<p>"This year, more than 20 percent of freshmen at private colleges hired an independent counselor." </p>
<p>Well, maybe the above is an example of the saying my son is fond of quoting: "Eighty-five percent of all statistics are made up." But I wonder who has any idea how many of the successful applicants to highly selective colleges paid for professional packaging of their applications.</p>
<p>No this is definitely true. A lot of companies are now offereing "College-aid companies" as part of their benefit packages. As colleges get harder and harder to get in- more people are beginning to capitalize on it.</p>
<p>wow:</p>
<p>What will happen to kids like mine who have no $$ and need fin $$$$$$ in order to matricuate to colleges.</p>
<p>i'm surprised it's only 20%.</p>
<p>20% sounds in-freakin-credible. Consider this isn't just Harvard; this is every private school in the country, and the vast majority of private schools have acceptance rates of over 50%. I wonder where they got those numbers from...</p>
<p>I think the quoted figure probably is incredible, or at least that most people who pay for packaging don't pay for very deluxe packaging. To answer the question in post #3, I think this trend will make genuine applicants from genuinely disadvantaged backgrounds look even more appealing to college admission officers, who will tire of the same, old same-old of packaged applicants.</p>
<p>My dad suggested that I get a college counselor, but I refused. How much of an advantage is it, exactly? Is there anything a counselor can do that I can't?</p>