College consultants take guidance too far by providing ‘packages’ and essays

With declining acceptance rates and greater competition for top universities, it is no surprise that the many seniors have a college counselor or consultant outside of school.

They use these counselors to help the students make college lists, write essays and assist with the other facets of the application process. But using outside help for colleges is unnecessary considering the availability of the guidance department and can sometimes lead to dishonest behavior.

According to a 2009 New York Times article, the average consulting rate is $185 per hour. The price is assumed to be rising due to a high demand for the help.

The high price to get that “extra boost” above other applicants is ridiculous. Also, it puts students who cannot afford the consulting rate at a disadvantage. Even if it was affordable, it is still unnecessary.

There are four guidance counselors at Saratoga High, a school with only 1,392 students. Sometimes schools with 1,800 students may only have one or two counselors. Students should appreciate and use this help. Counselors are there to make themselves available to help students, but they can’t show how helpful they can truly be if students are looking elsewhere for over-priced guidance.

A reason students might be searching outside of campus is for more extensive help and more time than they feel the school’s counselors can provide. But how much of that extra help is just guidance and how much is taking it too far?

Rumors suggest the existence of specific “packages” that help students get into a specific school by having their consultant tweak their applications to appeal to the specific college. Also, students say that consultants sometimes even overly assist in the writing of the essay, and perhaps even write the essay for students.

Where does one draw the line between helping with an essay and writing it for the student? Working with the student until he or she comes up with a new way to phrase something is fine; completely changing it without using any of the student’s own thoughts is not. Call it plagiarism or an unfair advantage, it’s not right or beneficial to get that kind of assistance.

Colleges say they want the applicants to be individuals and show who they are through their essay, not who their consultant thinks they should pretend to be. Whether or not that’s true, originality would seem to be more effective than phony perfection to a discerning reader.
Students should value their own work and want to get into their dream college on their own merit, not by using the resources of a consultant who, in some cases, use aids them in an effort to cheat their way in.