Fascinating article from the WSJ re the methods of an "elite" college counseling firm

[Anonymous]

So much wasted effort. Was much simpler when you just got in by being a rich white man from a private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

Why are they fixated on Duke and Penn?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

This is a nuanced take and everyone should read it twice. It’s true.

I would add though that Brown is very much a starfukker school that _loves_ money, esp international Saudi-caliber money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

Why are they fixated on Duke and Penn?

These are probably THE bro-iest schools in the US. Bros gotta bro. Typically these are male applicants with bro dads, too. In fin tech and similar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

This is a nuanced take and everyone should read it twice. It’s true.

I would add though that Brown is very much a starfukker school that _loves_ money, esp international Saudi-caliber money.

Like Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

Higher education has long been one of the institutions in America that generated high approval from the public, but over the past few years it has seemed determined to throw its reputation in the toilet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

From the article:

Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell.

Those numbers seem fairly proportional to the size of the schools.

was this in one cycle? how many clients did he have that cycle? I see Crimson ads a lot. I'd think they'd have thousands of clients.

Sarah H probably has numbers like this and she doenst arrange for tutors

Yes, from the article. It was one cycle:

"This year, Beaton’s clients made up nearly 2% of students admitted to the undergraduate class of 2028 at several elite schools including Brown, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell. The acceptance letters were certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers and a list of students admitted was provided by Beaton to The Wall Street Journal."

let's just be clear that those are the same kids. Half the yale kids got into Stanford etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

From the article:

Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell.

Those numbers seem fairly proportional to the size of the schools.

was this in one cycle? how many clients did he have that cycle? I see Crimson ads a lot. I'd think they'd have thousands of clients.

Sarah H probably has numbers like this and she doenst arrange for tutors

Yes, from the article. It was one cycle:

"This year, Beaton’s clients made up nearly 2% of students admitted to the undergraduate class of 2028 at several elite schools including Brown, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell. The acceptance letters were certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers and a list of students admitted was provided by Beaton to The Wall Street Journal."

let's just be clear that those are the same kids. Half the yale kids got into Stanford etc.

Yes, they are double and triple counting. There is no more than 30 kids total.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why no one will hire students from these colleges ever again. They are all fake people who have done nothing real on their own. They will be terrible team players on projects.

This.
The AO’s who fall for this BS are signing the death warrant for these schools which will inevitably lose their luster as they churn out graduates of no substance.

My perception was that this is how it often worked in parent times. About half of parent-era Ivy League students were Conan O’Brien, and half were piranhas who lived for college admissions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s interesting to me how openly cynical the founder of Crimson is. I suppose it’s capitalism at work, but turning a kid into a luxury good to be purchased does feel icky to me, personally. And a bit sad.

I know. That was the worst thing about the article.

The founder seemed like a really motivated bright guy and all he's doing with his talent is groom rich kids to get into Ivies with maybe a small pro bono angle along the way.

It's sad to think about how structured these kids' lives must be. I spent a lot of my youth reading about anything and everything I was interested in. This process turns kids into mini-adults before they are done growing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

From the article:

Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell.

Those numbers seem fairly proportional to the size of the schools.

was this in one cycle? how many clients did he have that cycle? I see Crimson ads a lot. I'd think they'd have thousands of clients.

Sarah H probably has numbers like this and she doenst arrange for tutors

Yes, from the article. It was one cycle:

"This year, Beaton’s clients made up nearly 2% of students admitted to the undergraduate class of 2028 at several elite schools including Brown, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell. The acceptance letters were certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers and a list of students admitted was provided by Beaton to The Wall Street Journal."

let's just be clear that those are the same kids. Half the yale kids got into Stanford etc.

There is some double counting for sure. But Yale has a yield of 70%. Stanford has a yield of 80%. Cornell has a regular decision yield of 50%. Few kids are getting into several top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

From the article:

Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell.

Those numbers seem fairly proportional to the size of the schools.

was this in one cycle? how many clients did he have that cycle? I see Crimson ads a lot. I'd think they'd have thousands of clients.

Sarah H probably has numbers like this and she doenst arrange for tutors

Yes, from the article. It was one cycle:

"This year, Beaton’s clients made up nearly 2% of students admitted to the undergraduate class of 2028 at several elite schools including Brown, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Among his clients, 24 earned admission to Yale, 34 to Stanford and 48 to Cornell. The acceptance letters were certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers and a list of students admitted was provided by Beaton to The Wall Street Journal."

let's just be clear that those are the same kids. Half the yale kids got into Stanford etc.

There is some double counting for sure. But Yale has a yield of 70%. Stanford has a yield of 80%. Cornell has a regular decision yield of 50%. Few kids are getting into several top schools.

Partly because people stop applying after they get into their first choice ED and EA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The highly curated, consultant-driven, prestige-fixated families that resort to this kind of thing are typically only fixated on a few schools:

Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, and Penn. And it seems to work. Those six are nearly impossible to get in for otherwise brilliant but unhooked students.

The rest of the top 25 - from MIT to Michigan - are filled with really bright and ambitious students who got in on their own merit. No one is locked out of Cornell or Rice or Brown or Notre Dame or whatever because they didn't use a $250,000 college counselor.

Bingo.

And I actually know quite a few who’ve gotten into Stanford and Duke with a regular old five or $10,000 local college counselor.

The others you listed? Nope.

It's amazing that this is what passes for equality now: using a 10,000 vs a 250,000 private counselor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why no one will hire students from these colleges ever again. They are all fake people who have done nothing real on their own. They will be terrible team players on projects.

This.
The AO’s who fall for this BS are signing the death warrant for these schools which will inevitably lose their luster as they churn out graduates of no substance.

+1. It happens slowly at first and then all at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why no one will hire students from these colleges ever again. They are all fake people who have done nothing real on their own. They will be terrible team players on projects.

This.
The AO’s who fall for this BS are signing the death warrant for these schools which will inevitably lose their luster as they churn out graduates of no substance.

+1. It happens slowly at first and then all at once.

No it doesn't. Harvard has never taken the best an the brightest. They used to take anyone who showed up and passed an entrance exam, then they took any boy who was moderately literate and went to the right prep school. Anyone remember when they took this loser:

The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.

April 23, 1935
John F. Kennedy