College Application Consultants, Again
by rrusczyk, Dec 3, 2009, 8:30 PM
I just spoke with someone who had recently spoken with a college application consultant and was every bit as disgusted with what he heard (![$ \$[/dollar]25,\!000-\$[/dollar]40,\!000$](//latex.artofproblemsolving.com/f/f/d/ffd5305297445f56b3c5aae5b1e2084fdcc0d594.png)
"if he was accepted as a client"). Of course, that got me all worked up again on this topic. He even floated an intriguing idea, which is starting a nonprofit business that, for a small fraction of this fee, provided the same service. I don't know if that would actually work, since people often equate cost with quality. But it did raise an interesting question: why do people hire these consultants in the first place?
Some possible answers:
1) Status. I think this is a nontrivial part of what's going on in places like New York City. The goal is not as much to get into XYZ college as it is to provide a status signal to the parents' peers.
2) Desperation/ignorance. There are many parents who will do anything to help their kids get an educational leg up, or at least do anything to think they're helping their kids get an educational leg up. Desperation might also be caused by a particularly unusual situation for the particular applicant.
In any case, what does it mean that these college consultants exist? We have either:
A) They are scamming people. (Quite possibly not wittingly -- they may believe they are actually doing some good. But I suspect they don't turn down clients who will obviously get in without their help!)
B) Rich people can pay people with contacts in the admissions world to help their kids get in. (Many of these consultants are former admissions officers.)
Both are pretty repugnant. I think (A) is more true than (B) in regards to college consultants, but concede that (B) takes place. (Clearly some (B) takes place. Its more respectable name is "legacy admissions", but that's epsilonically more palatable than what might be going on here.)
![$ \$[/dollar]25,\!000-\$[/dollar]40,\!000$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/f/f/d/ffd5305297445f56b3c5aae5b1e2084fdcc0d594.png)
"if he was accepted as a client"). Of course, that got me all worked up again on this topic. He even floated an intriguing idea, which is starting a nonprofit business that, for a small fraction of this fee, provided the same service. I don't know if that would actually work, since people often equate cost with quality. But it did raise an interesting question: why do people hire these consultants in the first place?Some possible answers:
1) Status. I think this is a nontrivial part of what's going on in places like New York City. The goal is not as much to get into XYZ college as it is to provide a status signal to the parents' peers.
2) Desperation/ignorance. There are many parents who will do anything to help their kids get an educational leg up, or at least do anything to think they're helping their kids get an educational leg up. Desperation might also be caused by a particularly unusual situation for the particular applicant.
In any case, what does it mean that these college consultants exist? We have either:
A) They are scamming people. (Quite possibly not wittingly -- they may believe they are actually doing some good. But I suspect they don't turn down clients who will obviously get in without their help!)
B) Rich people can pay people with contacts in the admissions world to help their kids get in. (Many of these consultants are former admissions officers.)
Both are pretty repugnant. I think (A) is more true than (B) in regards to college consultants, but concede that (B) takes place. (Clearly some (B) takes place. Its more respectable name is "legacy admissions", but that's epsilonically more palatable than what might be going on here.)
February 2012
January 2012