<p>This should start a lively discussion:</p>
<p>Yeeww!</p>
<p>The great thing about not being filthy rich is that I couldn't even consider MH's services. So, I suppose I should reserve judgment on those who do opt to pay her to get their child into a particular school, but it just doesn't seem right to me. </p>
<p>Oh well, there are greater injustices in this world to worry about.</p>
<p>I've heard that one year her clients were blanked at Harvard. I think that was in a news story a couple years back. Does anyone recall the facts from that earlier news story? </p>
<p>The one thing that is pretty routine for private college admission counselors to do is manage expectations. If they spend two years telling a student that, say, Haverford is a reach school, then getting into Haverford feels pretty good and worth the money.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>I'd be willing to bet the "first choice" is carefully managed. I seriously doubt if you want your 1200 SAT kid to get into Yale (unless you're developmental level) Michelle will be able to work any miracles.</p>
<p>I don't really see what she does that is worth the money. At all. For $40,000 one would expect some under the table cash being exchanged. (Yuck -- am not advocating for this.) I don't see anything she does that any parent who understands the process couldn't do as well. </p>
<p>As for Dartmouth, they must not have known that the drummer was one of her students. I felt quite sad that the young musician regarded music as his "hook", and not a sincere avocation. And a phony essay on Wagner? </p>
<p>The message here is that the label (Ralph Lauren purple) is more important than the student and what he/she learns in the process.</p>
<p>I am quite pleased that both my children totally crafted their own applications, and they reflected their true interests and selves which they are carrying through in their college career exactly as the adcoms might have expected.</p>
<p>It's true; DS wasn't accepted at Dartmouth, but he was accepted at Williams and Brown, and this helped him to realize that Dartmouth wasn't his school if it didn't respond as well to him. I wouldn't want Hernandez packaging him; that would mean she fit in where he would be going.</p>
<p>He wrote about STAR WARS, not for any politic reason but because it is his favorite thing and his signiture. He had so much to say about it, he had to cut the paragraph about seeing the real Yoda at the Smithsonian when he was seven or eight. Yoda was only two and a half feet tall!</p>
<p>But I ramble. Sorry.</p>
<p>as to the kid who went to Dartmouth, all that drumming and he's now a paralegal outside of Boston? He could have done that from a state school and saved his dad a bundle.</p>
<p>I often wonder how much of these consultants' alleged ability to get kids into their first-choice schools consists largely of subtly manipulating the kids into choosing realistic first-choice schools rather than unattainable dream schools.</p>
<p>I think that schools should ask if students had the assistance of a professional college counselor. That would curtail the practice quite swiftly. It could be an optional question. But like other things, leaving it blank speaks volumes.</p>
<p>And mamenyu--I suppose there are many people who think that going to a great private school means that you will cure cancer afterward or the experience was wasted. I look at it as an end unto itself and not just a means to an end.</p>
<p>
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I think that schools should ask if students had the assistance of a professional college counselor.
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</p>
<p>There was a time when law schools asked if applicants had taken a prep course for the LSAT or not. But they don't appear to ask that anymore, as that question didn't provide useful information. Check your favorite college application to see what is asked today, but it's still a fact, even if no one pays out of pocket for a college admission consultant, that students vary wildly in how knowledgeable they are about the process. Of course I feel good about what I do for free here on CC precisely because it helps level the playing field for any family that has Internet access. </p>
<p>It may be that colleges think they can get more useful information about applicants just by looking closer at their incomes. A low enough income would be a pretty good sign that the family didn't hire the most expensive college consultant. </p>
<p>Marian, I think you've hit the nail on the head. Seems a big part of her job is managing her clients expectations. Seems to me families part with a lot of money mainly to have themselves manipulated. </p>
<p>"Hernandez' apparent success depends, too, on how well she manages the expectations of the kids and their parents. She says nearly all of her students are accepted to the school they most want to attend. But in many cases, she strongly suggests which college would be a reasonable first choice. She calls that strategizing. First she writes a 12-to-18 page report for each new student, based on transcripts, test scores, and other accomplishments, that gives the likelihood of their gaining admission to the schools they are interested in. 'I have written: 'You have 0% chance of getting into Harvard early decision. Don't apply,' she says. 'People pay for accuracy. I know exactly what it takes to get into Harvard.' Her apparent candor serves another purpose, too: Such an assessment makes it unlikely that she will fail."</p>
<p>I agree with mythmom that she doesn't provide much for the money. Kids lose out on an opportunity to get to know themselves better through the application process if it's micromanaged.</p>
<p>Oh I don't know...it could be worse. She strikes me as having a rich market of people with more money than sense, but what she's doing isn't dishonest--she's pushing these kids to figure out what really matters to them and then to develop leadership in those areas. She's also teaching marketing 101-as a marketing professional I'm always amused at how clueless the non-marketing public is about how to get what they want by matching their strengths and offerings to a prospective employer's (or college's) needs.</p>
<p>"I think that schools should ask if students had the assistance of a professional college counselor. That would curtail the practice quite swiftly"</p>
<p>Nope. People would lie.</p>
<p>A really good GC or private consultant could help a student figure out what would be a good choice of colleges, and what are realistic expectations. Adolescense is a very tense time for some families, and there can be little cooperation. </p>
<p>Paying for a few hours with a consultant coould be helpful. Having a non- family member set deadlines for a procrastinating/confused child can also be useful. Some parents don't want to be constantly nagging. Others farm out this responsibility, just as they did with lots of tutors and teen college trips.</p>
<p>What makes me sad is how parents and people like hernandez try to program the child from middle school to be a more competitive candidate than allowing the child to find their own identity.</p>
<p>Of course its personal, but I was happier seeing my S hang with his friends on weekends than study every minute.</p>
<p>There is so much that is sad and wrong about this practice; not the least of which is that MH begins her "molding" with kids as young as middle school.</p>
<p>Good grief. Kids should be having fun doing age appropriate activities...meeting with college counselors in middle school is not one of those.</p>
<p>And, her fees are outrageous. But she is a savvy business woman. She realizes that some people believe that the more expensive a service is, the more desirable and the better the quality. It increases demand in a certain market. Clever woman.</p>
<p>I just feel sorry for the poor schmos who buy into this nonsense.</p>
<p>At a college forum at our HS, where they have admissions directors from about five schools come to talk to the kids and the parents, all of the directors said that using a private college counselor doesn't increase your chances of admissions.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, I asked them how they knew if an applicant used a counselor. They acknowledged they didn't know.</p>
<p>Until someone does a random, double-blind study, I don't think we'll ever really know, will we.</p>
<p>That said, my firm belief is that if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. In other words, the kids who are not top-college material won't get into a top college, no matter what they do. What a college counselor can't control is the teacher recommendations, and the teachers know the kids the best.</p>
<p>We have this discussion every time an article about elite college "counseling" comes out. Michelle used to post on this forum and is an honest and wonderful person. She has filled a demand in the market, and makes a living doing so. While those of us here would not hire her (especially since we do a lot of it ourselves through THIS forum), I am not going to point a finger at those who do.
Michelle's books are interesting and helpful, and I congratulate her for building a successful business. There are many worse businesses in this country....</p>
<p>My services were certainly a bargain! What bothered me most was how she started shaping what kids did with their interests as early as middle school. No track because he wouldn't be a star. Camp counseling not impressive enough.</p>
<p>I would think she wasn't too pleased with how she came across in the article. $40,000 to one family might be the equivalent of $50 to mine. If you've already bought/provided everything else, I can see why families would add this, too. </p>
<p>What bothers me most about this is the damage - and I do consider it damage - done to a young student's REAL self esteem and sense of competence. At what point are the kids of families like this allowed to take chances, succeed or fail on their own merits, and grow from the experience? I'd love to be around to know the long term effect of this kind of parenting. I don't think the results will be pretty - until the parents back off, or the child rebels. I agree we won't see a question about this on applications because it would just be too easy for families to lie and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard in their minds to justify it. </p>
<p>For driven families, MH may help them all come to terms with the notion that their offspring is not a likely Harvard or Haverford admit, and that could be worth $40,000.</p>
<p>After thinking about it, I'm with MOWC here.<br>
Don't we all know families who do not let their kids "be kids" from a very young age because they have to do homework and get all As, go to music classes or whatever EC the families deem to be worthwhile and educational instead of playing? Don't we know families who take to their very young children to college campuses, subtly imparting to them the notion that they should aspire to go to college? Should families wait until Jack or Jill is in the second semester of 11th grade to suddenly beginning preparing Jack or Jill for college? Of course not. What's wrong with middle school? That's when some students get on the Calculus track and others don't. And, at the risk of boring CC old-timers, I'll repeat that in the rest of the world, 6th grade is when the pace of education is ramped up, not slowed down as in the US.
What bothered me about MH's activity was not what she charges (there must be a market for her fees) but her heavy hand in selecting essay topics. I felt this was where she crossed the line.</p>
<p>As for the young man working as a paralegal after college, so what? Is his education wasted because he probably earns less than what his parents paid for in one year of college? Yesterday, I had the good fortune of talking to someone who had a Yale BA and a DPhil from Oxford and spent 8 years teaching in inner-city schools in two cities. She did not give the impression that her education had been wasted.</p>
<p>I think there is a heck of a difference between taking kids to music classes (guilty as charged) and hiring a $40K college counselor when a child is in middle school. </p>
<p>Parents who are jockeying for their children's positions in various stages are the ones who likely embrace MH's, and those like her, services.</p>
<p>Encouraging ones child to find a path, to find a passion, etc. is really not the same at all as buying this service. And no, one need not wait until said child is a second semester junior to begin the college hunt either, but when I see parents of 12 year olds here, or in my real life, talking about college, I think what they really need is a chill pill.</p>
<p>Just my humble opinion, of course.</p>