Ivy League Admissions Consulting

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. My dad passed along a link to this story from Bloomberg on private admissions consultants, and I can't help commenting on what a screwed up system we've created:

Halfway into the first meeting with college consultant Michele Hernandez, tax attorney David Selznick walked out of the living room of his home in Somers, New York. He says his head was pounding after he’d listened for more than an hour as Hernandez dissected his son Ben’s high school transcript and college admission test scores, nixed his summer camp plans and described how playing up Ben’s strengths could land him a spot in an Ivy League college. “I was sweating, it was so draining,” Selznick, 47, says. “We got four hours of information in an hour.”

Afterward, Selznick and his wife, Helene, agreed to spend $16,500 over the next two years to hire Hernandez, a Dartmouth College graduate and former assistant dean of admission at the school. She promised to guide Ben—an A student with Ivy League aspirations and a passion for drumming—through the intricate puzzle of getting into a top school. “It’s a lot of money; it’s obscene,” Selznick says. “But I had come to the conclusion that I was willing to invest in my son’s future.”

It used to be we could just depend on the status of race, wealth, and connections to do all the work getting into the Ivy League. Then someone had to go and open the doors to the masses. So now the rich white kids have found another way to tweak the system. How glorious. I hope they fail miserably. See you August 20.