Anonymous wrote:My DD is working with a paid consultant. The consultant guides her on priorities of things to work on. Her common app is already pretty much complete with the exception of essays. She already has a strong first draft of the common app essay. She has deadlines to meet with essay drafts where they review them together. It has been very smooth and we are way ahead of schedule compared with my older child. The stress level is almost non-existent, which is worth every single penny.

This is how it is working for us as well, except my kid isn't quite as far along as yours.

Anonymous wrote:Lately, I’m getting the sense that a combo of parents, AI, and paid consultants are doing all the work completing the applications. Are your kids doing anything?

Of course my kid is doing the work. And we are supporting him. The consultant gives him the framework to keep him on track with deadlines. She is certainly not writing his essay for him. She had him brainstorm some potential topics, then he picked one and he's working on the essay now. They help with the process. They don't do it for the kid. That would be unethical and not even effective IMO. Needs to be the kid's applications.

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Most high schoolers in this country receive no help at all, because they don't know they need help, and can't afford it even if they know.

For the middle and upper middle classes who can afford to pay for educational help and realize that this might benefit their kids, investing in tutoring and test prep is far more prevalent than college admissions support. There are actually very few families who pay for the latter. But college essays are often read and casually edited, for free, by people other than the applicant: teachers, parents, other relatives, kind strangers on the internet, AI, etc.

College admissions officers are aware that any number of people, or AI, could have massaged candidate's essays into legible form. They claim to recognize when essays have been too "packaged".

Hmm. Except they don't. They like that AI tools can help FGLI kids now. It helps democratize everything and all of the applications now sound more polished.

The kids with the most polished (professionally hired rewview) apps did the best at our private for T20 OUTSIDE of HYPSM.

PP you replied to. Yes, I did wonder when I recently heard college admission officers say that. One was specifically talking about how AI couldn't write your essay for you, because it would end up being very impersonal, so I guess if you submit a very good draft to a chatbot and they work around the edges, it can make for an excellent product that doesn't read like AI. This means doing a lot of the work yourself, which I guess is acceptable.

Right. How is this less acceptable than hiring a $17k consultant to review and edit/coach your kid's draft essays and activities list? It's not. I think this is a way AI helps the less fortunate.

And frankly, makes you realize that there's no need to pay for the vast majority of services. The best consulting services are ad-hoc (essay review, full application review by former AOs, etc).

Anonymous wrote:My dd is a writer and detests AI. She will write her own and we will review it to make suggestions.

You don't get it. AI is there to edit, at most. AI cannot write, by itself, a good essay. My oldest did not use AI because he graduated in 2023, and it wasn't barely available then and not good at all. My youngest may try, but it's understood that 99.9% of the work is on her. AI is just one new editing tool among all the others that existed before, as in parents and other adults around the applicant.

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Anonymous wrote:Lately, I’m getting the sense that a combo of parents, AI, and paid consultants are doing all the work completing the applications. Are your kids doing anything?

My kids felt its not fair and did their applications on their own. They had mixed results even with very strong GPA, rigor, scores etc. I feel they could've had better outcome if they took help. However, they were fine with the outcome, enjoyed their college years and were proud of their self reliance. They did well in college and life, also found their own jobs and significant others etc so probably its not that important in life's bigger picture as it looks at the time of admissions.

Sounds like your kids are older, PP. The college admissions landscape has changed significantly since, and helping one's children with applications, whether with free or paid support, is a lot more acceptable today. Your adult children should not feel disadvantaged compared to their same-aged peers.

100% agree.

My DD is working with a paid consultant. The consultant guides her on priorities of things to work on. Her common app is already pretty much complete with the exception of essays. She already has a strong first draft of the common app essay. She has deadlines to meet with essay drafts where they review them together. It has been very smooth and we are way ahead of schedule compared with my older child. The stress level is almost non-existent, which is worth every single penny.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lately, I’m getting the sense that a combo of parents, AI, and paid consultants are doing all the work completing the applications. Are your kids doing anything?

My kids felt its not fair and did their applications on their own. They had mixed results even with very strong GPA, rigor, scores etc. I feel they could've had better outcome if they took help. However, they were fine with the outcome, enjoyed their college years and were proud of their self reliance. They did well in college and life, also found their own jobs and significant others etc so probably its not that important in life's bigger picture as it looks at the time of admissions.

Sounds like your kids are older, PP. The college admissions landscape has changed significantly since, and helping one's children with applications, whether with free or paid support, is a lot more acceptable today. Your adult children should not feel disadvantaged compared to their same-aged peers.

My dd is a writer and detests AI. She will write her own and we will review it to make suggestions.

That’s nonsense. My kid is doing it all, like most.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lately, I’m getting the sense that a combo of parents, AI, and paid consultants are doing all the work completing the applications. Are your kids doing anything?

Why do you care? You post here so much its nauseating.

I don’t really that much here at all, but if you feel nauseated, so be it.

I guess I’m just trying to gauge my/our naïveté as we embark upon this process. Both my kid and I avoid using AI. We won’t pay consultants, not because we can’t afford it but because it feels like a scam. The expectation is that the package she submits will authentically her work. There seems to be an increase in posts here from people looking to hire not just one, but multiple consultants. And/or posters recommending AI for everything. It all feels wrong in my gut.

Think about it. Very few people used consultants before. Now, with AI, that market is going to be even smaller. There are all kinds of service to applicants, BTW: there's essay-writing help, creating lists of colleges, or project managing (not doing the actual work, but keeping the kid on the right schedule because the parent doesn't have that relationship with their kid). Or you can pay for the whole package, which means starting in 8th grade and paying for a consultant to strategize extra-curriculars to entirely mold a candidate to what they think will look best for colleges. The latter is very expensive, but the individual tasks can be affordable.

I looked into it, because people in my upper middle class circle talk of nothing else when their kids are in 11th grade. We chose not to, because I realized that I knew my kid best and I would be the best person to help him. Perhaps others came to the same conclusion. I only know 2-3 families who paid for a consultant, and those were only for small tasks (editing essays, or creating lists). I don't know anyone who paid for a whole package. In NYC, there are niche consultants who promise to get your kid into HYP for half a mil

My take-away is that everyone in a certain socio-economic strata talks about it... but very few actually hire consultants.

Anonymous wrote:Lately, I’m getting the sense that a combo of parents, AI, and paid consultants are doing all the work completing the applications. Are your kids doing anything?

My kids felt its not fair and did their applications on their own. They had mixed results even with very strong GPA, rigor, scores etc. I feel they could've had better outcome if they took help. However, they were fine with the outcome, enjoyed their college years and were proud of their self reliance. They did well in college and life, also found their own jobs and significant others etc so probably its not that important in life's bigger picture as it looks at the time of admissions.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is doing it independently but I do check in with her on where she is at and provide brainstorming and feedback on essays if desired. I’ll also edit at the end.

She is very high stats but her target list is largely safeties or easy targets (mostly t50-t150) so we aren’t worried about being “shut out”. Most of the focus for her applications is on maximizing merit aid.

That’s not doing it independently. That’s doing it without paid help.

I reviewed essays but that’s it.

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Anonymous wrote:Lately, I’m getting the sense that a combo of parents, AI, and paid consultants are doing all the work completing the applications. Are your kids doing anything?

Why do you care? You post here so much its nauseating.

I don’t really that much here at all, but if you feel nauseated, so be it.

I guess I’m just trying to gauge my/our naïveté as we embark upon this process. Both my kid and I avoid using AI. We won’t pay consultants, not because we can’t afford it but because it feels like a scam. The expectation is that the package she submits will authentically her work. There seems to be an increase in posts here from people looking to hire not just one, but multiple consultants. And/or posters recommending AI for everything. It all feels wrong in my gut.

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Anonymous wrote:SAHMs need to STOP doing their kid's applications.

Stop trolling. ALL the parents I know do their best to help their kids with their apps, and the immense majority of them work. In my circle, I'm the only stay-at-home parent, actually.

Agree with this. It's all anyone talks about at summer dinner parties or at our country club. Everyone is in the thick of it right now. If you aren't, your kid is at a disadvantage compared to their peers (whose parents are micromanaging everything).

Now, if that isn't your circle or HS, count your lucky stars.