I think this article is pretty funny, especially the first sentence below. On the topic of getting into a selective school, I like the book

What High Schools Don't Tell You (And Other Parents Don't Want You toKnow): Create a Long-Term Plan for Your 7th to 10th Grader for Getting into the Top Colleges
by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/business/global/30college.html
Coaching and Much More for Chinese Students Looking to U.S.
By DAN LEVIN
New York Times
May 29, 2011

...

Students, whose parents often pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, are molded by ThinkTank into well-rounded, socially conscious overachievers through a regimen often beginning as early as the year before entering high school. The company designs extracurricular activities for the students; guides them in essay writing; tutors them for the SAT, the U.S. college admission exam; and helps them with meet-and-greet sessions with alumni.

�There�s a system built by colleges designed to pick out future stars and we are here to crack that system,� Mr. Ma said.

LuShuang Xu provides an example of that approach. Ms. Xu, who was born and raised in China before emigrating to suburban California at age 9, had high hopes that she would be the first in her family to go to college. But poor results on a practice SAT and a dearth of extracurricular activities convinced Ms. Xu, 17, that she needed a scholastic makeover if she were to make it into a school her parents could brag about to relatives.

ThinkTank sent her to a public speaking camp, helped her improve her college essay and gave her the e-mail addresses of all the members of the Stanford University history department. At the company�s prompting, she found two internships with department professors. She also enrolled in ThinkTank�s college prep courses, which helped improve her SAT score 410 points to 2160 out of 2400. Next autumn, she will start at Harvard University.

ThinkTank�s success with students in California�s Asian-American community, which accounts for 90 percent of the company�s American clients, has drawn interest from wealthy parents in China. Mr. Ma opened an office in Shenzhen in 2009 and another in Beijing last year.

<rest of article at link>

I do not think it is funny. I think it indicates a long term trend of competition for good schools here. There are a lot of kids from India also trying for spots. And as the numbers increase from both those countries, they will take spots, not only from top tier schools but second tier.

Ren

I read that book. It helped us identify an extra curricular activity D hadn't heard of that she wanted to try, but that is about it. It has a funny little reference to Davidson's THINK camp (actually a footnote), saying essentially that it is so selective it is not worth the readers planning on attending. D thought the footnote was very funny, since she has been to THINK.

Ren, anyone is free to hire a consultant or a company like that. It is not just people from other cultures. And among those students from other cultures, not all are hiring consultants. My D has really enjoyed some friends she met at THINK from other countries (her exact quote: "I think someday I will marry someone from India because the friends I made from there are so smart").

http://www.davidsongifted.org/think/Article/THINK_Summer_Institute___Qualifications_368.aspx

Yep. "In order to be eligible an applicant must... be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident living in the United States". Maybe these other friends were permanent residents.

Well, I assume they were from families of Indian descent. The point I was really trying to make is that bright students come from all backgrounds, and I don't think it matters a lot what their ethnic background is. I am a little offended, honestly, by Ren's comments that "they" will take spots in college from what I assume are her non-Asian, non-Indian children. Anyone from any background can push their kids to study hard and pay for college consultants if they choose to.

Not really and this isn't a comment about any specific ethnicity. There are a lot of families, mine included, that cannot afford to pay for college consultants. This type of service, IMHO, creates a greater rift btwn classes -- those who can afford to buy their children admission to prestigious universities vs. those who cannot. We won't be doing any SAT/ACT prep courses for dds.

My kids are fortunate that they are bright and should have good grades and test scores without the prep, but they are being unevenly compared if you, for instance, take kids of comparable ability and spend thousands of dollars prepping them for college admission tests, helping them write essays, etc. My dds, too, would probably do better if they spend months studying with a tutor for the SAT, but we can't do that.

I really don't think that it is a matter of xenophobia or racism so much as it is parents who can't afford to pay for this type of service taking offense at their children perhaps losing a place at a university to someone whose parents can afford to prep them for that spot.

Cricket2, fair enough that college consultants are more of an option for wealthier families.

Having acted as my own Ds' "college consultant", I can say that option of doing it ourselves is also open to all of us. With all the books (like the one Bostonian recommends above, and many others), and websites like College Confidential available, I really believe that I can support my kids through the college application process as well as any consultant. I was also older D's "SAT tutor" -- I honestly believe our one-on-one sessions with SAT prep books did her more good as a SAT prep class would have. The cost in dollars was minimal, and I think my kids and I have both enjoyed the time spent together on the college search process.

There are many cheaper alternatives to the full-service college consulting which could run into more than $10,000.

For SAT prep, Princeton review offers classes in $500 range. If your kid are self-disciplined, he may not even need classes. Buy a few books at $15 a piece may be enough.

For the admission consulting, the biggest thing is the essays. Kids grew up in US shouldn't need someone else to write the essays for them. The key is to decide what to write. For that, you can find an independent consultant who charges a hourly fee, commonly $100 a hour in Bay area. 5-6 hours is usually enough to get the essays done.

Honestly, my dd12 is a fantastic writer. She's had teachers, since 2nd grade, telling me that she writes better than they do. For her, I guess that I don't worry about the essay writing. I was just providing an alternate view that this is more about class than it is ethnicity in my opinion. It would be interesting to see how two ability matched kids who prepped via something like Princeton Review vs. independent study fared in terms of gains in test scores on college admission tests.

You might also check out this free test prep site, if you are worried that independent study isn't the way to go for these tests.

My personal view is that knowing the underlying material that is covered on the tests and getting comfortable with the format of taking the tests (which can be accomplished by running through free or cheap practice tests) is really all that is needed to do well. A lot of the highly-rated test prep courses really just help remediate bad high school teaching and provide some basic test-taking tips, such as answering all the questions you know right away first, before spending time trying to figure out ones that you find more difficult.

There are two different things being discussed in this thread. The first is highlighting the very real problem of international students who are often taken advantage of by services with questionable ethics who are operating outside of the bounds of acceptable practice.

The other question was about US students using college consultants. There has been some misinformation about this topic. First, this is not a practice just confined to very wealthy families on the coasts. The average high school counselor is responsible for over 500 students now and that covers everything from complying with graduation requirements to helping kids with family problems. Parents with kids in public schools with these sorts of counselor loads maybe surprised when it comes time for college applications.

According to this article. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/college-finance/college-consultants-match-teen-with-school-1.aspx The average family hiring a consultant makes $75,000 to $100,000 a year. This is a solid income but far from being something that only a few elites have. Most people are paying consultants much less than the fees mentioned earlier on this thread - more in the ballpark of $3,000. Considering a lot of colleges cost $50,000 a year and many students don't graduate some families consider this a reasonable investment in making a decision that makes sense for the child academically, socially and financially.

As far as test prep, the success rate of group services like Kaplan or Princeton Review are not actually that high. To the extent they work they work as a form of discipline because people feel they've made the financial investment so they are more likely to nag their kids. You really can do the same thing with a stop watch and a free test prep book from the library. The biggest part of test prep really comes from doing well in the foundational courses such as algebra 1 and geometry. Also, there is no substitute for being a reader.

If you want to feel resentment about the role of social class in this process I would be more concerned about two things. 1. Paying for college - really poor people and really rich people seem to be on track - anyone in the middle class is in trouble. 2. The quality of education your kids get before they apply for college. It is much tougher to be a competitive applicant if you come from a poor school.

I'm not so sure that there is an "edge" for upper middle class, gifted students in the college admissions process. My neighbor's daughter just graduated from Exeter, at the top of her class with nearly perfect SAT scores. She did not get in to the Ivy that her mom attended. In fact, she did not get into a number of lower tier schools, dispute her amazing resume, grades and track record. I've heard similar stories of disappointment.

I'm not sure what the issue is. More foreign applicants? More applicants overall so that the schools could accept a qualified freshman class 10 times over? No interest in a science and math focused brilliant white middle class girl? Not enough top notch colleges? Unrealistic expectations?

It feels that the process is broken. It irks me that the College board has so much power and influence. It feels like a waste of resources to spend time and money on SAT prep. I hate the idea that a student should apply to 8-10 schools considering the time and $$ that it takes. Spending money on essay consultation is another resource zapper. It seems as if the process does not favor anyone, expect maybe the college application/consulting/testing industry.

There are lots of resources available to prep for the SAT and ACT tests, free or not free. It's foolish, in my opinion, not to devote time to trying to score well on these tests, if your child wants to go to a competitive college. That is why you see so many perfect SATs now.
I used to teach SAT/ACT and MCAT in college and med school for Kaplan. You can really pump your scores up by taking prep courses.
It's not enough to be "bright." "Everyone" is bright.
I don't support paying $100,000 for a college consultant but you can be savvy about it. You can read (for free) about successful applications to colleges for free on the internet. I've interviewed kids for top-level school and have passed that knowledge on (for free) to friends and their kids.
You'd be surprised how many kids cannot write up a decent resume. They expect teachers to write great letters of reference without a resume, etc. It's really sad.
It has gotten alot more competitive to get into good colleges. More kids are applying.
I will say that taking a test prep can help boost your scores. At a minimum, it will make you aware of how the test is constructed- what the time constraints? What are your weakest points for the test? Etc. It's not enough to be a reader.

Ivy league colleges are a crapshoot for anyone applying these days. When the acceptance rate is only 6-10% for most of them, and at least 50% of the applicants meet the profile of the kid from Exeter mentioned above, it is a lottery. There are just so many applicants. I personally wish the Common App had never been created. Although it was more work when my older D applied to colleges three years ago for the few colleges that didn't accept the Common App, she really had to focus on that school and their process. Students would be a lot less likely to apply to a dozen schools if they had to complete each app independently, and I think that would be a good thing.

I guess it depends on your definition of "elite". About 85% of American families have incomes below this level, with most of them earning less than half that amount.

That would be where we fall -- as someone mentioned above, not wealthy enough to easily afford college and high cost consultants but not poor enough to get need based grants.

It all depends on context here. With the average household income around $50,000 in this country, I don't call a family earning $75,000 to be elite. They are very likely still going to be a family who struggles with the cost of college. Families at $60,000 or below are defined as "low income" when it comes to high selective colleges because obviously compared to costs of $50,000 it sure is.

Cricket2 - if you have not already done so I would encourage you to try the online cost calculators and see where you come out in eligibility for need based aid. Often people assume that they will not be eligible for aid when in fact that are. It is the people who are upper middle class - like the figures we discussed earlier - who tend to be in the toughest position (and thus part of why this group hires consultants). Some savvy planning can make a difference here.

Did she get into a good college and will she be able to afford to attend? Hope so.

I don't see kids getting rejected from Ivy League schools as a broken process. People not understanding that there are many places to get a good education - that's a bigger problem.

Most consultants charge around $3,000 not $100,000. I agree though, the information is readily available to anyone with a library card and Internet access and hiring a consultant isn't necessary if you have the time to do it on your own. It is a lot like doing your own taxes - some folks prefer to hire an accountant. Also, we should keep in mind most kids aren't looking at these highly selective colleges but more often at their local options and that's a lot simpler.

Yes, I agree with that. Huge amounts of power, lots of fees.

Good time for a hooray for colleges who have gone SAT/ACT free

http://fairtest.org/university/optional

In a free market with less government interference, standardized tests would likely be even MORE important. College has largely become a credentialing scam that employers use in lieu of IQ-like tests. They can't use IQ tests directly because of "disparate impact" -- blacks and Hispanics score below Asians and whites.

This theory is discussed in the paper "The Law of Unintended Consequences Revisited: The Case of Ricci v. DeStefano" http://www.centerforcollegeaffordability.org/uploads/Amicus.pdf .

There was a question about "they" in one of my posts about taking spots. "They" meant foreign applicants. These are US colleges we are talking about.

Not US born or residents applying, because they are in US schools for lower levels.

I think it is the attitude of the Chinese parents cited. These are the same people that will save to buy a piano. No TV or Wii in their homes. These are working, middle class people that want their children to have a leg up and better life. They save and pay for consultants for college so their kids can get into the top schools.

Like the girl from Exeter, I am hearing diminished exmissions to top schools from a lot of top high schools that were feeders to the IVs 10 years ago.

Ren

Again, I think a consultant helps you market yourself (your child) better. The problem with being a "star" at Exeter (I would guess; I went to my public school in KS, LOL) is that there are lots of stars in your class. Harvard, Yale, etc. will only take so many Exeter students, etc.
A consultant could help your child find the unique things that will push their application to the top of the heap. You could do that too, if you know how to market them, etc. I don't agree with this, BTW.
Alot of non-Chinese people pay for consultants too. We live in an area where there are ALOT of "Tiger moms" and Asian overachievers. (I'm generalizing; my doctor friend, who is from Taiwan, told me her kids "failed out" of Chinese school b/c she was such a lousy Tiger mom!). Some of them get dinged with their college applications for getting perfect SATs, perfect grades, playing piano, etc. Being a stereotype. I could imagine such parents hiring a consultant to make THEIR kid look different from the OTHER kids who have very similar credentials.
When I got into Harvard Medical School, my boyfriend at the time (who was at Harvard Law) said the only way to get into Harvard was to teach underwater basketweaving to Burmese peasants! You get the general idea.

I heard that some schools (like Stanford) are now trying to achieve a more heterogeneous student population. The straight A, perfect SAT score kids with the bogus formulaic/strategic extra curricular and token volunteer service are just...well...boring and not bringing much to the table that is new. Stanford even has a admissions counselor just for home-schooled students now.

FWIW, I took the SAT in the 1980s and bombed it horribly (my free range British boarding school education did not prepare me at all and I had no practice and no idea what it was all about). I still was conditionally accepted to Berkeley to a large degree I believe this was due to the very obscure major I put down (entomology). Not a very competitive major for getting in but once there after 2 years of core classes I probably could have switched majors pretty easily if I had wanted to.

So there is a free admissions tip!

Students at Exeter, and any top private school, are getting college consulting services far beyond what the average public school student is getting. Providing this consulting is part of how the schools sell themselves.

And, again, while some people may be hiring consultants with hopes of a special advantage, many are simply hiring them because the system is complex and no loner do school counselors have the time or resources to do this work.

Interesting article on merit aid in the Washington Post today. This is where our kids on this forum should shine (it is exactly what my oldest daughter did, knocked 1/3 off private college tuition through merit aid).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...ding-wars/2011/05/17/AG7JwzEH_story.html

I am happy to let other students chase the Ivy and top 10 college admissions.