<p>I’d just point out that in this case is it not a “failed guarantee” but outright theft – according to the suit, Shaw took the money and then turned down the client and refused to provide services. </p>
<p>What has “failed” is not the “guarantee” – this is an outright (and very simple) breach of contract form – $200K cannot possibly be the amount required for an preliminary review of the clients credentials, it must have been the fee charged for the services that Shaw refused to provide. </p>
<p>There may very likely be more to this story — but as reported it looks fairly straightforward. It doesn’t matter whether the kid was or was not “Ivy material” or how he got into Columbia – the only question is whether Shaw provided the services promised for $200K – and it looks as if he did not.</p>
<p>If it can be demonstrated that Shaw/Hsueh accepted $200,000 in a foreign bank in Hong Kong, and the “consultant” not only failed to return it but failed to declare it, this case might take a different dimension. This lawsuit, because of the last name of the plaintiff is all over the world.</p>
<p>And, fwiw, $200,000 even if paid by a relative of a foreign dictator is simply obscene. Accepting such a fee (if it is true) speaks volume about the lack of integrity of Shaw’s company. People do not pay such fees for rewriting essays and creating an innocent series of fabricated EC. Even the IvyWise(r) Katherine Cohen must have thought that 200K could buy a lot of Met Internships or potential chick flicks and bestsellers!</p>
<p>$200,000? That’s more than an Ivy League Education currently costs. Some years ago, I heard about a place that wanted $18,000 and guaranteed a spot in the Ivy League. I got the impression that some of the people who worked for the company were former admissions officers and it seemed very shady to me. What could they possibly be doing for that amount of money?</p>
<p>To me, what was more interesting was the linked story about the Asian girl from Holmdel who hired Ivy League Success. Apparently as a result of their advice, her family moved from Holmdel, which had very competitive schools, to a nearby town that was more working class.</p>
<p>She ended up being the only Oriental in the school and the valedictorian in her class. And got into Yale and MIT.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t say much for the college admissions process.</p>
<p>And here’s a quote from another story about Ivy Success:</p>
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<p>Ummm, if you don’t want to be gamed, why not take the top students based on their grades and test scores and not worry so much about extracurriculars, “diversity,” and other stuff? Because obviously if extracurriculars are a big factor, students will start choosing them with an eye to college admissions.</p>
<p>The linked stories do not prove that Ivy Success was instrumental in getting the students into top schools. As the main story proves, one can get into such a school without any help whatsoever from Ivy Success. It is very possible that the students could have gotten in without their parents moving their families or paying good money to Ivy Success.</p>
<p>As for top grades and test scores, they are only part of a student’s profile. In general, successful applicants to such schools have far more than high GPAs and test scores. The issue for schools is how to distinguish between an excess of qualified students. Harvard claims that 80% of the 20,000+ students who apply for one of the 2,000 spots it offers annually are qualified. That’s 16,000 for 2,000 spots (for a class of 1,600). Interestingly, the admit rate is 10%.</p>
<p>From the desk of the devil’s advocate: haven’t read the links, but we do all realize that filing a lawsuit is not the same as PROVING the allegations in that lawsuit. </p>
<p>Is the way admissions consultants charge their clients any different from the way insurance premiums are determined? Of course you’d want the client who had the strongest record, jsut as insurance companies love to sell policies to healthy non-smokers. Both enterprises exist to make money.</p>
<p>College counseling is not akin to practicing alchemy or turning sows into silk purses. A preliminary interview would ascertain whether the applicant is “Ivy material” or not, and on that basis a decision would be made as to whether to take him on or not.<br>
Yes, it is wise to take on only applicants with a decent chance of being successful., students who are potential silk purses rather than obvious sow’s ears. What does this mean? In the context of Harvard, supposedly, 80% of the 20000+ applicants are qualified for admission. So it would mean working with one of the 16,000 who are deemed qualified, and turning that one individual into one of the 2,000 admits. In other words, there are plenty of potential customers out there.
Shaw was wrong to deem the applicant inadmissible–he clearly was, since he has been admitted. He seems to also have admitted to refusing to work with the student and also refusing to return the money. Since the parents of the applicant had already spent $200k and got their son into Columbia, I doubt that they would have filed a suit if Shaw had not made that admission. They were willing to spend the money. Few people are willing to pay for nothing or to be duped whether it is out of $20, $200, 04 $200k.
I looked up the fees for Michele Hernandez. Her most expensive package, covering all 4 high school years, costs $40k. Presumably, Katherine Cohen’s Ivywise charges more, but I doubt she could charge that much more, at least nothing close to $200k. It seems that the applicant was charged $200k for only the senior year.</p>
<p>I agree, although it is not outrageous to hypothesize that services such as Ivy Success may help their clients. </p>
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<p>That’s true. My point is that if colleges put a lot of weight on factors that can be “gamed,” it follows that a lot of applicants will attempt to “game” the system.</p>
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<p>One easy thing they could do is raise their qualifications in terms of grades and test scores.</p>
<p>lskinner- a lot of applicants already have near-perfect grades and scores. It is a challenge to compare grades from various schools, of course. Grades and scores paint a very incomplete picture of an applicant. Also a somewhat boring one.</p>
<p>"One easy thing they could do is raise their qualifications in terms of grades and test scores. "</p>
<p>The large majority of the applicants to the most competitive colleges already have grades and scores that probably put them in the top 2 percent of the college. Any grade/score differences between them are negligable. Harvard basically could fill up half of its class with students who, for instance, got 800 scores on any part of the SAT. It also could fill up its class with valedictorians. </p>
<p>However, if places like HPYS made their selections like that, they wouldn’t be HPYS.</p>
<p>As for the folks who are trying to game the system through pricey counselors, I do wonder if they really do game the system or if the counselors take money from students who’d have gotten into HPYS without the counselors’ help.</p>
<p>Let’s not fool ourselves that “objective” criteria cannot be gamed.
Grades can be gamed, and are all the time. Check out discussions about whether to take a course that is weighted vs. one that is more interesting but unweighted. Check out discussions about doing or not doing some stupid project and its impact on grades. Check out the grading practices of this teacher vs. that teacher.
Test scores can be prepped to the tune of $$$.
In any given year, a few thousand valedictorians apply to Harvard–more than could be accommodated if Harvard chose to fill its incoming class only with valedictorians (and see the thread “Mom, our sal is not very smart” for a reason not to do so).</p>
<p>I agree that grades and test-scores can be gamed to a certain extent. However, the emphasis on extracurriculars, diversity, etc, seems to open the door to a whole new level of gaming.</p>