@CC_Sorin, Allowing a professional college counselor to set up shop in the student lounge to offer application advice and including a link to his business is direct marketing to high school students. When responses by your expert include direct references to their writings and videos on another (named) website, as your newest thread does, that’s directly promoting a business. And you’re marketing to minors. That’s not appropriate.
Unfortunately, you’re flagging system doesn’t have a comments section. It just has radio buttons with no way to explain what part of a post we’d like you to review. It would be helpful if you added a comment box.
@austinmshauri, I think you are referring to the Admissions Corner. The intro post contains a link to the expert’s site and YouTube channel. That’s not setting them up with a shop. We are allowing the links in the intro posts (those that are added by me), but please continue to flag any expert responses that violate the ToS.
I respectfully disagree, this poster is getting a lot of free marketing and direct access to his target market. Is he allowed to take people who find him on CC as paying clients?
CC calling someone an expert, publishing their real name and service is per se marketing, some would say an implicit solicitation. IMO. But it seems others have felt the same way. I have not seen the poster directly solicit, but again, he is answering questions, talking about his past job, and his real name is right there.
@CC_Sorin, Telling a high school student their post sounds like they’ve read most of his writings and watched most his You Tube videos and, by the way, they sound like the “type of compelling candidate the best schools admit” is direct marketing.
Being allowed to go on other AMA threads to tell a student who got into an ivy that they found “one of the keys” to elite college admissions isn’t helpful or fair. We talk a lot about “passions” on CC and there are varying viewpoints. But CC has labeled this person an “admissions expert” (clearly defined next to his name every time he posts). If AMA threads are for students to ask questions, not for site members to discuss the finer points of admissions, then comments like those have no place there. If comments like that DO have a place there then so do the counterpoints that regular members might want to make in response.
Allowing direct marketing on your website gives it a distasteful tone. Creating two tiers of members is also distasteful. Experts have always had their own corners. They aren’t traipsing all over the rest of our threads. By naming people experts and allowing them to participate as regular members you’re adding extra weight to their opinions. That weakens the voices of everyone else. Who do you think 17-year-olds are going to listen to? Random people on the internet whose posting history isn’t available for them to see or someone the website has certified as a legitimize source? And why would the rest of us bother to compete with that?
So here is the most recent post by CC’s resident expert in admissions:
Schools should publish their rating handbooks. Full stop. That’s where legit, real college admissions talk starts and stops.
They should also videotape their AOs reading every app. from start to finish in committee. They should be on forums like this, teaching classes, being crystal clear on what they want to see. There would be no need for middleman–college coaches or sites like this–to have semi-informed opinions on advertisement. Publish the rating books.
Interesting question to ask why colleges don’t do those things? I have lots of ideas.
But yes, it’s nuts. That’s partially why people like me are doing what I’m doing. To make money yes, but also to spread good information to confused kids who get awful guidance–to the point of being misleading. Because I’ve read the rating books. I’ve trained on them, asked questions about them, applied them. And then I saw why and how many hundreds of applicants got admitted or denied by them. So I’m stunned by the authoritative advice rattled off by folks on these forums who Have Never Worked In A College Admission Office.
If you’ve never read, trained, and done the hard work of admitting students by applying specific ratings . . . You might have the right opinion on college admission topics, but you can’t have knowledge. You’ve worked with kids who got into some random draw of schools for the past 10 years? So, what, now you have something to say by speculating on essays or activities or letters or other factors that seemed to correspond with college acceptances? And you determine you know what’s going on to issue actionable advice with unqualified authority? It’s wild. It’s no surprise you see nonsense like “be yourself” “show your personality” “applying undecided is fine–thinking through what you might want to study only applies to HYPSM.” I’m shocked non-admission-office folks run the roost on these forums.
Is this the message, the inclusivity, the sensitivity and sensibility we want to promulgate on CC? At least now we know he’s here at least partially to make money. What is the point of dissing other CC posters, who because they are ANONYMOUS, he has no idea of whether or not they worked in admissions?
@CC_Sorin I’d like to reiterate my suggestion up the thread to invite Betsy Mayotte from the Institute for Student Loan Advisors, which is a non-profit that does not charge for its services. With Covid forbearance eventually ending and the economic effects of the pandemic, a lot of borrowers will struggle with repaying their loans. She can answer all sorts of questions about forbearance, curing defaults, repayment plan options, consolidation, loan forgiveness options, etc. I came across her website when I was helping my daughter’s boyfriend figure out Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
It does appear that CC is now allowing itself to be an infomercial rather than a true place to share multiple experiences and places. One person’s experiences have their place. They in no way negate other people’s experiences, nor are they always the right answer. Intelligent people tend to be able to sift through a lot of experiences to be able to see what is best for them.
I’m also a bit irked by posts from someone called @Prompt which as far as I can tell is an essay review business. Every post contains a link to their website where they do offer free articles, but the main purpose of that website us to make money with one of the top tabs being pricing. Why are they allowed to continually advertise their site here?
18 posts from this entity, and they all have the link to the business at the bottom. They must be posting the minimum amount to keep their ad in the forums…
I remember when people thought MCS was a good addition to CC. Now he’s ruined that impression with this post.
If CC wants non-“experts” to not participate on the AMA threads (particularly the ones where the “expert” is only on CC to shill something), then maybe CC’rs should abide by that and stop helping these shillers out.
@cttc Agreed. I was one of the posters who thought his initial AMA was very good, but then…not so much.
A long time poster using her real identity who really isn’t around anymore (Hanna) was incredibly helpful in her posts, all while remaining a supportive member of the community who never made people feel she was here to increase clients for her private business and make money.
I actually did work as the student rep for grad school admissions for Columbia Architecture school many eons ago. It’s not at all equivalent, so I don’t bring it up often, but it was enough to know what it feels like to be on the other side. There were some applicants who were clear admits, but many more that could go either way. Some recommenders were useful, others less than helpful. Some essays were great, most were surprisingly unhelpful. I’m happy to stay off the expert threads, but back in the day, I went to every presentation by AOs that came to our school. I listened and took notes for admissions officers from probably 30 different schools. The expert has worked in ONE school I believe. They don’t all operate the same way, though there are commonalities.
I would be highly surprised if any of the current and former employees in higher ed who offer advice here take on paying clients from the people who come to this website. That’s not in keeping with the spirit of the forums and I don’t feel it in the tone of the posts. People perform public service because it’s the right thing to do, and that’s the vibe I get from the majority of longtime posters. I believe our community truly cares about the students and families who come here. And a lot of us have come to care for the other members too. CC is a community not a competitive sport.