<p>Getting In, by James Finney Boylan (before he became Jennifer Finney Boylan, which is another good book, called She’s Not There, A Life in Two Genders) is a quick and fun read about a road trip around New England by 2 brothers and their kids. They hit Yale, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Colby.and Harvard, not in that order. The author is a professor at Bowdin, or is it Bates, no, it’s Colby. Some Maine school, anyway. Ditto to those who said Admission, which is pretty much a fictionalized Gatekeepers, which is awfully good, too. There’s another book called Getting In, which follows a few applicants, but it’s pretty dated.</p>
<p>Thanks for highlighting this book, Sally.
I just finished it and I liked it, too. It is a quick read that will be interesting to CC devotees.<br>
I thought the counselor places more emphasis on the essay writing process and the importance of the essay in admissions than is standard. The author points out that admissions offices often comment on the strength of the essays from this high school and that a number were featured in an outstanding essay book. Still, it seems excessive to me to have seniors take a five-day-a-week class that is primarily devoted to just writing their admissions essays.</p>
<p>I agree, siliconvalleymom, that a semester-long class devoted to college essay-writing may seem excessive, but I think what else is going on there is twofold:</p>
<p>1) The kids are forced to look carefully at themselves and at what really matters to them, which may translate in to wiser college choices than they might make without such introspection</p>
<p>2) The teachers (guidance counselor + English teacher) are getting to know the students well and in a way that will also translate into better student/college matches</p>
<p>Gwyeth Smith retired from Oyster Bay HS last year and officially put out his shingle as a “college admissions advisor” charging $500/hr. On his first visit to our house, he boasted about his daughter getting into Duke for about half the session. After asking our son to email him his essay, he called to complain that he spent too much time (about 25 minutes) reviewing it, and he would have to charge us for his “extra” time - which he said was equal to 1 session - $500 more. Needless to say, that brought our professional relationship to an abrupt halt. We realized that he did nothing for us and only cared about the $$$. I would not recommend him.</p>
<p>That’s an interesting report, desiw. Thanks. </p>
<p>Perhaps Smitty needs some time to make a successful transition from school-based counselor to independent counselor. I’ve seen other folks trying to make that same change (as well as those who are switching from being a college admissions officer to indie counselor). Even though there is obviously a lot of overlap among these different jobs, it can be tougher than one might suspect to move from one role to the next. </p>
<p>In particular, independent counselors should explain what they can–and can’t–do clearly to their client families from the get-go and also be clear about what their fees include. Misunderstandings in this department can often be where the counselor/student relationship goes awry.</p>
<p>On the other hand, parents and students need to recognize that they are paying private counselors for their knowledge and experience but not to “get them into” a dream college. Yes, of course, the good counselors can help their advisees to present colleges with the strongest possible application. But it’s also important for families to listen when a counselor suggests that a dream school will be a high reach. The relationship can also go awry when the students (and, especially, the parents) become disgruntled as soon as the counselor recommends revising the college list.</p>
<p>Are there any other CC members who have hired Smitty as a private counselor?</p>
<p>Fascinating discussion about Sally’s review of my new book.</p>
<p>Here’s my quick thought: Smitty, the subject of the book, reassures parents as he works to find the right fit, and not necessarily the right brand. </p>
<p>I can’t testify to his recent work as an independent counselor. I can say that, now that ACCEPTANCE has been published, I’m hearing from families who worked with him during his career as a guidance counselor at a half-dozen public schools. They truly liked him.</p>
<p>As for the comment that I should focus the book more on payijng for college: I did include material about that subject, which obsesses me and other parents. But it’s worth an entire bookshelf, and I wanted ACCEPTANCE to cover all the important issues.</p>
<ul>
<li>David L. Marcus, author
ACCEPTANCE</li>
</ul>
<p>I, too, love The Gatekeepers. That book influenced me. I really hope you’ll give ACCEPTANCE a try. If you like it almost as much as The Gatekeepers, I’ll be happy.</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Dave Marcus, author
ACCEPTANCE</p>
<p>I agree with the reader who says the school in ACCEPTANCE is unuusal. </p>
<p>Public schools in the New York suburbs have high counselor-to-student ratios compared with Texas, Florida and other states where I have lived. Quite a few parents around here are glad about all these services. Ask random taxpayers, however, and you’ll get some complaints. </p>
<p>David L. Marcus, author
ACCEPTANCE</p>
<p>Thanks for checking in, Dave. </p>
<p>I just read the Updates page ([UPDATES</a> ? The Seven Kids in ?Acceptance? | Dave MarcusDave Marcus](<a href=“http://www.davemarcus.com/content/updates-–-seven-kids-“acceptance”]UPDATES”>http://www.davemarcus.com/content/updates-–-seven-kids-“acceptance”))</p>
<p>Anything new that isn’t posted yet? I’m especially interested in “Riana Tyson.” Do you know if she decided to stay put or transfer?</p>
<p>Sally, Thanks for your response. You made some excellent points and those thinking about hiring an independent college advisor should take notice of them. In our case, Smitty did explain very clearly to us what his fee was and how many sessions we would need, and what each session would cover. He did not, however, mention anything about emails, and he was the one who asked us to email him the essay - and he did NOT mention anything about charging us extra for this. He changed his tune after he received the email. So, I hope he learned from this experience that any extras must be addressed at the outset. </p>
<p>With respect to your point that parents should not be under any illusion that an advisor could get their child into his/her dream school, I couldn’t agree more. However, the college list wasn’t an issue in our case. We already had our list before we hired him, and our list was accurate, as it turns out. But we asked him to give us his list of colleges, just to see if we were on the same page. (We hadn’t told him that we had our list). We asked him repeatedly, because each time he came, he brought no list. When he finally produced a list, it was clear to us that he ignored our geographic parameters (ie: no planes). </p>
<p>Bottom line: we didn’t really need him anyway, and our child’s HS guidance counselor was absolutely phenomenal and her concern for her students was genuine - probably very much like Smitty was with his students at Oyster Bay HS. We definitely learned from this experience and with our younger child we will not be hiring a college advisor. Having gone through the application process already, our fears and insecurities about this process have vanished and we’ve become empowered to navigate it again with our school guidance counselor.</p>
<p>Thanks for the follow-up, desiw. It sounds like you were fortunate enough to have a Smitty-esque guidance counselor at your son’s school. That’s the way the world should work. As I mentioned in an earlier post, even though I do some private counseling myself, I’d still like to see the whole profession become unnecessary. </p>
<p>But we’ve got a long way to go before we’re there, I’m afraid. Lots of kids do not have great school counselors–or they may have only minimal access to any counselor, good or bad.</p>
<p>Also, some students and parents are more comfortable with this process than others. It’s like many other tasks we all face … tax preparation, auto repair, computer tech support et al. Comfort zones can vary a lot from household to household, and sometimes we may change our own oil but then pay a pro to install a Web cam (at least that’s what happens in this household, though, admittedly, I only paid the pro to do the Web cam once. When I saw what a no-brainer it was, I did the second one myself. 
)</p>
<p>LOL!!! Now you’re a web cam pro!</p>
<p>has anyone read A Hope in the Unseen?</p>
<p>Just read Acceptance in two days – really liked it. I agree; I wish every school had half a dozen Smitties.</p>
<p>I got this last night and was instantly hooked. I just had to finish reading it before I could go to sleep so I stayed up until 4am.</p>
<p>read acceptance this weekend ,a must for all High school seniors and their parents ,eye opening and very insightful</p>
<p>I am about half way through- I keep thinking I want to anonymously(sp?) send to our school guidance counselor. I met with im yesterday and frankly, I feel I know more than he does! Yikes! Our school doesn’t use Naviance and only about 25% go on to a 4-year college. I am relying on books like Acceptance and CC for all my info. So far, it’s a good read- especially while on the bike at the Y!!!</p>
<p>Here’s a TIME Magazine interview with Dave Marcus about the book and about guidance in U.S. high schools: [Q</a> & A: Inside the College-Admissions Process - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1917671,00.html]Q”>http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1917671,00.html)</p>
<p>has anyone read A Hope in the Unseen?</p>
<p>I read that years ago along with my son. A very good book. It’s shows that hard work, a dream and good mentoring can help achieve your goal. Cedric had low SAT scores but ended up graduating with a B+ average and going on to get 2 more advanced degrees.</p>
<p>I just got “Acceptance” at the library last night and am 1/4 through…so far I like it very much.</p>
<p>I will read Acceptance. </p>
<p>I just finished Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz. I enjoyed it a lot, both for the view of the admissions process from an adcom point of view, and the story itself, about mothers and lovers and children. Well written, I thought, just a few pages I found myself skimming.</p>
<p>Since this thread is 2 years old, maybe people have new books to add?</p>