Perhaps the biggest deciding factor as to whether or not you should explore the option of admissions counseling is your educational background and whether your school and the staff is accustomed to sending students to U.S. universities for college.
For instance, Manila has its own fair share of international schools that cater to European citizens, Japanese citizens, or simply those who want to get a world-class education. Needless to say, students from these schools have the means and the staff has the experience in preparing these students for admissions success.
If you come from a school that has AP classes and a world-class faculty, you shouldn’t need an admissions counselor unless you feel really strongly about getting that extra guidance. Since I went to a local school, most of my teachers did not know the first thing about SATs, the TOEFL, GPA, and recommendation letters. They were only well-equipped to send their students to local universities, which had an entirely different system for admissions.
Considering my situation, I needed someone who could tell me more about SAT score statistics, the TOEFL test and the content of a good recommendation letter. If you have an experience similar to mine, you should consider going to an admissions counsellor.