<p>Here’s my take on private college consultants. My uncle uses one that he swears by. The guy helped pinpoint colleges for my cousins and helped streamline the financial aid process. I have one cousin who graduated from Cornell U a few years ago and one who will be graduating from Columbia in 2011. Both received generous fin aid. My son did his own research re schools, completed his own apps, I completed all the financial aid forms. The result: he’ll be attending Brown University and received enough aid to cover 100% room and board. Me, I’m happy we didn’t have to shell $1000+.</p>
<p>Parental involvement is expected and encouraged in some areas. It is not in others. Parents who overstep their bounds are not viewed kindly by adcoms. They may be polite to those parents, but what they think and say is a whole other story. I hope they are professional enough not to take it out on the kid’s app, which unless they feel the whole danged package smells of mom, they probably don’t.</p>
<p>I don’t like adcoms as a rule, but I feel that most of them try to be as fair as they possibly can be. The set up in most selective college admissions offices is such that rules are made so that apps are all treated as fairly as possible. I don’t think wining and dining of adcoms is going to get a non accept into a selective school either. It might get courtesy waitlist over a reject, and maybe early warning of the status so the counselor can prepare the kid for the news, but I don’t think there is a brisk trade in admissions officers at colleges being wined and dined for student acceptances. Any wining and dining that occurs is on a professional level. Yes, in the end it can mean more acceptances for a given school, but not because of a bribe situation. It’s just human nature to be more trusting and want to deal with someone you know is trustworthy. Private school counselors have a good, reliable product in their kids. And believe me, they will bend themselves backwards to keep a good rep and rap with colleges. They are not into trying to squeeze unqualified kids into colleges by bribing the adcoms with platitudes and dinners.</p>
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Sometimes wining and dining comes from adcoms to top prep school´s GC, not necessary the other way around.</p>