Are Mathcamp, Promys, Ross considered pay to play?

[hebegebe]

@Myth4573

An admissions consultant who worked as an admissions officer and at a senior level at an IVY suggested not to list any of math camps like Mathcamp, Promys, Ross, etc in the activities section as they are expensive and seen as pay to play programs.

This admissions consultant is an idiot.

I know several kids that did PROMYS. All of them were accepted into top-20 schools. A few were accepted into top-5 schools.