<p>It is a scam.</p>
<p>Let your kid apply by himself, if he doesn’t get in then oh well its not the end of the world.</p>
<p>Scam, for 500 bucks? I know it isn’t chump change, but it’s not ridiculous by any means compared to the private consultants many people in upper middle class households hire for their kids. Assuming that all the work is your kid’s and that the Harvard student plays an advisory role (essays, college lists, packaging) I don’t see anything ethically wrong with it…Except for the fact that I personally wouldn’t do it…</p>
<p>Even if it’s not a scam (which it is), I would never do it. It’s like he’s getting in harvard again, not me. It’s like making a friend take the SATs for you because he got a 2400.</p>
<p>Can a current Harvard student give a realistic opinion of how to
better your chances- possible but not probable. This is because
we ourselves can only guess at what got us admitted to Harvard!</p>
<p>OP, the advice that will help your son relates to ECs, presentation
of himself through the app and approching LOR writers.</p>
<p>It is too late to be changing or joining ECs.</p>
<p>You should get the books by Geraldine Woods (Dummies Book) and
by Hernandez (about the common app) read it over about 6 times
and apply the wisdom for the other two areas. I did.</p>
<p>I applied to 6 schools and got accepted to all of them. For most of them
I am about 60-70% sure about what got me admitted for Harvard I
continue to wonder. </p>
<p>Approach this as a business proposition which it is. What do you think the
$500 is worth - 5 hrs of editing essays, 5 hrs of editing the application
information including the additional information section - that is $50/hr.
I would expect the transaction would be reasonable at $20/hr, put in a $100 premium
for the Harvard name, take off $50 for the lack of counseling credentials —
$200-$250 sounds reasonable with a $250 bonus if your son gets into Harvard :)</p>
<p>Me? I would follow the advice every one else is giving - just tune into CC and you
are good to go. ;)</p>
<p>Basically, you don’t have the confidence that your kid can get in by his/her own wits.
Moreover, how do you know that this isn’t an expository piece that the harvard kid is writing in order to elucidate the dire extremes people will go to in order to claim a spot at top schools like harvard? I mean he is on the Crimson. This, however, is purely speculation, so don’t take it completely seriously.</p>
<p>Post your son’s numbers and we can give you FREE advice on whether it is worth it to hire the “Harvard expert.” Let us determine if your son is in the ballpark for Harvard.</p>
<p>Tell him you want a money-back guarantee of admission.</p>
<p>I haven’t read any of the other posts so forgive me if I am repeating someone else’s point, but I know that I would not do that, or rather, I would not permit my parents to do that. Although, I do not think they would want to. </p>
<p>Admissions at top schools are usually pretty arbitrary. If you want to hire a college student to tutor your kid in classes, that’s acceptable and probably a good idea if that college student is majoring in that particular subject; but to be an admission’s coach? Definitely not.</p>
<p>No. The student is scamming you. I’m saying this as a Harvard alum.</p>
<p>“Revise heavily” means he would be rewriting to the point of being unethical. Is this the lesson that you want to teach your son about how to get ahead in life? </p>
<p>And why would you think that just because the student is at Harvard that he knows what admissions officers look for in essays?</p>
<p>IMO you would be wasting your money plus would be teaching your son that your son should try to get ahead by any means necessary. In addition, by paying someone to “revise heavily” your son’s essay, you’d be giving your son the message that you don’t think he’s capable of writing well enough to get into Harvard on his own.</p>
<p>Also, are you sure that the student is who he says he is? He has transferred twice to Ivies? Sounds like a liar to me.</p>
<p>This also reminds me of a story I have related in other threads. I read this in a book–I would credit the book if I could remember which book I read the story in. Once upon a time a man had a college admission consulting business. He insinuated that he had an “in” with the admission committee at Brown University. He said to clients, “I can’t guarantee that every client I speak up for will get into Brown, but if your child doesn’t get into Brown, you’ll get your money back.” He asked for a payment of $3,000. Once the parents paid up, he proceeded to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. (In fact, he had no connection with the Brown admission committee at all.) Some of those applicants got into Brown, and he cashed their checks. Some others didn’t get into Brown, and he returned their checks. That’s a pretty good income for doing no actual work.</p>
<p>I am so happy this question came up. I have a different version of the same question. My mother is a professional writer. She graduated from college with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, worked as a reporter then columnist for 10 years, and then began writing books. As any parent would, my mother reads my essays and makes suggestions. For a normal written assignment in school, I rarely even bother asking for her help, but for important papers, I do. In fact, the more important the essay, the more I use her talents. I plan on using her talents a lot for my college essays. I obviously do not have to pay her for this help, but the harder I work on the essays, the more assistance I will end up getting from her. In the end, someone could say that I had an advantage and that her help resulted in “heavy editing,” whatever that means. </p>
<p>It never dawned on me that this would be wrong. My BFF’s parents are scientiests at the JPL; they have PhD’s in physics and biology-related fields and pretty much think in calculus. As you would expect, she does very well in all science and math classes, even though she sleeps in class, since her parents know so much more about the subjects than our teachers, and they do a great job explaning the problems (I use them myself at times). Another friend’s dad teaches history at UCLA, and he’s a great help. Is this wrong?</p>
<p>Is there a difference when the help kids receive come from a parent as opposed to a paid stranger?</p>
<p>P.S. I’d bet $500 the help I receive from my mom will be much, much more valuable than that offered by the Harvard kid. It bothers me when someone admitted to a school all-of-a-sudden crowns himself the King of All Insight when it comes to getting accepted to that school. Maybe he just got lucky.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the “heavy editing” is the point that’s justifiably bothering people. If this kid had offered to review the application and make suggestions on essays and other responses, and to give general advice, then he’d be doing what lots of college counselors do, and the only decision would be whether to hire a cheap amateur or an expensive professional. If he’s a smart kid and writes well, he might help improve an application without violating any ethical boundaries.</p>
<p>I think that after going through the college application process myself years ago, and now with my son, and with what I’ve learned on CC and elsewhere, that I could easily provide $500 worth of advice to a number of people I’ve encountered in real life. There are plenty of other people on CC who could certainly do the same, and much more, even if they’re not professional counselors. Professional counselors have resources we don’t, though, such as as networks, and time for many college visits, and direct experience (ideally) with lots of other kids. That’s why they charge what they do.</p>
<p>To Happynow, it’s not easy to draw the line between assistance that’s OK and editing that makes the final product not the genuine work of the student. I certainly read my son’s essays and made comments, and others did as well. The result was that he rewrote and edited the essays, taking into account the comments he received. There is no bright line, but if you find yourself asking your mom, “Who’s writing this, you or me?”–then you’re probably over the line.</p>
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<p>The difference depends on what is actually being done by the parent or consultant. If your journalist mother or your best friend’s parents are teaching you concepts about how to write papers or do scientific problems sets better, that’s fine. Lucky you - these are nice examples of the intrinsic boost kids get from having highly-educated parents. But if the parents are taking over and writing or rewriting the essay for you or your friend’s parents are working or fixing the problem sets themselves, then that is a problem and not really different from what the Harvard kid purports to offer. His “heavy editing” sounds like a code word for just taking over and rewriting the essay.</p>
<p>Happynow: I also occasionally edit my D’s papers, which I obviously do not believe is unethical. There are 3 differences between what I do, and what this supposed Harvard student proposes:</p>
<p>First, I do it only at my D’s request. I don’t jump in and suggest that she’s incapable of doing a good job by herself.
Second, I do not “heavily edit.” I limit myself to spelling, punctuation, and egregious grammar errors. If there is a passage that is unclear or awkward, I simply note that and return it to her for re-write. Under no circumstances do I insert my writing in place of hers.
Third, I obviously don’t stand to make a profit from my services.</p>
<p>In my life, there isn’t a bright-line on the floor that tells me when I’ve crossed. Writing is my mom’s life. She likes nothing better than discussing an essay (or even a sentence). For her, talking about one of my essays is the highlight of her day. I worked several weeks on the 150-word essay for the common application. My essay only has eight sentences. I’ve kept every draft. When I read my first draft and compare it to my final draft, the final is clearly much, much better. I also see my mom’s influence, even though it is my work and she was only helping. I’m not sure if I can tell if my essay qualifies for my mom “taking over.” It sure is a much better essay now than when I started. </p>
<p>Coureur is correct. Having highly educated parents is a big advantage. How can I judge those students whose parents are not as educated (or perhaps do not have a solid grasp of English) and they turn to paid-advisors? I guess they are just trying to even the playing field. It’s a difficult for me to decide when the help is illegitimate and when it is not.</p>
<p>"Coureur is correct. Having highly educated parents is a big advantage. How can I judge those students whose parents are not as educated (or perhaps do not have a solid grasp of English) and they turn to paid-advisors? "</p>
<p>However, in the cases I’ve heard of, it’s the kids from the most highly educated backgrounds who are turning to paid advisors for help.</p>
<p>Getting suggestions about topics and the types of things to highlight in an essay is ethical. Using a consultant or parent to fix one’s grammar and to rewrite one’s essay is not ethical.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, you really think pointing out grammar errors in a college essay is unethical? I can’t imagine many adults asked to look over a student’s essay who wouldn’t point out such errors. I also don’t think it’s unethical to say things like, “This second paragraph is vague, and your conclusion is weak,” etc.</p>
<p>Northstarmom: In my school, the richest kids use advisors. Their parents often own successful business. Their parents don’t necessarily have the best education. Most of them are immigrants. They don’t have the time or ability to help their kids with essays, so they turn to advisors.</p>
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<p>While there may be a few instances of this, in general, students with uneducated parents are the ones LEAST likely to be able to afford to pay consultants. The stereotype is the rich kid who has already been raised with lifetime of advantages and has one more advantage tossed on the pile by having daddy buy a hired gun for the essays.</p>
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<p>The playing field gets leveled to some degree by the school. That’s why college apps always want to know your parents’ education and income - to judge how far you had to climb to get to your current level of achievement.</p>
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<p>Yes, there is no hard, fast border. It’s another one of life’s ambiguities that we all have to deal with.</p>
<p>Report the kid to the Feds.</p>