Parents: how much would you pay for a college admissions boot camp?

[Anonymous]

I am a private college counselor in the DC area and charge between $3500 - $14k to assist students with the college admissions process. The reason for the wide range is that some students need much more help than others. I help them formulate a college list, prep for interviews, fill out common app, and write essays. Note that I am HELPING with the above- I don't do anything unethical. Most of my clients work with me to (a) give their highly qualified kids a leg up, or (b) to outsource this process to another adult entirely so that mom and dad don't have to worry about it or stress out.

All of that being said- I am thinking of offering a weekend boot camp of sorts this summer. It would involve small group and individual instruction, and students would leave with their college list completely set, plus they will have completed their main college essay, the common application, a minimum of five supplements and their corresponding essays. It would also involve a private pre-boot camp family meeting with parents to make sure that everyone is on the same page, etc. I'm envisioning two eight-hour days plus the hour pre-camp meeting. It would take place at a hotel in Tysons with catered lunches.

Any thoughts on if this would be appealing to parents, and what a reasonable cost would be? I was thinking between $1-2k depending on overhead, with a max of 10 kids.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I just saved us $3500-$14k last year. Whoop! Whoop!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a private college counselor in the DC area and charge between $3500 - $14k to assist students with the college admissions process. The reason for the wide range is that some students need much more help than others. I help them formulate a college list, prep for interviews, fill out common app, and write essays. Note that I am HELPING with the above- I don't do anything unethical. Most of my clients work with me to (a) give their highly qualified kids a leg up, or (b) to outsource this process to another adult entirely so that mom and dad don't have to worry about it or stress out.

All of that being said- I am thinking of offering a weekend boot camp of sorts this summer. It would involve small group and individual instruction, and students would leave with their college list completely set, plus they will have completed their main college essay, the common application, a minimum of five supplements and their corresponding essays. It would also involve a private pre-boot camp family meeting with parents to make sure that everyone is on the same page, etc. I'm envisioning two eight-hour days plus the hour pre-camp meeting. It would take place at a hotel in Tysons with catered lunches.

Any thoughts on if this would be appealing to parents, and what a reasonable cost would be? I was thinking between $1-2k depending on overhead, with a max of 10 kids.

Have you ever provided this service for a GT/LD child?

[Anonymous]

Are you kidding?

[Anonymous]

I would pay exactly $0.

[Anonymous]

How can a kid possibly write all the essays for 5 colleges (e.g Common App essays and supplement essays) in 2 days? It doesn't seem realistic at all.

[Anonymous]

Doesn't seem realistic to me either. Plus some PITA parents are going to try to dominate your time and the other parents will sit around angry. And isn't part of the counseling process refining the essays over time? How are you going to edit everything so quickly and expect the kids to process and rewrite so quickly. Maybe a one day seminar would work but you'd have to charge much less than you were thinking.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, no.

[Anonymous]

All, before everyone starts the attack, put on your helmet first and then take a step back. It IS possible to write the supplemental along with the main essay. You draft the essay in a manner that easily adapted from school to the next. How do you ask? While there are unique niceties you want to include about each essay, if DC has decided he/she wants to attend a national university to attend e.g., medical school, it really is easy to draft the essay in manner such that it fits multiple schools. I don't have a DC in range for such a "Boot Camp", but if I did, at the price its being offering herein, I'd jump at it if for no other reason to have DC write the darn essay in advance as opposed to messing around with it over Christmas break.

Just a thought. But, unless you want to pay 14,000 (which is the price of these up in NY and Boston), i would look at it CLOSELY.

[Anonymous]

What age kids would attend? Between 11th and 12th grade? This is an affluent area. I would say people would pay $2K. And you'd probably fill one. But if you price at $1500 I bet you fill two, which may be the way to go to give data from two test runs so you can add this to your usual routine. From there I would pick a weekend each season to have one.

And at some point you may want to offer some financial aid. If you are close to a charter or public school that serves non-affluent families, why not ask the counselor to recommend someone who could really use the help? And let them come for free or some lesser amount. Or run one event a year at some such school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All, before everyone starts the attack, put on your helmet first and then take a step back. It IS possible to write the supplemental along with the main essay. You draft the essay in a manner that easily adapted from school to the next. How do you ask? While there are unique niceties you want to include about each essay, if DC has decided he/she wants to attend a national university to attend e.g., medical school, it really is easy to draft the essay in manner such that it fits multiple schools. I don't have a DC in range for such a "Boot Camp", but if I did, at the price its being offering herein, I'd jump at it if for no other reason to have DC write the darn essay in advance as opposed to messing around with it over Christmas break.

Just a thought. But, unless you want to pay 14,000 (which is the price of these up in NY and Boston), i would look at it CLOSELY.

DC is a senior this year and they worked on their essays in English class the first quarter. The essay needs to be done before Nov 1- in time for the early application deadlines. Christmas break is way too late.

[Anonymous]

People around here outsource everything else so why not this too?

[Anonymous]

Nothing. I work full time and have four kids, two of whom have already gotten into college. Pretty sure you're not needed.

Maybe people who are about to be first generation college attendees? Although their parents may not be able to afford your prices.

[Anonymous]

Some of the private schools have a week of college essay writing as summer camp. It is 1 week - 2 hours a day for ~$200.

[Anonymous]

Ridiculous. Even if you could grind out and essay AND all the supplemental materials AND come up with a list, in two days, why on Earth would you want all that work done so quickly? It can't possibly be their best work. And I'm not even getting to the idea of having them try to do this while in a group, both because it will be more difficult to concentrate and because putting ten children of competitive parents together for something this stressful just sounds unhealthy.