@dfbdfb You can join CCC. We can make it a non-profit and put the paid consultants out of business. 
@dfbdfb Hmm, here here, two HYP degrees, PhDs (doctors but not the useful ones).
Ours are from so long ago that what we did are no longer relevant for current “application craze.”
We too do not want to be part of the ever-growing college prep industry.
@itsgettingreal17 yep, I could do for a non-profit for either Pell-grant eligible or donut-holed families only.
Now we’re talking like true Ivy grads. 
Harvard is the Michigan of the east as they say. UofM in the house!
Not an Ivy grad here. I had a free ride at Texas A&M.
@4beardolls @SincererLove I have 3 library cards. I love my local library’s kindle book collection.
I used to love books on CD. The boys listened to Harry Potter by Jim Dales (120 CDs) over and over. I miss that time.
I haven’t used the library for prep books though because I rip the prep books.
I got many USED AP/SAT2 prep books for $.05-$2 plus shipping from amazon.
I use box cutter knife to cut through thick books (say, make 2 SAT tests per bundle out of the 10 SAT book.) and then use glossy catalog (junk mail) to make front and back covers and bind them with moving tape. I divided the ACT book into 5 parts, one ACT test per binding. I cut SAT Subject book into 4 parts. Only 1 part is relevant for my boys; it has math and all sciences and is about 200 pages.
I just ripped out only the Practice tests from SAT Physics prep books (Kaplan, PR, etc) and put them into a binder for June test.
(Our consulting business include test prep too? )
All of us are all using lots of binders. Costco has 6 binders for $6-9.
That’s lot of work @payn4ward. I buy new books from Amazon and rip out answer key. DS starts with one full official test as diagnostic test and then goes thru 2 different study guides (mostly Barron or Princeton) to cover the sections he didn’t learn in class.
Wow @payn4ward, you can head up our CCC Test Prep Division!
So this morning D comes downstairs at 10:40 and says “I’m sorry Mom, but I really need you to take me to this thing that starts at 11!” Whaaa? She’d found out late last night there were still spots open, set her alarm for early and then fell back asleep. Turns out it is this youth leadership conference for HS clubs representing minorities (LGBTQ, African American, Latino, and Native American students). Luckily it was only about 15 minutes away, so I was able to get her there just about 10 minutes late. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? No one else from her school club showed up, including the guy who was supposed to give their presentation. So she had to do the presentation and luckily she was somewhat familiar with the powerpoint. The guy who was supposed to be doing this showed up just as she was finishing and was able to answer questions at least. She talked to the man in charge of the conference about the club she is trying to set up for students with mental/cognitive/learning differences (nobody came to the first one last week 
). He’s going to email her with some more ideas and suggestions.
Essays:
I’m feeling pretty good about D’s essay in terms of what we’ve discussed about it. From the various resources I’ve been reading/listening to, the essay should focus heavily on who the student is and not what she has done. This meshes perfectly with D’s overall topic. I think it’s just a matter of deciding which direction to focus on. I’m going to strongly suggest that she write a few rough drafts with different focus areas. Her “essay consultants” will be me, D11, and D11’s BF. The BF and I both critiqued D11’s essay, which I thought was excellent (not that I’m biased!) None of us are the type to re-write, but more point out what’s working and what isn’t.
Also, I’ll join the CCC to make the big bucks! Do I have to actually be qualified?
Interestingly (or maybe not so much), my H and I are both state flagship grads and Ivy PhDs. However, I could never be a college admissions consultant for kids other than my own, I don’t think! I don’t do well if people complain about me to my face (prefer behind my back and being ignorant of it!) and I just don’t think one could be in that line of business without some complaining going on. I’m impressed with all the thought and planning around essays that have been mentioned. I think where I am now is to not hire any type of consultant. The UC prompts have changed so no one is going to have specific success stories for those at this time. I have found a lot of useful info on CC and on other sites for college essays in general that I will pass along to my D. It makes sense to me the essays need to let the adcoms know who you are, not just what you have done. It seems absolute perfection is not needed, but that being unique and memorable is better. I enjoyed the essays my D wrote for her summer program applications, so I think she can do a pretty good job on her own and maybe she can ask a trusted teacher to review. The thing is… if this is a bad plan, we won’t really know until it is too late (many rejections, etc). Not sure how I feel about that except to love thy solid/sure-thing/likely school.
By the way, love the Binder of Destiny, @MotherOfDragons! And good for your D @snoozn! It’s not easy to just step into something like that, esp since she only got up less than an hour before!
We have had a great day hanging out with ds (college ds who is only home for 2 more weeks) and playing family games, grilling, drinking tall cold drinks, and listening to music. It reminded me of a song that became our theme song during the stress of his sr yr, Knee Deep by Zac Brown… https: //www. youtube. com/watch?v=kZN0KogeV4A (I don’t know if we can link videos like that, so I just added spaces before and after youtube.)
Of course it helps that we live near the beach and go all the time. 
(Though my personal favorite right now is Breathe by Johnny Diaz.)
@payn4ward , It is smart to get old prep books. I was very proud to get 2016 Edition of one AP book from one library and D said it has the same practice tests as 2015 edition.
@4beardolls , I know what you mean
@Agentninetynine wrote
Yep, here’s the link to the websites:
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
I am sorry about Spykid not getting the mentorship, that sucks! 
@payn4ward, Staples used to have a binder recycling program. They gave you a few $ credit for your old binders.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek What a great time – here’s to the next two weeks [tall cold drink in hand]! Good song – I was not surprised to see the “featuring Jimmy Buffett” credit. It really has that casual-happy-beachy Buffett vibe.
We sometimes sit around for an hour showing each other our favorite youtube videos (mostly music or comedy, though D17 has a special place in her heart for “soldiers re-uniting with their dogs.”) I think it’s the modern equivalent of playing and singing around the piano, except no talent is required! A few weeks ago we were all choosing theme songs for each other, but no one thought to choose a theme song for the whole family – will have to do that now.
Love the binder of Destiny and yep, you could all be consultants! My $75 an hour guy is seeming like a steal.
Knee Deep is a favorite around here…well at least for H and I.
@Agentninetynine I am so sorry about the law mentor program, that’s a bummer.
Prom night here. Who’s staying up with me??
@2muchquan my D’s was 2 weeks ago - she got home at 4 am. Good luck! Question, do you know or allow your kids to drink?
Don’t allow drinking. I don’t think they will but who knows. I pulled out the drug test we keep in our cupboard out and put it on display.
We expect to see her about 4am as well. (Ok I won’t stay up THAT long)