<p>I am a German journalist working on a story about the college admission process in the US. Is there anybody out there who uses/used a private coaching service for the college application? What are your experiences, does it/did it help your application? Would you recommend it? I am particularly interested in coaching services for Ivy League applicants. </p>
<p>Please post a short reply here or send me a private message , I would like to do the actual interview over the phone. In case you don't want to be mentioned with your name in the story that's fine. We can discuss those kind of details later. </p>
<p>I wouldn't think they'd help too much because colleges know some people would have unfair advantages if they put too much stock in the stuff that coaching services can help with. I didn't use any. I don't know how much help that was, but o well.</p>
<p>are you kidding? private college coaching, as you referred to it GermanJournalist, is extremely effective in admission into the Ivy League. costs range from abt $15,000 to $40,000. and the thing is, it doesn't insert kids into the Ivy League who "wouldn't be there otherwise," it simply makes a good kid stand out more, et cetera, for a price.</p>
<p>sametwochords- how exactly does private college coaching 'make a good kid stand out more'? i'm interested to know
not that colleges have any way of knowing if a student had private college coaching, but when i attended an informational session at cornell, the assistant dean of admissions referred to private college coaching as 'hired guns'...</p>
<p>basically, if a kid is not qualified, he will not get in to a good school. bottom line. given that, many students are qualified but do not gain admittance because of several factors. maybe it's their essays. maybe it's their geographic location. perhaps they didn't take a certain AP class that they should have. whatever. they still were qualified to get into X school. </p>
<p>now, to answer your question: given that there are these good, yet not-guaranteed-to-be-admitted, students, the question is, how are they going to be admitted? how is anyone admitted? people at college counseling companies (at least the best ones) are former Ivy admissions officers, deans of admission, et cetera. THEY know (best) how a student is to be admitted to a school (most specifically the Ivy League which they know so well) because they themselves had set the criteria for admittance in the past. now of course this criteria could conceivably change, however it tends to stay the same. thus, they know what a school is looking for a qualified student to say. and so they tell them to say it. whether it be in an essay or in some research that they are doing. whatever. they basically just help bring out (on paper) the best that the student has to offer (and nothing more...just the student's accomplishments). hence, if this student is qualified, as was given before, and he now stands out as desirable, he will most likely obtain admittance.</p>
<p>the dean that spoke to you should be weary of what she says, because she might one day want to work for one of these companies ;) haha. i'm only HALF kidding. but yea... </p>
<p>bottom line is that college admissions are more difficult than ever and nothing is guaranteed. not for a valedictorian, a 5th generation legacy, a tireless volunteer, or a starter on the basketball team. college counselors, again, just make a good kid stand out more. specifically, enough to obtain admission to the college of their [[and their parents']] choosing.</p>
<p>i was PMed by a college service here not too long ago designed specifically for "transfer" students. guess CC is great for soliciting. i do believe CC also offers their own "college coaching" service for an "investment" of 15k. thought, i wonder how many visitors to the site use it because the forums here are most likely worth a few thousand-- most users help each other out.</p>
<p>yea cc is definitely an amazing resource for college counseling. i mean people underestimate children usually (or young adults or w/e) but many on this web site know what they are talking about.</p>
<p>College coaching is for losers who can't pull their own weight. If you want to get into a top-notch school, it should be 100% your work and nobody else's.</p>
<p>Hey, a lot of time people need help with their college stuff. Doing everything by yourself is not smart or practical. But paying thousands of dollars for this help is pathetic.</p>
<p>private college coaching? its called my mom and dad, mostly my mom though. the counselors at my school do diddly-squat when it comes to colleges; they have too many students to really care about each individual one. plus, no coaches to ever know anything about architecture, so there was no point in investing so much money into nothing significant. i didnt have a coach, and i still got into cornell ED.</p>
<p>uh puhhllleeze...who died and made you people king and queen judgemental of this web site. i bet all of your parents wrote your essays for you. congrats on your acceptances (if you received them) but don't think that no one had help, including yourselves, in whatever form. however you get in, you got in, what does it matter if you're qualified anyway???</p>
<p>Um, no i'm pretty sure no one helped me with mine. I filled out the entire app w/o my parents even looking it over and i don think they woulda been much help on the essay. THe only help i had was a friend reading over my essays, but that was only for grammtical stuff and i didn't really change anything. </p>
<p>I usually make a serious effort not to be judgemental, but i dont think there's anyway to justify stuff like this. If its gonna have an impact on whether or not you get into college, it has to be your own work. Do you really approve of people trying to buy their way in like this?</p>
<p>"basically, if a kid is not qualified, he will not get in to a good school. bottom line. given that, many students are qualified but do not gain admittance because of several factors. maybe it's their essays. maybe it's their geographic location. perhaps they didn't take a certain AP class that they should have. whatever. they still were qualified to get into X school."</p>
<p>-if an applicant cannot write quality, genuine essays on his/her own, he/she does not deserve to get into a top school
-geographic location is a lame excuse for not gaining admission
-a rigorous workload is important...but if an applicant is truly qualified, he/she should be taking a rigorous workload without question</p>
<p>And also, there are a lot more qualified kids than spots at really good schools, so one qualified kid shouldn't get in over another because they had the resources to get someone else's help. </p>
<p>I think colleges should put alot less emphasis on the essay. It should still be there for students to whine about how hard their lives have been or how they deserve to get into college more than the next guy or girl, but it shouldn't be evaluated on how well its written or how creative it is because there's no way it could be fair or objective.</p>
<p>i got no College coach.....
neither my parent or my brother helped me with college stuff, i wokred on my own essays, get my teachers to help me out...which they are so happy to it for me...
and yep...got in without private coaching....</p>
<p>and also, i always think writing an essay base on your personnal experiences always light up your applications....
no offense..just my own personal view..</p>
<p>nishtdawg, i don't understand what those pseudo-retorts were supposed to argue</p>
<p>nameless1, i think that different colleges put different levels of emphasis on the essays...viz UChicago vs like i dunno MIT. some care a lot, some care not so much. i understand what you're saying about objectivity because yea one AO might not like an essay topic, while another might. you never know. usually a committee of several does look over an application though, so this sort of makes it more objective. i understand what you mean though. however, i would further perhaps argue that the essay is the way in which a student can (as they always say) show off more than scores or grades. with admissions so competitive these days, not every valedictorian can go to the college of their choice so they need to prove that they belong their via a creative expression of their personality, writing et cetera. but again, different schools rate the essay differently and i think that they produce different student bodies that way. </p>
<p>but anyhow, i just think that private coaching or whatever one wants to call it is simply a way to polish a person's application. you can't buy your way into the school that way, it just makes your application look better. if you still aren't qualified, you won't get in. everyone has someone polish theirs. (yea right to those who have just said that they didn't have even a guidance counselor help them with anything EVER)</p>