<p>I have not seen any comments on this particular program, or others like it. Seems private admissions counselors/services now offer even more options, including an application process with fee for an exclusive program. If your STATS are good enough to be accepted for the “exclusive” counseling program, for a $15,000 cash up front payment, your first and/or second choice colleges are a “guaranteed” admit or your money back. </p>
<p>So if your don’t have what it takes, you can pay $25,000-30,000 for help getting accepted. And if you have what it takes, you can pay $15,000 guaranteed. You may have what it takes anyway, but given the “crapshoot” it can be to get accepted to a top tier college with great stats, what have you got to loose, right? </p>
<p>The comparison you just made has a flaw. You are saying that a 'guaranteed admission" package at $15,000 costs less than a package for $25,000-$30,000 where there are no guarantees. I believe you may be comparing one college counseling company to another? I think the comparison would be (even if you want to make one), that the Ivy Guaranteed package is $15,000 and at the same company, a regular senior package is $4000 (with no guarantees). You could compare that one company charges $4000 for a senior package, another charges $2000 and yet another charges $25,000. </p>
<p>As well, I do not agree with the notion of the fees being “for help getting accepted.” The fees are for help with the entire college selection and admissions process. Yes, one would hope for a positive and successful outcome like any applicant would hope for. The college counselor should not be hired with the notion of “to get me in” but rather to assist with the process using their expertise. Many do not need to use a counselor. Some find it helpful. But the counselor doesn’t get the student into college. Much of what a counselor does could be achieved on one’s own if one thoroughly researched the process and had some adult guidance along the way. Some might want expert assistance with that, but it shouldn’t be with the thought of “a counselor will get me in”.</p>
<p>Note also that the Ivy guarantee program must be applied to. You can imagine a bit of screening and selectivity goes on. </p>
<p>Personally, I find the whole idea of a Ivy guaranteed admissions program to be rather sad. Sad because it shows the demand for a brand name rather than a good education. </p>
<p>It has been debated here extensively before, but bears repeating that the the “lower ivies” do not compare all that well to a number of non-ivy colleges. Add to that individual differences and so forth, and I see a real disconnect.</p>
<p>I would sure like to see thier ‘‘cold/hard facts’’ as to the success of these guaranteed programs… cuz on an IVY can accept a student and their are NO real guarantees in that side of life.</p>
<p>It promises to return your money: “The IGAP guarantees a full refund of the counseling fee if the college applicant is not admitted into at least one of his/her top two college choices. Admission to either applicant-named school constitutes successful completion of the program. The two schools are specified by the student prior to acceptance into IGAP.”</p>
<p>I think its a great idea. These people are good business men, thats all this is. Where someone wants to go and why they want to go is none of anyones business</p>
<p>I think it’s a brilliant, if shady, business plan. Let’s face it: some of the people who apply to college will be accepted into their #1 or #2 choice, right? And the chances that an applicant from a family which has $15 to $30K to spend on this kind of “assistance” will get accepted are even better. So---- you sell your “services” - do nothing more than what anyone could find out for free by reading CC for a while, and then refund 70-80% of the fees you collected after the acceptances are in and only 20-30% of your clients got into their #1 or #2 choices. The 20-30% that’s left is still a tidy sum for the operators of the program. They don’t even have to increase the odds of acceptance - at all - to make a good profit off their “consulting.”</p>
<p>No “shadier” than car insurance. You spend thousands of dollars for collision insurance that most people will not use, and, if needed, usually could have been easily paid for out-of-pocket with the money saved had the insurance not been purchased. What you are paying for is protection against the relatively rare event when the car is totaled and the out-of-pocket expense would be extreme. Similarly, the Ivy guaranteed admission purchaser (not me, BTW) is buying an objective advisor/reviewer who has seen hundreds of comparable applicants and may identify some specific items that will enhance or (probably more often) lower a client’s chances.</p>
<p>Worth $15K? Hard to say. It certainly appears to be what the market will bear, which, in our society, is the only determinant of its “value”. The key statistic would be how these advisees fare compared to students with similar stats who are not counseled. Wonder if anyone would share those numbers…</p>
<p>Soozie, if a prospective student goes into this deal having already named the top two college choices, then the counselor is NOT being paid to help a student understand the whole selection process, find the best fit, etc. It seems to me the family is paying the counselor a pretty hefty sum to help write the essays, make the e.c list look good, contact the hs gc staff and suggest what they should say. If the customer is signing on years ahead of time, which is the only way a counselor can give advice about what classes to take, what outside activities to pursue, then that family actually has no idea which college will be the best fit. It just seems to be that any counselor adopting this college-specific guarantee approach is violating the spirit of the college search, which I thought was, find the best fit, and give the admissions committee an honest picture of the candidate.</p>
<p>If I were a paid college consultant, I would worry about the backlash to this approach. If I were Matt McGann or Ben Jones, I’d be honing my skills at detecting pretty packages.</p>