People who spend huge amounts of $ on private college consultants are wasting their money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A true college consultant is not writing essays..they are helping to make an appropriate lists for applications. Maybe suggesting a good essay topic to complement the profile. Yes you can hire someone to take care of the whole process but they are not exactly college consultants.

Yes they are and the service is called a "comprehensive package" whereby you start working with the consultant in freshman or sophomore year.

That does not mean that you send a check and receive an essay and completed application in return.

[Anonymous]

Has this article been posted? People are apparently paying up to 1.5 million to these companies? Seems so seedy and unfair.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/us/admissions-cheating-scandal-consultants.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would challenge your assertion that a consultant is a waste of money based on the logic you provided primarily because the essays you read or the resumes that you review are probably enhanced by a parent, an uncle/aunt, or another relative. I suspect that those are the ones that you would catch. I didn't even know that this industry existed before this big story broke in the news yesterday. Wouldn't a college consultant be more surreptitious anyhow and know how the game is played?

For example, the guy that is being convicted (Singer?) gave advice to some parents who photoshopped their son's head on someone else's body (to show that their kid was a water polo stud) that they should find a different picture because the picture of the body was way too high out of the water and only a few athletes are able to get that kind of height in the water. My point is that these college consultants know what admissions folks or coaches are looking for and make the [insert essay, resume, athlete picture, etc] believable.

That's true but it's dishonest and unethical. Thankfully, some daylight is now being shed on these despicable practices.

I'm the PP you are responding to. The argument is not whether these consultants are dishonest or unethical, it's whether people spending huge amounts of $ on private college consultants is a waste of money. I am not so naive to think that the people who are running these scams are not good at their job...that's why they get paid the big big bucks.

Now I agree with you, those that cross the line, are unethical and dishonest. But I have to believe that there are some that are good, maybe not many. That said, I don't see the difference between college consultants and lawyers. Lawyers know the game (law), they know the players (judges), and know how to play the game to their client's advantage. Isn't that the same thing here with college consultants? And by the way, I think that parents or relatives that over help on their kid's essays, application, etc are in a way cheating as well. There is another thread asking about who helped with your college application back in the day when you were applying to college and no one is calling out parents who do more work than the child in filling out a college app.

As a parent of a couple elementary school kids, this subject is demoralizing because the entire game is stacked against the average joe.

If you realize the admissions boost that legacy and recruited athlete categories are given by elite universities when compared to unhooked, non-athlete, in other words, the majority of the applicants you will be even more demoralized to the point that you may contemplate throwing the towel and have your children apply only to state flagships. Giving boost to legacy, athletes, big donors, influential people is immoral and unethical though legal. It is like state sanctioned slavery, segregation, denying voting rights, redlining - they were all legal at sometime in the past but they were never moral or ethical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


OP shows that he or she knows nothing.

And “alumni interviews”? Ha! They are merely a way for alumni to feel included and needed. If you think they matter, we can discount anything you say about the college application process.

It depends on the school. At some schools, alumni interviews matter a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a great experience with our college consultant - so OP I disagree that it was a waste of money.

We did, too. It was not a huge amount of money, and it was aimed at matching our kid rather than getting him in where he didn't belong.

I also thought it was a great way to protect my kid from my anxiety.

You sound like a nice Mom.

[Anonymous]

We paid 5K, $500 a month. It’s was $ well spent. She helped DD develop her list of target colleges. Lots of interaction with DD and us (parents). She created one page summary info for each target school, including DD’s chances of acceptance. She helped DD get signed up for the SAT subject tests. She worked with DD helping her ID essay topics. Tracked completion status of DD’s 16 apps.

DD got into Northwestern so we are pleased with the end result!

Plus many teens do better work No with someone who is NOT their parent.

[Anonymous]

We spent $8K on a consultant for our DS and he got into every school he applied to. She didn't have him aiming too high- no real reaches. She got him to focus, write his essays and get everything done and submitted in a 30 day period. We didn't use her for DD- it seemed like too much $ for what would have likely been the same results. DD wrote her essays- we spent $100 to have them reviewed by a writer and then she submitted all her apps. She too got into all of the schools she applied to except for one. I don't think a consultant is needed- the online applications are pretty straight forward and there are a bunch of good youtube videos that demonstrate completing applications, essay writing, etc. I do think that having essays reviewed is worth spending money on because sometimes the writer (and parents) don't see grammatical mistakes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


OP shows that he or she knows nothing.

And “alumni interviews”? Ha! They are merely a way for alumni to feel included and needed. If you think they matter, we can discount anything you say about the college application process.

It depends on the school. At some schools, alumni interviews matter a lot.

I’ve been wondering if it is inferior (cannot come up with better word this am) to interview with an alum, rather than go to the campus and interview directly with admissions officer.

[Anonymous]

At which particular schools do alumni interviews matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We spent $8K on a consultant for our DS and he got into every school he applied to. She didn't have him aiming too high- no real reaches. She got him to focus, write his essays and get everything done and submitted in a 30 day period. We didn't use her for DD- it seemed like too much $ for what would have likely been the same results. DD wrote her essays- we spent $100 to have them reviewed by a writer and then she submitted all her apps. She too got into all of the schools she applied to except for one. I don't think a consultant is needed- the online applications are pretty straight forward and there are a bunch of good youtube videos that demonstrate completing applications, essay writing, etc. I do think that having essays reviewed is worth spending money on because sometimes the writer (and parents) don't see grammatical mistakes, etc.

The colleges have no way of checking on this, but they would disapprove if they knew for sure an application was substantially influenced by a paid professional. It's a mini-scandal, but not on the order of the blatant bribery scandal in the news the last couple of days.

[Anonymous]

OP is mere middle class and can’t fathom people being too busy and too rich to care. Not everyone has freetime or desire to surf college forums all day to get up to speed. Just pay someone ten grand to do it all, and added bonus of advice coming from third party, thus less family tension. It’s really about the peace of mind, less household drama, and making sure kiddo crosses T’s and dot I’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a great experience with our college consultant - so OP I disagree that it was a waste of money.

We did, too. It was not a huge amount of money, and it was aimed at matching our kid rather than getting him in where he didn't belong.

I also thought it was a great way to protect my kid from my anxiety.

A child going to college should be able to handle the anxiety of applying to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would challenge your assertion that a consultant is a waste of money based on the logic you provided primarily because the essays you read or the resumes that you review are probably enhanced by a parent, an uncle/aunt, or another relative. I suspect that those are the ones that you would catch. I didn't even know that this industry existed before this big story broke in the news yesterday. Wouldn't a college consultant be more surreptitious anyhow and know how the game is played?

For example, the guy that is being convicted (Singer?) gave advice to some parents who photoshopped their son's head on someone else's body (to show that their kid was a water polo stud) that they should find a different picture because the picture of the body was way too high out of the water and only a few athletes are able to get that kind of height in the water. My point is that these college consultants know what admissions folks or coaches are looking for and make the [insert essay, resume, athlete picture, etc] believable.

That's true but it's dishonest and unethical. Thankfully, some daylight is now being shed on these despicable practices.

I'm the PP you are responding to. The argument is not whether these consultants are dishonest or unethical, it's whether people spending huge amounts of $ on private college consultants is a waste of money. I am not so naive to think that the people who are running these scams are not good at their job...that's why they get paid the big big bucks.

Now I agree with you, those that cross the line, are unethical and dishonest. But I have to believe that there are some that are good, maybe not many. That said, I don't see the difference between college consultants and lawyers. Lawyers know the game (law), they know the players (judges), and know how to play the game to their client's advantage. Isn't that the same thing here with college consultants? And by the way, I think that parents or relatives that over help on their kid's essays, application, etc are in a way cheating as well. There is another thread asking about who helped with your college application back in the day when you were applying to college and no one is calling out parents who do more work than the child in filling out a college app.

As a parent of a couple elementary school kids, this subject is demoralizing because the entire game is stacked against the average joe.

If you realize the admissions boost that legacy and recruited athlete categories are given by elite universities when compared to unhooked, non-athlete, in other words, the majority of the applicants you will be even more demoralized to the point that you may contemplate throwing the towel and have your children apply only to state flagships. Giving boost to legacy, athletes, big donors, influential people is immoral and unethical though legal. It is like state sanctioned slavery, segregation, denying voting rights, redlining - they were all legal at sometime in the past but they were never moral or ethical.

Amen. I would add having the ability to pay the full tuition and apply ED is almost as strong as being a recruited athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spent $8K on a consultant for our DS and he got into every school he applied to. She didn't have him aiming too high- no real reaches. She got him to focus, write his essays and get everything done and submitted in a 30 day period. We didn't use her for DD- it seemed like too much $ for what would have likely been the same results. DD wrote her essays- we spent $100 to have them reviewed by a writer and then she submitted all her apps. She too got into all of the schools she applied to except for one. I don't think a consultant is needed- the online applications are pretty straight forward and there are a bunch of good youtube videos that demonstrate completing applications, essay writing, etc. I do think that having essays reviewed is worth spending money on because sometimes the writer (and parents) don't see grammatical mistakes, etc.

The colleges have no way of checking on this, but they would disapprove if they knew for sure an application was substantially influenced by a paid professional. It's a mini-scandal, but not on the order of the blatant bribery scandal in the news the last couple of days.

That is ridiculous to call it a "mini-scandal." It is not a scandal at all and is 100% legal and above board. Many parents with the financial ability hire these professionals mainly because they don't have the confidence in the school counselors AND they know their DC will likely not take advice from them, the parents. This is why we hired our consultant. Advice coming from a professional is more likely to be taken vs. from parents...we managed to mostly stay out of a lot of our son's college application process. He ended up getting into his first choice school. Was it because of the consultant? Who knows. But it just made the household less stressful during the process.

By the way, the colleges would be fine with knowing that parents support their child in these ways...especially knowing that the parents are wealthy enough to do this and will most likely be full pay tuition. And there you have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a great experience with our college consultant - so OP I disagree that it was a waste of money.

We did, too. It was not a huge amount of money, and it was aimed at matching our kid rather than getting him in where he didn't belong.

I also thought it was a great way to protect my kid from my anxiety.

A child going to college should be able to handle the anxiety of applying to college.

You clearly did not understand the PP's post. She said she was protecting her child from "HER" anxiety (meaning the anxiety of the parent). A little reading comprehension goes a long way.