Half of the calls I take from prospective clients are some version of: I’ve heard good things about the Highlands. Is it actually worth $495?
I sell the Highlands, so anything I say here is in some sense an interested take. With that disclosure on the table: here’s the honest version, including when not to buy it.
The short answer
Yes, if there’s a meaningful decision in front of you in the next 18 months that the assessment can inform. No, if there isn’t.
The Highlands is not magic. It’s a high-quality input into a specific kind of decision. If you don’t have one of those decisions pending, $495 is better spent on something else.
When it’s worth it
- A teenager choosing a college and a major.The Highlands is worth more here than almost anywhere else. You’re about to make a $100K–$400K decision; $495 of upstream data is cheap.
- A college student considering a transfer or major change. Same logic. The cost of changing majors is real (extra semesters, missed opportunities). The Highlands often confirms or refutes the proposed change in one debrief.
- A college athlete in their last 18 months of eligibility. The transition out of sport is a known difficulty zone. The Highlands is the cleanest single piece of data you can collect to make it less chaotic. See Life After College Sports.
- An adult considering a career change.If you’ve been miserable in your current role for more than a year and you don’t know what to switch to, the Highlands is worth doing before you start applying randomly. Most career-change misery is from picking the wrong destination, not poor execution of the move.
- An incoming hire in a senior role. Some companies pay for incoming executives or new MBAs to take the Highlands as part of onboarding. The ROI on $495 against a senior salary is trivially positive if it sharpens the role design even a little.
- A parent who keeps having the same argument with a high schooler about future plans. The Highlands gives you a third party — an objective report — that changes the structure of the conversation. Most parents who buy it for this reason tell me afterward it was worth $495 just for the de-escalation.
When it’s not worth it
I’ll be direct here, because I’d rather not sell the assessment to someone who’ll regret it.
- If there’s no decision in the next 18 months.The Highlands data is stable, so taking it five years before you need it is fine in theory — but the debrief is most useful when applied to a specific decision. If you’re “just curious,” spend the $495 on a couple of good books.
- If you’re looking for a personality assessment for team-building. Use MBTI or StrengthsFinder. The Highlands is overkill for vocabulary.
- If you’re looking for an answer about what you should do.The Highlands doesn’t give you that. It gives you objective data about how you’re wired, which you then use to make a decision. If you wanted to be told what to do, you wanted a different kind of consultant.
- If you’re under 14.Abilities stabilize at 14–15. Earlier, the data isn’t reliable enough to act on.
- If $495 is a real financial stretch and the decision in front of you is small.The Highlands is worth it against $100K+ college decisions; it’s less worth it against a $5K career-change dilemma. Be honest with yourself about the magnitude of the choice.
What you get for $495
At Timshel, the $495 covers:
- Full access to the Highlands Ability Battery online (3.5 hours of assessment)
- The complete 30-page Highlands report, yours to keep
- A two-hour, one-on-one debrief with Benjie in Charlottesville, Asheville, or over video
- A written summary of the debrief implications for the specific decision you came in with
- An email follow-up at the three-month mark to check in on what you did with the report
That’s it. There’s no monthly subscription, no required follow-on package, no upsell pressure. About half of Timshel clients never engage further. The other half choose to come back for the eight-session Personal Vision Coaching Program ($1,300).
How it compares to alternatives
The honest landscape:
- Free career quizzes: $0 and basically useless for real decisions. See this longer piece.
- Myers-Briggs (official): ~$50, useful for relational vocabulary, not for career decisions. Detailed comparison here.
- StrengthsFinder / CliftonStrengths:$30–$60, useful for naming things you already kind of know about yourself. Doesn’t give you new data the way the Highlands does.
- Johnson O’Connor:$750–$1,200, similar in spirit to the Highlands (timed work samples), more expensive, geographically constrained (in-person only at specific labs). If you live near one and have the budget, it’s comparable.
- Independent college counseling packages: $3,000–$15,000+, useful for navigating the application process. Most include some kind of personality assessment but rarely an ability assessment.
My honest take
Here’s what I tell people on the intake call. If you came across the Highlands while researching career coaches and you have a real decision in the next 18 months — almost always, this is the cheapest substantive input you can put into that decision. The single-figure regret rate I see from past clients is the lowest of any consulting work I’ve done.
If you don’t have a decision in front of you, save the $495 for now and bookmark the assessment for when you do. The Highlands data doesn’t expire.
If you want to talk through whether this is the right tool for your specific situation — including whether you should buy it from me, from Highlands directly, or not at all — schedule a 15-minute call. The call is free and I’m happy to tell you it isn’t the right fit.
Founder of Timshel Personal Consulting. Nine years at Christ School (Asheville, NC) as teacher, coach, and Dean of Campus Life. Vanderbilt Peabody M.Ed. in Independent School Leadership. Lacrosse Program Director at The Covenant School in Charlottesville, VA. Sees clients across Virginia and North Carolina.