<p>From the June 19th issue of Business Week:</p>
<p>What Price College Admission?<br>
Parents are spending tens of thousands on advisers to shape their kids' game plans </p>
<p>Even valedictorians are finding it hard to land spots at the nation's most selective colleges, so "Ben" wasn't about to take chances. Over the past four years, the New Jersey father of two has spent about $30,000 for guidance from Michele Hernandez, a Lake Oswego (Ore.) college counselor who charges up to $36,000 per student for advice on everything from what courses to take to how to spend summers. "We have regular kids who are pretty bright and nice and do a lot of activities," says Ben, who, like many interviewed for this article, requested anonymity. "We were looking to give our kids whatever advantages we could." Both sons were accepted by their first-choice schools: small, private colleges that admit about 25% of applicants.</p>
<p>Despite the soaring cost of college, a growing number of families are paying as much as a year's tuition, room, and board on independent consultants such as Hernandez. They seek advice not just on completing applications but also on the raw material that goes into them -- courses and extracurricular activities. That means bringing these advisers on board as early as eighth or ninth grade.</p>
<p>Although college admissions officers take a dim view of these unregulated advisers, the Independent Educational Consultants Assn., a nonprofit in Fairfax, Va., estimates that some 22% of the freshmen at private, four-year colleges this year have used them. Some advisers say they're turning away potential clients. Hernandez began offering four-day "application boot camps" for about $8,000 last summer to accommodate overflow from her practice, which currently numbers 60 clients. "We're very selective about the students we work with," says Victoria Hsiao, a partner at IvySuccess in Garden City, N.Y., which charges up to $28,500. The firm has about 100 clients right now and has served about 1,000 since opening nine years ago.</p>
<p>The guides say their goal is simply to find a good match for each student. But with the nation's most selective colleges receiving record numbers of applications, they say they must also help their clients stand out. High school students "often don't know what's typical and what's interesting about themselves," says Rachel Toor, a former admissions officer at Duke University who charges up to $200 an hour. "I try to figure out what it is about them that's going to get an admissions officer to fall in love."</p>
<p>GOING DEEP
What you get depends on how close your child is to attending college. When a client signs on just before senior year, the focus is generally on the application process. Most counselors do not make calls to admissions officers on clients' behalf. But they urge students to express a strong interest themselves by, for example, contacting professors whose research is of interest and attending lectures. To prepare her 200-odd clients for interviews, Katherine Cohen, founder of New York's IvyWise, which charges up to $30,000, videotapes practice sessions for those who need it. Advisers help students compile activity resum</p>