College Coach Charges Upwards Of $40K For Ivy Acceptances

Business Week:

As I listened to my 8th period English teacher drone on for the third time about how Finny, a character in A Separate Peace, was indeed the main character although he was not the narrator, it finally dawned on me that this was not the exciting world of high school that I had hoped for.

This is how Andrew Garza began an essay in his application to Haverford College. It was a 1,200-word piece that established him as an intellectually curious young man. It was crafted to appeal specifically to the admissions officers at the small liberal arts school. And it was the idea of his high-priced college admissions coach, Michele A. Hernandez. Garza attended a private school in Switzerland, and that worried Hernandez: She thought he might appear to be a privileged teenager without much substance. So she advised him to write about why he had left his public high school in suburban New Jersey. "We had to make it seem like he didn't want to be around so many rich kids. We spun a whole story about him taking the initiative to leave in order to broaden his experience," Hernandez says. "It was his initiative. But he wouldn't have written about it."

Today Andrew is a senior at Haverford, studying sociology and economics. His father, John, paid Hernandez $18,000 for 18 months' worth of advice. "It is a lot of money," says Garza, a manager at Abitibi-Consolidated (ABY ) in New York. "But if you look at it as an investment, it's not a bad one."

Read the whole story: Business Week

Comments

[MovingtoNorway]

This is a fucking sick society.

[wagadog]

Actually, there were things I liked about this woman's advice, class issues notwithstanding. In particular, she urges students to give up the treadmill of maximizing their "extracurricular activities" as a means to "have something, anything" to put on their college applications, and pursue what really interests them, and build a true CV Curriculum Vita -- what you do with your life -- around that.

Advising one student, a talented drummer, to forgo the track team and service clubs to focus on playing music, which he liked doing more anyway -- is a perfect example.

The great thing about this advice is that even if you don't get into "the best" school, you'll actually be more likely to have an academic experience that's best *for* *you*.

[WilliamWallace]

Just more of the Culture of Corruption

[RSU]

So, the dirty little secret is rearing its ugly head once again; money buys access where academic acumen is otherwise lacking.

This story reads like the final installment of a contractual agreement that concludes once graduation is within sight; that clients will shamelessly pump the consulting business of Dr. Michele Hernandez

http://hernandezcollegeconsulting.com/

I would like to ask if Andrew Garza is proud to state that his admission work is not his own. But, somehow I don't think it matters much to a man who was given a pass to the head of the line and is about to reap the final reward; a diploma from a prestigious Ivy League college.

Rather, I'd like to ask the college how they feel about learning that a student's admission essay is a carefully crafted work of pure fiction. The article flatly states:

["We] had to make it seem like he didn't want to be around so many rich kids. [We spun a whole story about him taking the initiative to leave in order to broaden his experience,"] Hernandez says. "It was his initiative. But he wouldn't have written about it." (Emphasis added)

If Andrew, or anybody for that matter, would have admitted that he purchased his homework assignments from the Internet or a consulting firm, he'd be out on his ear in a heartbeat.

Why then, should it be any different once it is learned that his whole reason for admission was the product of someone else's work too?

In a word; money!

The school got theirs, Andrew got his, and Michele got hers.

All that's left now is to wonder what happened to the student who was denied the seat that Andrew took.

[LIR]

I wouldn't let this fuckin' little brat into any college...what a stupid little shit!

[RSU]

Even if you have never attended a single college class, there is still no reason to write/talk the way you do.

Do yourself and everyone else a favor and elevate your language above that of a common sewer rat.

[realitytrumpsbull]

Why not an on-the-spot writing test under
supervised conditions? Would that make things
too honest?

[LIR]

I would make this schmuck Garza write a 25 page essay on A Separate Peace...what a little moron!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Colleges should require applicants to disclose whether or not their essays, tests, interviews, etc., have had the benefit of coaching.

A student's application should reflect his or her best efforts, creativity, and judgements -- not some hired gun's.

BTW, I'm going to enter a bike race. I'm thinking of hiring Lance Armstrong to compete for me. $18k sounds like a steal.