NYT: Congratulations it's an honor, you're invited...It's a sales pitch!

DoveofPeace · 04-19-2009, 10:27 PM

Quote:

"The offer that arrived in Emily Wharton’s mailbox looked and sounded more like an Academy Award than a sales pitch. In fancy script, on weighty card stock adorned by a giant gold seal, the letter congratulated Ms. Wharton for the honor of being nominated to attend the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C....

The company that organized the conference, a direct-mail powerhouse called the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, runs an alphabet soup of such conferences that it says are attended by 50,000 students a year. It solicits recommendations from teachers and alumni of previous conferences, and it culls names from mailing lists, for which the council paid $263,000 in 2006 alone, according to its last filing with the Internal Revenue Service, before it gave up its nonprofit status....

In fact, the conferences, like many on offer, manage to attract engaged students from around the country. For the Washington gatherings, “scholars” (as conference-goers are called) bunk at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center, a brick Georgian flanked by a dining hall and meeting rooms, just outside the city. During their parent-free trip, students role-play political situations, attend workshops, hear speakers and sightsee, and it culminates in a dinner and dance at a local hotel. The young participants generally give the trips positive reviews: surveys by the council show close to 97 percent satisfaction, and many conferees later recommend friends.

But the big promises in its mailings and the sheer volume of its business have gotten the company into trouble in the last few months. At least one lawsuit has been filed over its conference during the inauguration, and in February, after nearly 25 years in operation, it lost its Better Business Bureau accreditation...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/ed...&ref=education

friedrice · 04-19-2009, 10:39 PM

omg i get those mails ALL THE TIME
do not pad your resume with those programs
they are a scam

Sligh_Anarchist · 04-19-2009, 10:43 PM

Quote:

On the chat forum College Confidential, the thread begins in 2007: “I got this thing in the mail which I am not sure about. . . . Is it worth it? How does it look for college?” Others wonder: “Is it overpriced?” Is it “legit”? The thread continues into 2009.

Well, aren't we special?

I hate receiving their mail. They have sent me around ten gigantic packages over the past 2-3 years. It's such a waste of paper...

Secret Asian Man · 04-19-2009, 10:59 PM

It's especially creepy when they have your teachers' and classmates' names. They're going way overboard to try to get you hooked.

momof3sons · 04-19-2009, 11:00 PM

I toss these before my kid even sees them.

seke67 · 04-19-2009, 11:01 PM

I get these all of the time as well. I once got an envelope that said "National Youth Leadership Summit (or something to that effect) on Medicine and Healthcare". Inside the envelope, was information on courses in Government.

Ari7 · 04-19-2009, 11:14 PM

I got one of those too...on the outside it said "You've been accepted!!!" which was weird because I never even applied

rachael525 · 04-19-2009, 11:47 PM

Yeah. They're pretty annoying.

iEatReeds · 04-20-2009, 12:13 AM

It is indeed a marketing scam.

I ended up going to the NYLSC, for my individual state, then to the NYLC. Then I felt extremely special to be going to these two, as I was informed it was an honor. I was the first kid going from my school, after all. What colleges wouldn't love that?!

I do not regret meeting all the wonderful people I did or the experiences the program offered me. I cannot, however, shake the shame I feel when I remember it cost my parents a good $4,000 - for an "honor" I really didn't earn.

nbg127 · 04-20-2009, 12:51 AM

The interesting thing about this one is that I used to receive these from middle school all the way through high school (tossed them) but my brother who attended a school for gifted kids and won state and national academic awards NEVER received anything! That's when I knew it must be just names from a mailing list....

BrandNew70x7 · 04-20-2009, 01:10 AM

haha i was that kid with the 3.0 from smoking weed every day... and when i got it, i KNEW it was scam cause theres no way theyd send it to ME and have it be real :P

SLUMOM · 04-20-2009, 08:15 AM

We get those all the time-into the paper shredder/recycling bin...

any1can · 04-20-2009, 08:51 AM

Though I am not advocating these programs at all, my D did attend the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine last summer and for her, it was well worth the money because her forum focused on med school and what it takes to become a doctor. It was a ten day forum held at UCLA (not sponsored by UCLA) and other than 1/2 day at the Santa Monica Pier, an afternoon and evening at Universal Studios and a dinner dance, she was busy in skills labs, watching a surgery, hearing from doctors in different professions, learning about med school testing and interviewing, designing a group public health project for competition, spending 3 days at 3 different hospitals, etc. More stuff than I can list here. She has used the information she gained for her year-long Sr. project in high school and she is going into a pre-med college program with full knowledge of what she needs to do, the tests she needs to take, etc. so for her the information and skills she learned was very useful and she is going into college fully informed of the work involved and how many people actually end up as doctors (not many). She often brings up things she learned at her forum. Maybe she had a very good group and leaders. She was hoping for a little information and she got a lot of information and a lot of fun while getting it. We realized the nomination thing probably came from the talent search at the Collegeboard and that most people got this but we figured in was a good overview on alot of information that D was interested in finding out and that turned out to be the case. By the way, there were quite a few people there who were scholarshiped by the program.

amtc · 04-20-2009, 10:35 AM

My younger daughter also received an invitation to their program for middle school kids and, after checking with the Superintendent that it wasn't a scam but it was expensive, she went. It was one of the best experiences in her life and she grew and learned a great deal through her week.

We had a charity function in DC shortly before she was to go and I was speaking to a Senator regarding the program (she asked about my girls) and the Senator said it was a great program. Many, many elected officials speak and work at the conference with the kids and love doing so.

We were offered the Inaugural trip but decided against it as we figured it would be a zoo and our daughter does not like crowds. Common sense is really a parents responsibility. We have a friend who was recommended and went to the Medical Conference in LA last summer (after her junior year) and it confirmed her desire to major in science in college with an eye toward pre-med.

Is it for everyone? No. Is it somewhat less selective than they make it seem? Yes. Is it expensive? Sort of. But for the right kids it is truly a great, once in a lifetime opportunity. I certainly hope this article does not detract from the specialness of the program.

BrownEyes · 04-20-2009, 11:32 AM

I'm inclined to agree with post nos. 13 and 14 above ... my older son attended the National Youth Leadership Conference on International Diplomacy and Govt Relations held in Washington DC a few years ago. We took the money out of our mouths to send him. Still, it was an extremely positive experience from which my son made some college and other contacts while learning a great deal about topics that interested him very much. These conferences may not be for everyone, and I agree the way they are marketed is a bit deceptive but for students with passion and a genuine interest in the conference topics, they can be valuable and worthwhile experiences.