Job title: Education Consultant

Who hires them: Parents who want their college-bound teenagers to get into top-tier universities

How to find out about openings: Word-of-mouth referrals are common for private consultants; for a position with an education-strategist firm, contact the company directly.

How much you can earn: Individual fees to private consultants are roughly a few hundred dollars an hour. Working for an education-consulting firm may not be as lucrative, but it is not any cheaper for parents: some firms offer packages that can range from $15,000 to more than $35,000.

Useful skills: Knowledge of the higher-education system and how the admissions process works; problem-solving and counseling; foreign languages for overseas clients. And patience is a key requirement.

Number of jobs in the U.S.: The number of independent education consultants is estimated at more than 3,000.
 

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For wealthy European parents who want their children to attend Ivy League or other prestigious colleges in the United States, Herman Donnenfeld can help. A speaker of Spanish, German, and Romanian (and with a partner who speaks Russian), Donnenfeld offers help in navigating the admissions process.

Even the best and brightest can use an edge these days. Because of a glut of applicants, as many as a quarter of all those applying to top-tier American colleges, both from the United States and abroad,  turn to consultants. According to admissions officers, the class of 2011 faced one of the toughest years yet. Columbia College, part of New York's Columbia University, which offered a place to one of Donnefeld's clients, had one of the lowest acceptance rates: 8.9 percent.

Donnenfeld, 56, offers a specialized niche of education consulting: introducing overseas students to a country and an education system with which they are unfamiliar. When he accepts a new client, he typically starts with a one-year contract. His clients come to New York City, where Donnenfeld is based, and they are put into intensive English classes, usually at the American Language Program at Columbia University. He helps them with test preparations and whatever else they need to adjust to life in the United States. He is part coach, part guardian. "I am their mother and father," he says. "You name it, I've done it for them. We help in every aspect of their lives."

Having moved with his parents  to the United States from Romania as a teenager, Donnenfeld can identify with his clients' situations. "I understand what it is to come to a new country, learn a new language, and go to school here," he says. Donnenfeld has a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts and a master's degree in special education from Boston University. At the moment, he is busy with four clients.

"What I offer goes beyond consultation and strategizing," he says. He assists with college applications and communicates with the schools on his client's behalf. But he says he doesn't coach his clients on the college admissions interview or polish their essays. "We don't tweak," he says. "I want my clients to present themselves exactly as they are." During the course of his work, he closely monitors the students' progress, meets with them daily, and sends monthly reports to parents in their native language. (His partner, Gary Braverman, handles the Russian-speaking clients.) While the initial commitment is typically a year, it can last as long as five years.

Of course, not every applicant is going to be accepted to an Ivy League school. In the education-consulting business, some disappointed clients have been known to sue. Some firms, such as College Confidential, offer a refund to those who fail to get into their first- or second-choice school. Donnenfeld offers no such guarantee, but he promises to give his clients his best shot.