<p>Disclosures as the Kaavya Viswanathan story unfolds make me wonder... just how "normal" is the use of professional help for the college application process?
Help us Harvard wannabes out please - is this the missing link we all need to consider?</p>
<p>PS: feel free to send me a private message if you prefer to remain anonymous. I will post consolidated survey results if sufficient responses are received. We all stand to benefit from this data, so this is no time to be shy!</p>
<p>You won't get any useful data by random people posting on some college website.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what your plans are but you certainly don't NEED "professional help for the college application process" There aren't that many steps to applying and I would bet the majority of kids that get in do it on their own... with some parental prodding. My advice.. start early.. read, review, have someone else review.. apply and cross your fingers. With or without professional help the odds of getting in are about 10%.</p>
<p>Good advice... but is it realistic? ESPECIALLY with the odds of admission being as low as 10% - perfectly good/qualified candidates get rejected for no apparent reason; competition is stiff; every little bit can make or break your chances.
Maybe it's the natural scientist in me ;) but I'm trying to figure out what "edges" admitted students have over their comparable yet rejected counterparts.
Let's put it this way - did anyone use a consultant and <em>NOT</em> get in to their college of choice?</p>
<p>I would strongly suggest that you NOT use one of these services. My father wanted to take some money out of my college fund for one of these services, and I told him no, and instead did all of my applications 100% by myself without him.</p>
<p>and that was good enough for Harvard.</p>
<p>I think these high-priced consultants do much more than "help with apps". They actually start working with students early on and "package" them by making recommendations as to what courses they should take, how they should spend their summers, what their ECs should be to make them as attractive to Ivy League schools as possible. I would even bet that the best consultants have all kinds of connections that help their clients become stand-out applicants (see the Opal Mehta thread). Also, because many of them are former adcom members, they have a lot of insight into the process and can help the student focus their energies in the right direction. I bet that most of them have a pretty high success rate, but I think it is unfair to those that can't afford this kind of high-priced help.</p>
<p>If I am not mistaken, I think many applications ask if you had help in the process -- I wonder if those that do are honest about it. For example, I wonder if Harvard knew that Kaayva V. of the Opal Mehta scandal had help and what they think about that now.</p>
<p>you make a good point vango. its got to be a long term "molding" of the apps rather than a packaging. maybe im naive, but i sincerely hope admissions officers look upon a disclosure of professional help on student apps as a negative (instead of considering it as a favorable "student shows strong interest in school" kind of scenario!). what do these "consultants" cost anyway? do they give any kind of guarantees?</p>
<p>From what I've seen, services of outside counselors run from a few thousands to 20-30K. But within that range, services vary greatly. The cost is also determined by when they begin working with the student - some start as early as 8th grade, others as late as senior year fall. I think colleges definitely consider it a negative to have outside help. Half the people offering their services are former adcom members, so the colleges know these people have "inside information," and I'm sure they recognize the hand these people have in packaging their clients. I'm curious to know if Harvard asks on the application if you've had help and, if that is the case, I'm curious what Kaavya V. put down.</p>
<p>What do they cost? Far too much...</p>
<p>Ultimately, Harvard wants unique and ambitious students. Work on your apps, do the extra-curriculars you enjoy, and develop that oh-so-elusive "voice" that will permeate throughout your application. Make sure your reccomendations are written by good writers who know you well (English teachers have a great way with recs...surprisingly enough). Ultimately, make it to where Harvard has to admit you - their class would be lacking some fundamental character trait that you possess and would only be enriched by your presence. I believe that professional counselors are wildly successful and often package already great candidates into more marketable candidates. This in no way means you need to get one yourself. Most of the students admitted to these schools get in without the help of Cohen or other high-paid counselors. Just...be yourself!</p>
<p>"Packaging" is an unfortunate practice that has taken over both sides of the College Admissions process (Universities as well as students). It is somewhat specious of the universities to bemoan "professional help" in completing your application,when, as the schoolyard saying goes,"they started it". Big money is spent on student demographic research, as well as marketing research so that the university is buffed and scrubbed to its prettiest on that catalogue that reaches your doorstep. Every word used on that catalogue has been at the very least pored over by PR experts, if they were even created "inhouse" at all. That is their "application to you". As far as their own "grades" (rankings, selectivity, etc) they massage them furiously and alter admissions policies competitively as to appear more desireable to you.</p>
<p>Now, as a student, what you should realize is that just as the brochure and letters (sometimes a bunch of "personal letters" from the same institution, and yes, even Harvard does it) are their "application to you" (choose Harvard!); so is your application to them a "brochure". It is a short document with your vital stats, but instead of color pictures and blurbs from students and professors about how their offerings are so good for you, you get to post essays about why you are such a good candidate for them.</p>
<p>Having read many application forms I can tell you that presentation matters. An application from truly exceptional candidate has a striking "identity". A merely smart and well credentialed candidate, as I'm sure Ms Visnawatha was, may need extra help creating such a striking "identity" that it makes an extremely selective school think they "must" have that student. Sometimes parents or relatives can help the student create that identiy by asking tough questions whose answers bring forth the student's strengths and passion. Professional packagers call this "finding your voice".</p>
<p>So far, so good. Universities have no qualms about spending lots of money on market research, catalogues, marquee professors (who may teach little if at all),and sundry professionals on their "application to you". Universities; however, feel at the very least ambivalent about you doing the same when you "apply to them". They seem to prize "uniqueness, originality and authenticity". A packaged application is, by definition, not.
Therein lies the dilemma for the skillful "packager"- how to have the biggest impact without leaving a footprint.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for "professional packagers" such as IvyWise, the Visnawatha affair has left such a large and smelly footprint at Harvard's doorstep, that they still haven't figured out how to clean it. Briefly put, the admissions committee was spectacularly blindsided when the stunning professionally packaged Ms Visnawatha was presented to the world, she unwittingly eructed the noxious fumes of maldigested college packagers, book packagers, unexamined ambition, plagiarism, big money, etc., that had been brewing inside her.</p>
<p>The problem for you, dear OP, is that Harvard is extremely reluctant to live trough similar episodes and will thus be on HIGH ALERT against "packaged applications"</p>
<p>Can't really afford it. I guess there are cheaper one's in the $1200-2000 range but I'm suspicious that the amount of bang received on these modest levels are somewhat insufficient. I also find it quite immoral to call someone in just to fine polish you. It's enough receiving recommendations and tips from teachers, friends, parents.</p>
<p>Harvard doesn't like packaged applicants</p>
<p>can't afford to hire consultants.</p>
<p>I think it's very unfair to brand everyone who uses a private college counselor as BAD and SNEAKY. I personally don't have one, because my small school's college counselor is just fine...but what about kids in a humongous public school with an impersonal counselor? If you don't get basic help from your counselor, then it's probably a good idea to hire one of your own. Of course, Kaavya V. didn't have this problem (she went to some special school in NJ), but just in general, let's be fair.</p>
<p>Also, to the original poster: please don't waste your resources (time, money, focus) on the college admissions process. Take this time to get involved in school activities without thinking TOO hard about what this will mean to colleges. Seriously. One success-story doesn't mean you should shell out 3948539568734 dollars.</p>
<p>hmmm, i didn't hire a consultant or get tutored for the SAT/ACT. i didn't discover this site until after i applied. so yeah, i pretty much did everything on my own.</p>
<p>But those who hired one should be required to disclose it on the app.</p>
<p>Only n00bs hire consultants.</p>
<p>To jimbob, I think it's important to point out that the VAST majority of kids who go to big public schools don't have 20-30 K to spend on a private college counselor. If they did, they wouldn't be going to a big public school. (Even if they do go to public schools, they're most likely small, highly selective magnets that offer plenty of college app assistance.) IvyWise and its peers aren't really helping the needy, here.</p>