In other news (apolitical thread)...

[betarhoalphadelta]

Question for those of you who have kids recently off to college or soon to be so...

Hiring a "college admissions consultant" is absolute bullshit, right? 

My ex heard about some lady offering this [high-priced, of course] service from another parent, and it appears to be a sort of cottage industry. I told her I think it's bullshit and I don't agree with it, and won't pay for it.  

To me, it looks like a way for someone to separate fearful parents from their money. You know, the sort of "If you don't pay this, your child won't get into college, will become a failure, and will likely end up in jail. But if you DO pay this, your child just MIGHT go to Harvard and be President one day. Don't you care enough about your child to spend?"

I'm not inclined to agree, personally. My son has straight A's with [now] 6 AP classes completed through 3 years. He's been a 3-year member of the golf team. He has a job, which he balances successfully with school and work--and his job is being a math tutor at Mathnasium, so that will look PRETTY good on a college app--for an aspiring STEM student. He's a bit light on the volunteering, which he's trying to do more this summer, but no consultant will fix that. He's a decent writer for 17, but I'm pretty sure when it comes to an essay, I can help him. I'd say my writing skills are better than most, considering my job involves a tremendous amount of technical writing. 

He's not trying to go Ivy League for pre-med or pre-law. He's also not trying to "find himself" or figure out what he wants to study. He's trying to go to large state schools for Nuclear Engineering. He's already got his list of schools, prioritized in order. It's not like it's hard to find out how to apply or know the deadlines. And he's so freakin' self-motivated that I don't think staying on top of those deadlines will be a problem. 

But... Am I in the wrong here?

[847badgerfan]

Don't pay for that "service" because it's BS.

[bayareabadger]

Question for those of you who have kids recently off to college or soon to be so...

Hiring a "college admissions consultant" is absolute bullshit, right?

My ex heard about some lady offering this [high-priced, of course] service from another parent, and it appears to be a sort of cottage industry. I told her I think it's bullshit and I don't agree with it, and won't pay for it. 

To me, it looks like a way for someone to separate fearful parents from their money. You know, the sort of "If you don't pay this, your child won't get into college, will become a failure, and will likely end up in jail. But if you DO pay this, your child just MIGHT go to Harvard and be President one day. Don't you care enough about your child to spend?"

I'm not inclined to agree, personally. My son has straight A's with [now] 6 AP classes completed through 3 years. He's been a 3-year member of the golf team. He has a job, which he balances successfully with school and work--and his job is being a math tutor at Mathnasium, so that will look PRETTY good on a college app--for an aspiring STEM student. He's a bit light on the volunteering, which he's trying to do more this summer, but no consultant will fix that. He's a decent writer for 17, but I'm pretty sure when it comes to an essay, I can help him. I'd say my writing skills are better than most, considering my job involves a tremendous amount of technical writing.

He's not trying to go Ivy League for pre-med or pre-law. He's also not trying to "find himself" or figure out what he wants to study. He's trying to go to large state schools for Nuclear Engineering. He's already got his list of schools, prioritized in order. It's not like it's hard to find out how to apply or know the deadlines. And he's so freakin' self-motivated that I don't think staying on top of those deadlines will be a problem.

But... Am I in the wrong here?

If someone has the money and wants to buy that feeling, they can sure go for it.

Will it make more than a smidgen of difference for most kids? Highly doubtful.

[FearlessF]

Ed Zachery

[bayareabadger]

One of my favorite moments of that process was when admissions person at the University of Washington accidentally admitted that they don’t care about the essay at all.

It was also funny, They treated me really well because I had a good but not unbelievable GPA and I think they were trying to recruit out of state money.

[FearlessF]

probably similar to tutoring for the SAT 

[MikeDeTiger]

Question for those of you who have kids recently off to college or soon to be so...

Hiring a "college admissions consultant" is absolute bullshit, right?

My ex heard about some lady offering this [high-priced, of course] service from another parent, and it appears to be a sort of cottage industry. I told her I think it's bullshit and I don't agree with it, and won't pay for it. 

To me, it looks like a way for someone to separate fearful parents from their money. You know, the sort of "If you don't pay this, your child won't get into college, will become a failure, and will likely end up in jail. But if you DO pay this, your child just MIGHT go to Harvard and be President one day. Don't you care enough about your child to spend?"

I'm not inclined to agree, personally. My son has straight A's with [now] 6 AP classes completed through 3 years. He's been a 3-year member of the golf team. He has a job, which he balances successfully with school and work--and his job is being a math tutor at Mathnasium, so that will look PRETTY good on a college app--for an aspiring STEM student. He's a bit light on the volunteering, which he's trying to do more this summer, but no consultant will fix that. He's a decent writer for 17, but I'm pretty sure when it comes to an essay, I can help him. I'd say my writing skills are better than most, considering my job involves a tremendous amount of technical writing.

He's not trying to go Ivy League for pre-med or pre-law. He's also not trying to "find himself" or figure out what he wants to study. He's trying to go to large state schools for Nuclear Engineering. He's already got his list of schools, prioritized in order. It's not like it's hard to find out how to apply or know the deadlines. And he's so freakin' self-motivated that I don't think staying on top of those deadlines will be a problem.

But... Am I in the wrong here?

The only value I can realistically see in something like that would be well before applications are going out.  As in, someone who would advise students/their parents to join more clubs, do more volunteering, don't let your GPA slip below this level, etc.  But even that is all stuff you can easily find out for yourself, as you point out.  By the time a kid is a senior shopping around for schools, I can't see following the advice of a consultant, no matter how good, making any significant impact in that timeframe.  

There are people who may benefit from something like that, but I don't see you as being one of them.  

[Cincydawg]

We need a consultant to advise on whether we need a college consultant. 

[FearlessF]

[utee94]

Do condiments count as toppings?

[FearlessF]

not sure, it's silly that "beef" needs to be mentioned
and a great burger doesn't "need" any toppings or condiments a tall

[utee94]

not sure, it's silly that "beef" needs to be mentioned
and a great burger doesn't "need" any toppings or condiments a tall

Word.

I like all kinds of burgers-- mushroom and swiss, cheddar and bacon, I'm good with pretty much anything except pickles.

The way I usually order at Whataburger-- cheeseburger with American cheese, mustard, grilled onions, grilled jalapenos, and sometimes bacon.

[FearlessF]

most of the burgers I cook at home have just salt & pepper - if I don't have an onion - I will sauté some onion if it's available
Gonna be cheese if it's in the house
most times, no bun or bread 

a pickle on the side is good

Condiments if I'm feeling some extra flavor......... hot sauce, salsa, mustard, horseradish, steak sauce, BBQ sauce 

[SFBadger96]

The only value I can realistically see in something like that would be well before applications are going out.  As in, someone who would advise students/their parents to join more clubs, do more volunteering, don't let your GPA slip below this level, etc.  But even that is all stuff you can easily find out for yourself, as you point out.  By the time a kid is a senior shopping around for schools, I can't see following the advice of a consultant, no matter how good, making any significant impact in that timeframe. 

There are people who may benefit from something like that, but I don't see you as being one of them. 

I agree with the masses here; this is silly. BUT, for the kids who are competing for the top spots at the "top" private universities, there is probably some value to it. Those schools are much more competitive than they used to be. I think for the top UCs, (UCLA and Cal in particular), you just have to be real good--and get a reasonably lucky roll of the dice. If you want Stanford, MIT, CalTech...there might be an advantage to the college advisor. But that also feeds into the mania around this stuff. Look, if the boy doesn't get into MIT and has to "settle" for Purdue, Michigan, RIT, GaTech, Cal Poly SLO, etc., he's going to be just fine. Privileged parents put way to much crazy into an already crazy process.