A representative from ***** came to my high school today and I’m quite interested. However, I want to know more about what goes on there, how it will affect my admissions chances, and how it would helps me. Has anyone else been through the conference and what do you think about it? Thanks!
Well, you had a rep there so that would have been a good time to ask questions. That company is a pretty new and doesn’t really have a track record that I can evaluate. They are a for-profit start-up. They put on $300 seminars. Their goal is to train students on professional aspects like interviewing skills so you can appear poised and hire-able. I don’t think going will impact your admissions chances in itself. Well, you might have an admission interview you are less nervous in. The training may help you to land summer job and internships, some kids may find it more useful than others. I believe these are skills people can use but But you have to think of it as a skill building and motivating event, and not do it to ‘get in’ college. I think they have good intentions but I really don’t know how good it is or how necessary it is.
I think they are poised to become major CC spammers, though.
***** is AMAZING. I am currently a intern for this program and it has honestly equipped me with the best set of professional skills I could ever ask for. Before becoming an intern, I attend both the Level 1 and Level 2 conferences.
Each conference runs a series of different workshops, teaching professional skills that include networking, love connections, resumes, cover letters, email etiquette, etc… The environment during the conference is very welcoming; there is no fear to ask questions because both the interns and staff are always more than willing to reach out to students in need of help. Not only that, ****** will support you for 6 months after your conference by helping with cover letter/resume corrections and reaching out to the professionals students want to be connected to.
The amount of confidence a ****** student walks out with is incredible; they enter knowing the bare minimum about a professional setting then 8 hours later are equipped with the skills needed to achieve their professional goals. Each goal is defined differently, but for most attending conferences, it’ll be eventually getting an internship at the firm they’re interested in so they can start building the steps to get to the job of their dreams.
Since so few high schoolers have no actual hands on experience in what they want to major in, ******* students stand out tremendously in college admissions because the skills that were learned during the conference will help them network out and get to the internships for things they want to do later on in life. They’ll get first hand experience in their dream field and stand out amongst other college applicants since most don’t start working in exactly what they want to do until after they reach college. Because really now, how many high school student have internships? Very few, so with ******** giving you the skills to gain internships, you’ll stand out so much on apps.
******* teaches you all the skills needed in a professional setting. It’ll help you learn very early on what is appropriate and required for professionalism, which is fantastic since you’ll be refining these skills during high school and not have it take you by shock during adult years. ******* is what YOU make it, and if you choose not to practice the materials taught during the conference, then the conference goes to waste. To make the best out of the program, make sure to constantly and consistently practice what is being taught, and the more you practice the better you’ll get at networking and increasing your professional connections and meeting the right people that’ll help get you to where you want to be.
Personally for me, ******* helped me realize that I didn’t want to be a doctor but instead wanted to go into Business Communications. Because of this internship for ***, I’ve worked very hands on with much of the message delivery that goes on and I’ve been connected to Communication majors that I then had informational interviews with! The skills I learned helped me network and make love connection to professionals that end up helping some of the clubs I partake in during school, the possible outcomes of networking are so endless, its great (and teaches you exactly how to do that)!
In all honest, ******* is such a great program that from 1 day and a sum of money, can prepare you for the rest of your professional life. Do the program, you definitely will not regret anything about it! 
Wow, I didn’t think my prediction would come true so soon.
“a sum of money”
"ok. let me create an account on cc and ask a question about **, then I can create another account and answer the question posing as a helpful intern." - a marketing “intern” :-h =D> ^:)^
Hi Team,
This is %^%^&%^&% founder of **** @BrownParent, thank you for responding! You are absolutely correct about how students should not think of ****** as simply a “get in” college program. We emphasize that students should develop these skills regardless of their plans for after high school. Our students come from different backgrounds and have varying interests, and we wish for them to explore opportunities in high school so that they have a stronger understanding of what they want to do and how they can achieve their goals once they graduate. It is very cool to see our students pursuing awesome opportunities and connecting with the ****** network.
If you wish to be put in touch with ****** students, past or current, and ******* parents, please let us know and we are happy to connect you with them directly via email. We have a strong network and supporters, and are excited to share them with you so that you may learn more about the program and see if it’s the right fit for you
The $290 fees cover six-months of support, including a day-long conference where students develop skills like networking through interactive workshops and attend an event where we invite professionals from different industries to share their stories with our students. The conference is follow by six-months of virtual support, where we work with students individually to achieve a goal: mentorship, job shadow, or internship.
In regards to college admissions, due to their stronger sense of self and their professional experiences in high schools, our students have shown to be more competitive for college admissions as they demonstrate a strong understanding of their interest and a skill-set that is valued by colleges world-wide.
Mollie is a current high school student, and she participated in the program in 2014, after which she applied and was accepted to intern with *******. She has been working hard to bring her experiences to her peers, and since she is interested in Communications, she has been challenging herself to support peers outside of her school, via social media platforms and other channels. I am extremely proud of her ability to respond to this thread in such a timely manner, and wanted to step in given the responses to her post.
As you can see, my account itself does not have many posts - I created this account today to respond to this post and offer any support I can to address your concerns and questions.
@Mollie456 - do you have any reason to believe this? Any evidence? Because you are not a particularly impartial commentator and I’ve never heard any admissions officer say anything about this pay-to-play for-profit program.
Astroturfing strangers on the internet is not the same as “[supporting] her peers.” A savvy exec would know that potential customers don’t respond well to having their non-commercial spaces exploited for promotional purposes. This exchange doesn’t reflect well on ****** and I predict it will not end well for you.
I left this thread up (with edits) instead of deleting it because I want to ask that any time you see first time posters hawking a for profit product like this, or any service for that matter, please flag it so we can evaluate it. This should have not been up here this long, but we cannot see every thread or post. We really depend on the community to report exactly this kind of thing. Thanks!!!