How Not to Get Into College

by rrusczyk, Jul 20, 2009, 2:34 PM

Can anyone convince me that most college counseling services are not scams?

I realize that there are a few that are legit. But a great many look exceedingly shady to me: Apply to the counselor, and if you are "accepted" you pay $30K and are guaranteed (or your money back!) to get into one of your top 3 choices of colleges!!! Imagine if AoPS ran such a business. We'd all be driving Ferraris. And we wouldn't alter a single student's probability of getting into a top school. Yet we'd have extremely satisfied customers. Because we'd get to choose them.

What a great business -- pick the kids who would have gotten in anyway, and have them pay you for their success.

If anyone out there has a lot of experience with people in this business and knows I'm wrong, please correct me. I've had a few people ask me about these sorts of services before, and all I do is outline the business model described above. That's usually enough for them to see what I'm driving at...

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It's like paying $\$[/dollar]100$ /pill for a prescription drug and getting a placebo. Makes you think you're doing better, but doesn't really do anything.

by worthawholebean, Jul 20, 2009, 4:08 PM

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I wonder if it works as well as placebos do?

by rrusczyk, Jul 20, 2009, 5:33 PM

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These services could also cause/be induced by a "lucky nickel effect," where some people think that they have to pay a lot for a service that really isn't going to help them much (but they think they will get lucky as a result of using it)...not a good habit for later in life...

Also, I find it interesting that AoPS really can (help) get students into the school of their dreams, not through a scam or "appearance" to a college, but through real, worthwile improvement on the part of the student. Wikipedia's aricle on WOOT actually says that, "Numerous exams are given over the course of the program and graded by undergraduates at MIT and Harvard." Ahem, people who want to get in to MIT or Harvard!

by lowtopology, Jul 20, 2009, 6:14 PM

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Analogously dubious operations in the mortgage modification market: sketchy former subprime mortgage brokers have now gone into the "mortgage modification" intermediary business and will take thousands of dollars of your money to "help" you renegotiate your underwater mortgage. All they do is take down your information, fill out a form, fax it to your bank, and hope for the best.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/business/20modify.html?hp

On a smaller scale, there are outfits that will charge you 20 bucks to mail in your application for a Social Security card, something you can do yourself for free.

Pay 20 dollars at
http://www.ssnhome.com/?gclid=CL7t7b745JsCFQtN5QodD1Bc-w
(first sponsored google result)

vs. do it for free direct at
http://www.ssa.gov/ssnumber/
(first non-sponsored google result)

by sophia, Jul 20, 2009, 6:52 PM