"The Game" podcast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the poster who can't stop thinking "Everybody hates this guy, right?" every time I listen.

I am also a counselor and think some of his critiques are valid, some just taken to an extreme, some off base, some a matter of interpretation. Some info is relevant, but the 5 hours in which he just loves to hear himself talk, then berates the student and the colleges is just irksome. He wants to set up a guru like scenario to get people to hang on his every word, doubt their good work and pay him tons of money while worshipping his greatness. Ugh.

what's off base?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:His manner of speaking (I think it's called upspeak) is super difficult to listen to, which is unfortunate because I think the contents are good.

That said, my friend called him to see how much he costs, and I believe he charges $4k per month and limits the number of students he takes per cohort. That's just an insane amount of money.

Dang

[Anonymous]

With the detain he has for students, it’s a wonder he chooses to work with them. Oh, it’s because parents give him money to berate their kids and potentially talk about them on a podcast.

[Anonymous]

Hates athletes, loves research. If you take into account his personal bias, there is some good information there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:His manner of speaking (I think it's called upspeak) is super difficult to listen to, which is unfortunate because I think the contents are good.

That said, my friend called him to see how much he costs, and I believe he charges $4k per month and limits the number of students he takes per cohort. That's just an insane amount of money.

Dang

What is the price range for a competent college advisor who runs more of a full service operation? I assume they don’t have to be in the dmv because it can be done remotely. I’m not interested in a company that takes on a million clients but rather more of a boutique operation. How much should I be expecting to pay?

[Anonymous]

Ultimately people like this are a gold mine for AO. They don't want you to be able to buy a place for your kid, but you're doing it anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:His manner of speaking (I think it's called upspeak) is super difficult to listen to, which is unfortunate because I think the contents are good.

That said, my friend called him to see how much he costs, and I believe he charges $4k per month and limits the number of students he takes per cohort. That's just an insane amount of money.

Dang

What is the price range for a competent college advisor who runs more of a full service operation? I assume they don’t have to be in the dmv because it can be done remotely. I’m not interested in a company that takes on a million clients but rather more of a boutique operation. How much should I be expecting to pay?

Normal range for a college counselor who is not trying to become famous is probably $6k-$10k. The national firms that have slick marketing and/or are owned by private equity firms (crimson education, solomon, etc.) are around $25k. The firms that cater to the uber-rich (command education) are around $100k. None of these will admit to you that they take on a lot of clients and once they have your upfront fee, you'll have a hard time trying to reach them.

[Anonymous]

I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

The question isn’t whether you’d be as happy at GW as HYPSM. The question is whether you’d be as happy at GW (or Maryland, or Rutgers) knowing that you shot your shot as you would be playing it safe and going ED to Wash U.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

The question isn’t whether you’d be as happy at GW as HYPSM. The question is whether you’d be as happy at GW (or Maryland, or Rutgers) knowing that you shot your shot as you would be playing it safe and going ED to Wash U.

Sometimes unhooked P has a shot in REA.
Generally, though, If you are truly and objectively competitive for HYPSM:

your ED1 would be: Northwestern; Duke; Penn (not W); Brown; Dartmouth; Rice. Maybe Cornell for STEM. If rejected, then go for ED2. If deferred, shoot your shot with HYPSM.

Your ED2, after HYPSM rejection would be: UChicago; WashU; Emory; CMU; Rice; Vandy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in NYC and popular advisors here cost about 6k. Can be a lot more, but people are happy with the services they get at this price point.

As someone pointed out before, people like this guy will really push your unconnected kid to apply ED to Vandy or UChicago etc. They want to be able to list a lot of "top 20" admits (and they include about 40 schools in their top 20.. I guess they're top 20s on some list!). They want to be able to say, 90% of our clients are admitted to one of their top 3 choice schools, but they'll omit the fact that they wouldn't let the client put a top 5 school on that list of dream schools.

Yup. I will say almost all college counselors push for ED. They want to be able to claim the same things. It’s an icky business. There are some gems, and if you found one consider yourself lucky.

Bc it rarely works out for unhooked T20 in RD…

it's for sure easier to get into some t20s during ED than RD, by a lot.

but SCEA is no help at HYP etc. MIT, Stanford, Wharton .. RD gives you the same odds.

odds of getting into these schools are long, of course. but they are dream schools for some. and to have a counselor tell you to ED to Vandy instead is doing themselves a service. kids need to realize, you throw your hat into the ring, it's long odds. and you may be taking a few schools off the table like Vandy or JHU or Chicago. But if you're a strong applicant and you'd be just as happy at GU or ND or Midd or even GWU and those look pretty solid, then who is this guy to tell you no, dont try. He might not want that GWU name on his list, but that's not your problem

I don’t know any kid who would REA to HYPSM who would be “just as happy at GW”.

I mean, no.

The question isn’t whether you’d be as happy at GW as HYPSM. The question is whether you’d be as happy at GW (or Maryland, or Rutgers) knowing that you shot your shot as you would be playing it safe and going ED to Wash U.

Sometimes unhooked P has a shot in REA.
Generally, though, If you are truly and objectively competitive for HYPSM:

your ED1 would be: Northwestern; Duke; Penn (not W); Brown; Dartmouth; Rice. Maybe Cornell for STEM. If rejected, then go for ED2. If deferred, shoot your shot with HYPSM.

Your ED2, after HYPSM rejection would be: UChicago; WashU; Emory; CMU; Rice; Vandy.

so glad my kid didnt do this