<p>What do Bob Bowman, Tatiana Tarasova and Bela Karolyi are known for? Certainly not for their own Olympic achievements. But the athletes coached by them have collected many Olympic medals. In certain fields, you don’t have to have first-hand experience at the highest level to be able to teach someone to perform and place at the highest level.</p>
<p>This is one of those times when you have to ask yourself is it really your business?</p>
<p>Mom60: As I stated in my OP, I realize its not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It was just something that had been bothering me (and others, I should add) and I was wondering what the savvy CC community thought about it. My eyes have been opened to a very different perspective and I feel a little silly for having thought it was wrong for her to be reading the essays. </p>
<p>dmd77: I don’t think I’m jealous, except for the fact that I would like to be doing something after my son leaves next fall and I am an empty-nester - I have been a stay-at-home mom for 20 years, so envious, yes - jealous, not so much. I am proud of her and what she has accomplished, I just thought being an essay reader was a little strange, given her education, which I now see isn’t really an issue for the position. My friend has a great reputation and I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about her from friends/acquaintances who have hired her. </p>
<p>I have to say, though, that I still believe that a person with a college degree will GENERALLY be more successful than a person without one in our society. The successful people referenced in other posts are the exception to the rule, IMO. Those friends of mine who don’t have college degrees and are now going into the post-child raising phase of their lives all express the regret that they didn’t go to college, because it makes looking for a new career much more difficult.</p>
<p>Karma has a way of sorting these things out. Be happy for your friend’s success, if you can do so, and know that if she has lied on her resume, that sooner or later it’s going to catch up with her. And if she hasn’t, then more power to her!</p>
<p>elizabethh: you said:
“Those friends of mine who don’t have college degrees and are now going into the post-child raising phase of their lives all express the regret that they didn’t go to college.”</p>
<p>You might want to point out to them that they can still go to college. And that they’ll probably do MUCH better than the 20-somethings around them.</p>
<p>dmd: You’re absolutely right. For some of my 50 something friends, I think the idea of starting college is a bit daunting, from conversations we’ve had. I do have one friend who is finishing her BS degree - she had her AA - and it is taking an enormous amount of work and commitment, which I find incredibly impressive. </p>
<p>I don’t know about you, but I find the idea of having to study and actually remember things a little scary 
My brain ain’t what it used to be!</p>
<p>^But it keeps one from getting dementia early, isn’t that a bonus? I have been in school forever ever since I graduated with 2 degrees.</p>
<p>I am an avid reader and do crossword puzzles, read 3 newspapers a day…its the memorization that scares me!</p>
<p>Here is what an unsavvy (unsavory??) person might do. If it really bugs you, simply write an anonymous letter to the dean of admissions. Mention that so and so does NOT have a college degree, and if that is known and not a problem please pardon the intrusion. If it is not known, then please take appropriate action to avoid a scandal. </p>
<p>That should pretty much take care of it. Remember, no return address and handle the stationery with gloves. Deposit letter in a mailbox outside of your home zipcode, or even better - out of state.</p>
<p>^^You’re kidding, right? OP, please do not do this. </p>
<p>Really, please say you are joking… Maybe my sarcasm detection meter is on low today…</p>
<p>I would never in a million years do something that nasty, especially to a friend. Please look at my original post and see that I was just asking what people thought…not what I should do.</p>
<p>I don’t think a degree confers the ability of special judgement on the holder,or is the only way to gain or show intelligence.
There are many reasons why someone doesn’t have a degree, and if you think about all the people who do have a degree but spend most of their adult lives working in completely unrelated fields, I expect that the university may not care that she doesn’t have a degree because then they would just have to pay her more. ;)</p>
<p>Actually I am serious. A college degree is not needed for success in life. It certainly doesn’t bother me if a successful person does not have a college degree. I don’t think the lack of a college degree is what prompted the OP to title this thread “…This is really bothering me… what to do?” What bothers me a great deal is people who secure a job by fabricating degrees on their resume. I think they should be exposed as the frauds that they are. The case at MIT was ridiculous and disgusting. People without a PhD who claim one and ask to be addressed as “Doctor” ? I puke on their shoes! </p>
<p>If the person does not have a degree and the employer knows this, then wonderful, congrats on doing a good job. But I can’t believe that would bother anyone so much they would start a thread asking “…what to do?” But if the person got the job through lies (I will say it again) then that person should be exposed as a liar.</p>
<p>
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<p>Actually, even people with a PhD who ask to be addressed as “Doctor,” except by others within their profession, deserve to have their shoes puked on.</p>
<p>And don’t even get me started on all these “Reverends” running around.</p>
<p>^ I agree. Actually in our profession, no one would use the term dr. with each other! In fact the only people that seem to use the PhD title are ones that are from schools not held in any regard in our field (reminds me of how B actors seems to act like they have the biggest egos). </p>
<p>When we were selling our house, the buyer was a medical doctor that insisted the real estate agents and us all call him Dr. So-and-so. Of course the agents obliged and sucked up. I just didn’t call him anything but it annoyed me to no end. I so wish I had said at the time “Listen bozo, I’m not your patient so get off your high horse…or stop calling me by my first name since I too am as entitled to the title of doctor”. </p>
<p>I tell everyone, including students, to call me by my first name. Though if someone or the formality of the social context calls for a title, I don’t like being called Ms or Mrs because I’m neither.</p>
<p>I don’t think someone without a college education can be a good college admissions counselor.</p>
<p>Successful, yes, in the sense of making a good business and money. But able to develop a real insight into the needs of the student, no.</p>
<p>^Like a never married marriage counselor?</p>
<p>sorghum - I don’t know about that…can one’s individual college experience alone give a counselor insight into the needs of an applicant? The degree is good - but I think you need ahelluva lot more than that.
Using your logic, if someone just looked at my degrees, they might think I had this wonderful experience and I must be quite knowledgeable on because of it. Actually my time in college was pretty uneventful - I commuted and didn’t experience half of what kids are looking for in a college today.</p>
<p>Sorghum, I agree with you in theory. I initially felt that way about my friend when she started working as a college admissions counselor. However, it doesn’t seem to matter to the people who have hired her and know about her educational background. And having used an admissions counselor (whom we ultimately stopped using during the applications process), I think that most of what many of them do is babysit the students through the process, rather than giving much insight to colleges in particular. My friend, however, has done a lot of research and visited many “off the map” schools in order to give her students some interesting options.</p>
<p>The fact that she is working in a university setting at the admissions level without a college degree was what really bothered me. I suppose if being an essay reader is considered a clerical position its not a big deal, but if that’s true, what does it say about the value put on the essay when the application is evaluated? It just seems odd. </p>
<p>I don’t know if she lied on her application, or if her experience superseded her education, but it’s something to wonder about. </p>
<p>And Woody, I do think having been through the college experience, however it was achieved - commuter, dorm life, even on-line - can help someone to advise others. I liked the analogy of the marriage counselor. There’s something to be said for actual experience vs. book learning - to take it to a (much) higher level, would you want a doctor to evaluate your health who hadn’t done an internship/residency?</p>
<p>Ok let me see if I have the situation correct.
A private college counselor has helped students to find and go through the process of college application, for not quite a decade.
Apparently she is good at this to the best of your knowledge, neither the parents nor the schools have come after her with pitchforks.</p>
<p>Since the process of hiring a college counselor is quite expensive, I expect that families who do so are looking for cost/benefit( with some prestige thrown in?) & I imagine that most of the schools that are being considered would not be unknown to those on CC:)</p>
<p>During the course of aiding these students, it sounds like a great deal of research into the schools has been made as well as contacts with others who work in admission offices.</p>
<p>While working with these teens over the years, I would bet that your friend has gotten to know the different personality types and can tell when an essay has been overscripted tp project what the student thinks the adcoms want to hear, and when an essay is able to convey more accurately the student behind it.</p>
<p>Not every one is a great writer, not everyone has had the good fortune of excellent writing instruction in high school, but that doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from a rigorous university.</p>
<p>I think we place too much emphasis on a diploma.
There are many colleges who will award credit for work experience, there are some colleges who will award diplomas for paying tuition , and there are colleges that are much more rigourous.</p>
<p>But this job offer seems aligned with past work experience, and since usually more than one person reads the essays, I expect that a diverse group of readers will make the process more “organic”
Maybe they were * looking* for someone who doesn’t have a degree, it can get pretty ivory tower in there, it’s nice to see someone throw open a window</p>
<p>( and as you mentioned earlier, I suspect there is more than a little jealousy of this empty nest opportunity)
;)</p>