<p>Aeons ago and on a far away galaxy (according to my kids), when I was in the
college search and scholarship search mode, there was no internet and the
process was cumbersome at best. It was like stumbling in the dark with reams
of bureaucratic forms, ambiguity to the max, clueless "guidance"
counsellors, and the great snail mail waiting game. </p>
<p>Now with the web we have such an abundance of resources that it can be
daunting and overwhelming. But with this wonderful abundance of web
"resources" comes dangers for the vulnerable and unwitting who are trying to
navigate their way through adolescense to adult responsibilities away from
home. Lots of personal information needs to be shared in this process giving
opportunity for the unscrupulous phishing for identity theft or just trying
to collect some unwarranted fees for their supposed "service."</p>
<p>For instance, consider .... Sounds great! Just give them
some info and they do all the work for you and scores of colleges and
universities will come pleading for you with scholarships. The problem I
have with get-recruited.com is that the web site is very uninformative, they
have no published privacy policy, no stated policy about their recruiters,
no published office address, no verbiage on how they deal with SPAM and the
only "contact" is an Earthlink email account. In essence, all they really
have is a questionaire which asks for personal information which they will
forward to a nameless list of supposed recruiters. How many recruiters do
they correspond with? Unknown. How do they qualify the recruiters to ensure
that this info does not get in the wrong hands? Unknown. How much SPAM will
I receive as a result of requesting this service? Unknown. </p>
<p>So my question to the forum is, "Is ...legitimate?" How
can they be legitimate if they don't take any effort to address the above
concerns I've raised? If they are indeed legitimate, is this a worthwhile or
is this just a lazy approach to doing the research? </p>
<p>(Sorry... this is a cross post where the original post was on the cafe but I believe it more appropriately belongs here.)</p>
<p>I glanced over their web site. Why is the person you contact listed under an earthlink addy? That is a small red flag. I would not use it, really.</p>
<p>here's what you do.
1. Run a whois check on domain name. That will give you the name of the registrant/owner : Dan Rosenfield</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Once you have the name, Google it. Lots & lots of entries, as the guy has posted and written articles all over the internet. The guy claims to be a former college dean and admissions director, but doesn't generally list the colleges he was associated with. I did some digging though and found a reference to his being the "Dean of Enrollment Management" at University of Louisiana at Lafeyette - a search of that web site - <a href="http://www.louisiana.edu/AboutUs/Search.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.louisiana.edu/AboutUs/Search.shtml</a> - easily turns up his name, phone, and *.edu email</p></li>
<li><p>Go back to the Whois record -its got a postal address in Louisiana and a phone number to go along with it. Also a fax number, but the fax is obviuosly fake. Try calling the phone number and see who answers. Now you have the guys home and business numbers -- pretty cool, eh?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>OK now I've got it all figured out. Rosenfield has a job working as an enrollment manager for a legit state university that you've never heard of, which means that it is his job to try to recruit students. At that end of the selectivity scale, the colleges have to work hard to find students -- I'm sure his university accepts all comers. </p>
<p>Rosenfield figures he can also moonight and make extra money by setting up his own internet business. The get-recruited web site is a nice, fast buck for him. He has put up a survey form so that people will give him information that he can package and sell to a colleges for their recruiting. "Recruiting" doesn't mean Harvard calls ... "recruiting" means that you start getting a ton of email from Podunk U. in Nowheresville. Since you are silly enough to fill out his form, you have also consented to receive all that spam email. Rosenfield probably sells his list to whoever will take it - and he charges less than College Board for the same info, so ..... if you go to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette site and get all excited, and think that's the school for you... then by all means, sign up for the mailing list, because I'm sure that Rosenfield knows all the enrollment managers at all his peer institutions, and face it: you are never going to find out about these schools from US News. I mean, if your kid's only got an 18 on the ACT math and a 2.6 GPA --well, then you need to know about Louisiana's fine institutions of higher learning.</p>
<p>Wow, CalMom...I was with you totally until your last line, which implies that lesser students are somehow deserving of the spam/dishonesty generated by a site like this. I would hate to be a mom of a student who has those stats, reading college confidential, and seeing your post. I would say that you may want to remove your last line, but apparently there is no editing here. (Oh wait...it looks like they have changed that and you can edit...you might want to?)</p>
<p>Calmom, you blew some good points with the gratuitous slaps. I don't like the "get-recruited" website and I don't like that it's being run by Rosenfield. But you can make your points without slapping around UL-Lafayette, Louisiana in general, and kids who "only got an 18 on the ACT math and a 2.6 GPA". </p>
<p>For what it's worth, UL-Lafayette doesn't "take all comers" and has a good albeit regional reputation. If you want a career in petroleum engineering or geology, for example, you could do a lot worst. Also for what it's worth, your hypothetical kid would have a difficult time getting into UL-L -- but the real question is, who the hell cares, and who the hell are YOU to dump on some kid with "only" an 18 on the ACT and a 2.6 who wants to go to college?</p>
<p>And I'm not a graduate of UL-L, but I know several people who are and I've never heard them take such ridiculous potshots like you did.</p>
<p>Ya know, sometimes I read posts that aren't relevant to my son's situation, just to get a laugh out of the level of snobbiness on this forum.</p>
<p>In all fairness to Calmom, she was probably oblivious to how her comments came across. And, she is by far NOT the only one here with that attitude. I've seen that attitude expressed by others towards kids who 'only' go to state schools rather than Ivies. And, some threads make the assumption that everyone WANTS to go to an Ivy! (Here's some news: not everyone would choose to go to an Ivy even if admission and $$ were not factors at all! Yeah, no kidding!) Some people talk about their kids as if they were trophies rather than real people.</p>
<p>Great post!! Yes, believe it or not, not every high school student will apply to Harvard. One lives in my home, and wouldn't go there if it were free!!</p>
<p>I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone. I was joking. I didn't mean to insult any students, I was intending to make a sarcastic comment directed to the creator of the web site -- who clearly is trying to entice students with the idea that his site will somehow help them get into selective, competitive colleges. If you Google the name, you will find that the guy has posted articles all over the internet describing himelf as a college admissions dean without revealing the name of the college, clearly trying to bolster his personal income by suggesting that he is affiliated with far more prestigious colleges. He's got at least half a dozen different internet businesses with very pretentious names, probably all shells for the same basic revenue garnering schemes. </p>
<p>I got the information about the ACT scores and GPA from university web site itself -- I didn't make it up -- it says admission is "guaranteed" with certain minimum stats. So if in fact the university has somewhat higher standards, they probably should clean up their site. Admittedly I picked a low number to make a point. An 18 on the ACT is in the bottom 3rd -- the university says it requires a minimum of least an 18 on the math & engish subscores, and also that the student must be in need of no more than one "remedial" course. In fairness there are some other requirements to get to the point of "guaranteed" admissions.... but then, the site is also clear that those with lesser stats will be considered for admission. </p>
<p>There are hundreds of colleges that simply have more spaces than students to fill them, and operate on essentially an open enrollment basis.... I am assuming that 90% of the mail you would get from this "recruiting" site would be from that sort of college, whether or not U.La at Lafayette is one of them. But Mr. Rosenfield doesn't do much for the prestige of the school where his employed with his little sideline. I think its pretty scummy for a college dean of anything to be using his credentials and connections to make a profit off of gathering private info from unsuspecting students -- there is a lot of money to be made from selling targetted mailing lists. </p>
<p>In any case, schools that have "enrollment managers" are being rather blatant about what is essentially a commercial marketing practice of trying to maximize revenues by leveraging financial aid -- it is one of those positions that combines admissions + financial aid together, very similar to being a used car salesman. (Look up "enrollment management" on Google or check this commercial web site to get an idea of what that means: <a href="http://www.enrollmentresources.net/%5B/url%5D">http://www.enrollmentresources.net/</a> -- the focus is clearly on marketing, not on quality of the student body or quality of academics).
In this case you have a guy who is employed at an Enrollment Manager at a public school, on the public payroll, exploiting his training and connections to make extra money for himself by gathering and selling personal inforrmation. If it is out of line for me to take a dig at his credentials... then I'm sorry. This is a guy who posts articles all over the internet describing himself as " a former college counselor, dean, and director of admissions at the secondary school, college" or "veteran college Dean and Director of Admissions". It seems obvious to me that he is trying to inflate his own credentials by passing himself off as a person with somewhat more prestigious credentials -- I was trying to do a little deflating, again -aimed at him, not at the students attending the university where he holds his marketing post.</p>
<p>Calmom, your apology post does not work for me to the extent I wish it would.</p>
<p>I know that in California a plethora of students go to Community College for an eternity before transferring to a University. I honestly do not believe that all of these Community College students who are hoping to transfer to University, are doing so in order to save their parents money. I am pretty gosh darned sure that a very fair amount of the Community College students where you live have the same stats that a first semester Freshman has at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Please note, before you go to town on google, that I am not making a broad generalisation on all Community College students in your state of California, I am only using really simple logic to make a point. There is no way 100% of all the thousands upon thousands of Community College students where you live, are in Community College hoping to transfer to University because they were the topmost scholars at their High School. Maybe 25-35% are trying to save money, but not all 100%. </p>
<p>You "retraction" is a good effort and I respect and appreciate your trying to "make nice", I honestly do. I do not hate you or anything mean like that. I just think that you overdid things a bit on your original post.</p>
<p>BTW. I started my Higher Education off at Community College. I do not think Community College to be a bad thing at all, and I work a second job at the Financial Aid office at a Community College. So, once again, I am not trying to insult Community College.</p>
<p>And do you think that someone who is a dean at the community college would be right to set up a dozen web sites trying to make money off of his qualifications as a "college admissions dean"? If I was over the top it was because I was ticked off at the guy looking to make fast buck by concealing his true identity and credentials -- its the same as if I poked fun at someone who advertised their services as a financial investment counselor if I learned they drove around in a beat-up old Hyundai. It's not an attack on the car, it's an attack on the person who pretends to be something that they are not. I drive old beat up cars myself, but I don't go around pretending that I am an expert on how to get rich. </p>
<p>Again, I'm sorry, because obviously the comment went awry and was misinterpreted - but if you have read any of my other posts here you know that I make a point of defending all sorts of colleges at all levels, and often am critical of those who are overly obsessed by prestige.</p>
<p>"...but if you have read any of my other posts here you know that I make a point of defending all sorts of colleges at all levels, and often am critical of those who are overly obsessed by prestige..."</p>
<p>Actually, this is true. I just read some other posts by CalMom and was impressed that she was supportive of someone's choice to go to a local state school rather than the prestigious one her parents wanted her to go to. (These were in a recent thread on the parents' forum - something about 'when parents and kids disagree,' I think it was.)</p>
<p>Explanation/Apology accepted by me, for what it's worth!</p>
<p>And, I should probably clarify my own comments: I was not directing my comments about snobbishness at CalMom personally so much as at a general attitude expressed by many on this forum.</p>
<p>Calmom - nifty piece of internet research. I enjoy seeing this type of scam exposed. It should also help others see this guy and his companies for what they really are. No apology needed.</p>
<p>calmom, one should not throw stones at glass houses sometimes. </p>
<p>
[quote]
..... if you go to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette site and get all excited, and think that's the school for you... then by all means, sign up for the mailing list, because I'm sure that Rosenfield knows all the enrollment managers at all his peer institutions, and face it: you are never going to find out about these schools from US News. I mean, if your kid's only got an 18 on the ACT math and a 2.6 GPA --well, then you need to know about Louisiana's fine institutions of higher learning.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I just did not take kindly to your statements about the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, that is all. There are actually some really fine institutions of higher learning in Louisiana, the last I checked.</p>
<p>But, I do indeed repsect the fact that you appologised after your first posting. That was very kind and nice of you to do, and I am not being sarcastic- I am just that corny:)</p>
<p>calmom, like merlin I did not appreciate what I read as an unnecessary swipe at UL-L, but I appreciate your explanation. I apologize for my harsh reaction -- it hits close when you have old (and very successful) friends who attended the college in question.</p>
<p>How about we all have a group hug while I kick calmom in the shins (just the one time, I promise) for putting down UL-L? How about it? Who is with me? </p>
<p>THANKS!! callmon. No apology is needed because the topic is about the unscrupulous who would victimize the vulnerable by pretending to help them. Your examples to illustrate this were apropos. Rather than being oversensitive about supposed slaps at students/institutions, we need to cultivate a community outrage against these unethical "services." Thanks for sharing your research. </p>
<p>I had already concluded what you exposed without doing a whois and was curious if anyone had been taken in by them or their ilk and had specific experiences to share. </p>
<p>I also wanted to draw attention to the topic of college and scholarship/grant search "services." What I would like to see is a well qualified list of internet resources for students and parents. These resources should be critiqued and rated and the unscrupulouts should be exposed as callmom did so effectively. As a resource critique example, I do not like it when such a service has a link to a commercial outfits offering student loans. That's not what we are looking for because I believe young adults should not have to start out in life with a mountain of debt when there are lots of other ways to finance their education. </p>
<p>Ultimately, what we need is a list of good resources based on the constructive feedback of communities like this. And a list of websites to avoid because of their questionable practices. I think this matches the charter of this forum.</p>