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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a very smart and accomplished kid and all these articles do is prejudice me and my kid against these supposedly "elite" schools. We can afford tuition at top private colleges and could afford to hire consultants like this. We genuinely do not want to. Our DC has always been self-driven, hardworking, and intellectually curious without pushing. Our goal has always been to support and ensure opportunities were there, but not to force anything. We have no appetite for playing this game.

If my kid was dead set in a T10 I'd probably do it just because I know she'd make the most of that education and I wouldn't want to be the thing that stood in her way. But her response to stuff like this is to focus more on state flagships and to focus on lower ranked schools that are especially well respected or have very well respected faculty or research opportunities in her likely major. She doesn't want to have to put in a show to get into college. And her grades and test scores are high enough that she really shouldn't have to -- she's already done the work. She's not going to found a fake non-profit or waste time she could spend on something that really matters to her but won't look good on a college app (like go camping with her friends for the first time alone) to write a mediocre fiction novel just to impress and admissions officer.

I think other kids like this will also start opting out of this rat race for their own mental well being. [/quote]

This is how it's done (what your kid is doing)!  Someone with drive and determination like that will thrive wherever they go.  At your state school (in the honor program) or at a smaller school with a great dept for your major, your kid will be able to shine.  HS kids should be pursuing what they want, not curating a resume for college admissions (beyond the reasonable request that yes you need to volunteer with something, you need to have a few activities that your pursue, ideally for a long time not just switching each semester, and you need to enjoy it.

I want my kids to be happy, not robots, driven by a 50K+ counselor.

Now, we did use a $4K (for all 4 years, we only used them for 15 months) counselor.  Helped curate a good list of colleges to consider, and my kid's top 3 choices only 1 would I have known about previously.  They help you plan curriculum (but I had already done that and my kid is smart---they knew go as far as you can with STEM and AP because you want to be an engineering major, but chose to not waste time with APUSH/APEng---good choice because their top 2 choices wouldn't have allowed those credits for Core Curriculum anyhow.   Most important part of the CC was they helped set a timeline and helped my kid brainstorm essays (helped---my kid did the work).  It meant by Nov 1 95% was submitted (only the non-EA schools were not submitted, but they were well on the way to completion--just waiting for ED in Dec to finish those or not). So Nov and beyond was not stressful and my kid could enjoy the holidays and their senior year
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