builds its database from authoritative sources including the U.S. federal government's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and proprietary collection teams that validate institutional data at the program level. Rothe asserts that CounselMore's data is much more current and reliable than the widely used U.S. News Best Colleges tool.
But CounselMore is more than a data engine. It integrates that information with decision-making tools designed for human impact. For example, students can compare their confidence levels and experience with how specific colleges weight different components of the application. That contrast reveals where effort should be focused – whether improving writing skills for an essay-heavy school, increasing standardized test scores for colleges that weight scores higher or recalibrating expectations based on eligibility requirements.
The innovation is in the infrastructure: scalable support for students, actionable tools for advisors, and transparency for families. CounselMore has also become a collaboration hub for educational consultants to license their own proprietary resources, such as College Sharks' curriculum, or build and distribute their own custom programs through the platform.
The $3 billion educational consulting industry remains largely unregulated, and access is still uneven. College counseling tech platforms such as CounselMore and College Sharks combine trusted data, proven workflows and scalable delivery to make high-quality guidance available to more students.
Full disclosure: the author is a client of Annapolis College Consulting and is a CounselMore user.
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