Hiring overpriced college counselors: a difficult decision

What if you had the opportunity to be admitted to Harvard, “guaranteed”?

College counselor Steven Ma says he can do this for a mere $600,000.

Although extreme, Ma’s San Francisco-based business is a reflection of a growing demand for college counselors in the Silicon Valley and across the nation, where prices for such services  are soaring. While most bay area counselors charge near $5,000 and below annually, larger companies can charge nearly $9,000.

But is using a counselor like Ma or cheaper ones even ethical?

By charging ridiculous amounts of money, college counselors render huge numbers of students unable to afford the prices. Those students are then unfairly placed at a disadvantage versus those who can afford top counselors. 

Although high school counselors offer help to all students at no charge, they simply do not have enough time to guide each of their students, in depth, through the college process.

Usually, these counselors have an overwhelming number of 300 to 500 students each, making it virtually impossible for even the best, most hard-working high school counselor to dedicate hours to each student as they navigate their college path.

As a result, many wealthy families hire a private college counselor and pay the exorbitant prices.

With high prices also come high expectations. For most businesses, the most expensive services have the best quality. The same generally applies to college counseling. If one counselor charges more than another, families feel torn between having a potentially “better” counselor or having a better deal.

It is reasonable that counselors want to run a successful business, but by marketing themselves at too-high rates, some college counselors put vast amounts of pressure on themselves to fulfill and often surpass the standards that their clients expect.

Unbearable pressure often yields unethical decisions — for college counselors, this could be writing students’ essays. If counselors are under such high expectations to get a student into a particular college, the counselor might give into the desire to accomplish the tasks at hand quickly and with ease by writing the essay themselves.

Being a new industry, college counseling is fairly new and does not have much regulation in terms of how much they can contribute to their clients’ applications.

According to CNN, “as many as one in 10 college applications by students [living in China] may include fraudulent material, including phony essays” with the assistance of college counselors. Already happening in China, this may begin occurring indiscreetly in the U.S.

Because these pricey counselors feel the pressure to make their client successful, they are inevitably forced to write the majority of the students’ essays. This action in itself is unethical and traces back to the counselor’s high rate.

In the end, it is possible that hiring an overpriced college counselor will result in negative consequences. Although Ma’s business has positive aspects, the price of “only” $600,000 and potential consequences ultimately outweigh them.