Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cynics aside, I’m the PP - no relation to Sara, I do love genuine VT maple syrup, and I love even better ethical businesses who provide a great service. No skin in the game - buying a less than $20 book will hardly set you back, compared to other vendors. Help yourself or no - just sharing my experience. Which is kind of the point of this board.

Or you can take the book out of the library for free!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I worked in the admission office at Princeton I was on a search committee that interviewed her for the Director position (just below the Dean). We ultimately hired someone else (a man) but she struck me as very professional. She has a lot of free advice on her website that is pretty sound. I like that she has so many free resources on her website, and I also think she's really good at social media and self-promotion.

Search committee processes are supposed to be highly confidential.

Speaking of being professional.

Did you sign a confidentiality agreement before serving on the committee? At my University we all have to.

So, I am pretty shocked that you would discuss a candidate by name on a public internet forum.

Anonymous wrote:Cynics aside, I’m the PP - no relation to Sara, I do love genuine VT maple syrup, and I love even better ethical businesses who provide a great service. No skin in the game - buying a less than $20 book will hardly set you back, compared to other vendors. Help yourself or no - just sharing my experience. Which is kind of the point of this board.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

That's an ad. (PR hit.) NYTimes is not a college.

Anonymous wrote:When I worked in the admission office at Princeton I was on a search committee that interviewed her for the Director position (just below the Dean). We ultimately hired someone else (a man) but she struck me as very professional. She has a lot of free advice on her website that is pretty sound. I like that she has so many free resources on her website, and I also think she's really good at social media and self-promotion.

Anonymous wrote:I was a member of Sara Harberson’s Application Nation FB group for two cycles. Found her advice to be excellent, and an excellent value. Enjoyed comments/info/support from fellow parents. Option to pay for specific personal services but felt no pressure, and gained so much just from the basic (low) monthly FB page group access fee. Cost was nowhere near a private counselor, yet between the FB group and her book Soundbites my kids felt more confident with the process and have results they are super happy with. Just my experience but I really feel Sara is an expert with a heart, a wonderful resource and a great person. I am not getting paid to say this, I’m a customer, and no I am not Sara. Try her book if you want to look at a very low cost resource that helps a ton.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did any of you get your kid's essay edited by Sara Harberson? What were your thoughts? Thank you

Funny. I work in the college admissions field. I’ve never heard of her but SHE says she’s called “America’s College Counselor”. I don’t think so.

If you haven’t heard of her, then you are not really paying attention to the college admissions space. She is a pretty visible figure with a book and public appearances. And social media.

We didn’t have essays edited, but did join her private Facebook group. Members always seemed thrilled with her edits. I believe 3-4 essays from students she worked with recently were selected by the NY Times in their “best college essays” piece.

Sorry, I'm another poster who HAS been paying attention and has never heard of her. Just read a compendium of successful essays, and you'll see that your kid needd a Proust's madeleine moment: an event (major or minor) that will trigger a thoughtful introspection and delineate who that student is and how well they can think. The best essays are personal and mature.

Are you the Sara in question, perhaps? You're doing a bad job of advertising.

Nope—just a parent that joined her Facebook group. My kid is going to an Ivy, so I guess their essays were adequate (although, not edited by Sara).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UVA admissions is aware of her bc they Dean J responded on social media when she posted on her website that students shouldn’t mention they are Jewish/write about their Jewish identity.

Really? Why not? My kid did write about his Jewish identity - although he is going to a large flagship, and not one that is routinely discussed here - definitely not UVA.

My kid connected to his religion in high school, no thanks to his parents (we do not belong to a synagogue, etc); it was all him and that’s what he wrote about. I didn’t tell him not to - I had no idea it was taboo.

Dean J basically said that this advice was ridiculous and not to listen to it. Sara H suggests admissions folks are anti semitic.