Student has 14 advanced degrees

[dismalist]

This is a fascinating problem of double information asymmetry: The parents who want to get their kid into Ivyland know not how, so they buy the services of someone else who claims he knows. The paying parents have no way of checking out the advisor's success rate.

They are gambling against odds they don't know. Let them.

[kaysixteen]

Random thoughts and questions:

1) Has this dude ever even sought a ft academic position in higher ed, or a k12 teaching position (at least one of his Masters' degrees had 'education' in it)?

2) I get that the likelihood is that his 'admissions counseling' biz is at least somewhat of a grift, but, well, esp with what he charges, if he is a grifter, how does he stay in business?

3) I agree with para that more or less any PhD could seek and get many Masters' degrees (I have two myself)-- so how many of ye have thought of enrolling in an additional Masters program, something not directly associated with what you did your PhD in, and how many have actually done so?

[lightning]

Random thoughts and questions:

1) Has this dude ever even sought a ft academic position in higher ed, or a k12 teaching position (at least one of his Masters' degrees had 'education' in it)?

If he's actually making the money that he says he makes, then probably not.

2) I get that the likelihood is that his 'admissions counseling' biz is at least somewhat of a grift, but, well, esp with what he charges, if he is a grifter, how does he stay in business?

I used to give out free admissions counseling advice. I sometimes thought about charging people just to keep people from bugging me. And, I thought that charging $100/hr (not just for real-time counseling, but also time charged for advance prep work, research, editing/proofing/vetting materials, phone calls, sending emails, answering emails, coaching, connecting clients with support & influence) was sufficient to ward off the dumb questions when people find out that a bill from me could easily have 4 figures in it. It seems that I was ripping myself off. Now, of course, I don't have access to those clients that are willing to pay 6 figures. The big question about how does Bolger get access to those clients? An even bigger question is how does Bolger get his well-heeled clients connected to the powerful people who influence the admissions decision makers. Influence brokering is really what a high-priced admissions counselor does. I'm not making the connection between 14 degrees and access to influence.

3) I agree with para that more or less any PhD could seek and get many Masters' degrees (I have two myself)-- so how many of ye have thought of enrolling in an additional Masters program, something not directly associated with what you did your PhD in, and how many have actually done so?

I've definitely thought about it. I could have gotten 3 masters easily, instead of 1, but I thought it was pointless, so I didn't bother beyond the 1.

[Kron3007]

Why is this a grift?  Rich people want to pay him to put applications together, and that is what he appears to be doing.  I would never pay that much, but I would also not pay what the wealthy do for a bottle of wine. 

In reality, you will not find many people more experienced with admissions from that side of the equation in such concrete terms.  People also seem to ignore the networking that he may have been doing at all these places.  I don't really know much about admissions in ivy schools, but understand that connections can matter.

It may seem like a grift to us regular folk, but for the extremely wealthy it may be a reasonable service contract. 

[apl68]

Why is this a grift?  Rich people want to pay him to put applications together, and that is what he appears to be doing.  I would never pay that much, but I would also not pay what the wealthy do for a bottle of wine. 

In reality, you will not find many people more experienced with admissions from that side of the equation in such concrete terms.  People also seem to ignore the networking that he may have been doing at all these places.  I don't really know much about admissions in ivy schools, but understand that connections can matter.

It may seem like a grift to us regular folk, but for the extremely wealthy it may be a reasonable service contract. 

I suppose at that level of wealth the idea that everything one could ever want--including things like health, spiritual enlightenment, and a brilliant future for one's children--can be acquired if one simply knows the right place to shop and can pay the right monetary price, becomes a very plausible idea.

That article para cites above gets at the heart of the matter.  There was a time when simply possessing the right social status guaranteed admission to the highest-status universities.  Now even most wealthy families can't be sure that their children are shoo-ins.  So they instinctively start looking for somebody who can sell them what they want.  If you don't have the truly fabulous wealth it now takes to simply bribe the school into accepting your offspring, you look for consultants who promise to give them an edge.

I wonder to what extent all these consulting services really do or don't confer an edge in the competition nowadays?  Grossly unfair and illegal "side doors" are one thing.  But with consultants there's probably a lot of diminishing returns, since so many are participating in the admissions arms race.  The fancy consultants presumably give you an edge over those who can't afford them.  But then those students never had much of a chance at the Ivies anyway, unless they were selected to be charity admissions.

[ciao_yall]

Why is this a grift?  Rich people want to pay him to put applications together, and that is what he appears to be doing.  I would never pay that much, but I would also not pay what the wealthy do for a bottle of wine. 

In reality, you will not find many people more experienced with admissions from that side of the equation in such concrete terms.  People also seem to ignore the networking that he may have been doing at all these places.  I don't really know much about admissions in ivy schools, but understand that connections can matter.

It may seem like a grift to us regular folk, but for the extremely wealthy it may be a reasonable service contract. 

I suppose at that level of wealth the idea that everything one could ever want--including things like health, spiritual enlightenment, and a brilliant future for one's children--can be acquired if one simply knows the right place to shop and can pay the right monetary price, becomes a very plausible idea.

That article para cites above gets at the heart of the matter.  There was a time when simply possessing the right social status guaranteed admission to the highest-status universities.  Now even most wealthy families can't be sure that their children are shoo-ins.  So they instinctively start looking for somebody who can sell them what they want.  If you don't have the truly fabulous wealth it now takes to simply bribe the school into accepting your offspring, you look for consultants who promise to give them an edge.

I wonder to what extent all these consulting services really do or don't confer an edge in the competition nowadays?  Grossly unfair and illegal "side doors" are one thing.  But with consultants there's probably a lot of diminishing returns, since so many are participating in the admissions arms race.  The fancy consultants presumably give you an edge over those who can't afford them.  But then those students never had much of a chance at the Ivies anyway, unless they were selected to be charity admissions.

So who are the people questioning the value of a college education, then?

[marshwiggle]

I wonder to what extent all these consulting services really do or don't confer an edge in the competition nowadays?  Grossly unfair and illegal "side doors" are one thing.  But with consultants there's probably a lot of diminishing returns, since so many are participating in the admissions arms race.  The fancy consultants presumably give you an edge over those who can't afford them.  But then those students never had much of a chance at the Ivies anyway, unless they were selected to be charity admissions.

If I were paying that kind of coin, I'd demand a money-back guarantee. I'd imagine a lot of those parents would as well.

[dismalist]

Why is this a grift?  Rich people want to pay him to put applications together, and that is what he appears to be doing.  I would never pay that much, but I would also not pay what the wealthy do for a bottle of wine. 

In reality, you will not find many people more experienced with admissions from that side of the equation in such concrete terms.  People also seem to ignore the networking that he may have been doing at all these places.  I don't really know much about admissions in ivy schools, but understand that connections can matter.

It may seem like a grift to us regular folk, but for the extremely wealthy it may be a reasonable service contract. 

Yeah, I would not call it grift either. There are many ways to game the admissions process, as many as there are admissions criteria any one school chooses to have. Good academic performance pre-college is just one.

I know a family with three boys. The parents think getting their kids to do ice hockey is a way of helping them get into the college of the parents' choice. So these poor kids are tortured by being forced to play ice hockey. And, it's not cheap to play. So the parents are funneling large sums of money to a sports league rather than to an admissions consultant. One sounds more seemly than the other, but they have the same intent.

Those of us who are not that wealthy have to rely on academic performance. Hence my belief that the SAT is the revenge of the poor.

[Myword]

He is too overqualified for his job and for that reason may not be the best one for parents to hire. Clearly he will be assured of admission to universities because of his successful degree achievement. Guaranteed tuition for them. So how can he effectively help ordinary seniors? Maybe he offers only general advice for the universities he went to

[Mobius]

Anyone run into another variety of this where someone claims to have lectured at a number of prestigious places, claimed to be a fellow, etc.? I have and you can never find a CV of folks like that. You might find a few articles in some obscure journal that people in that fields haven't heard of.

[Kron3007]

He is too overqualified for his job and for that reason may not be the best one for parents to hire. Clearly he will be assured of admission to universities because of his successful degree achievement. Guaranteed tuition for them. So how can he effectively help ordinary seniors? Maybe he offers only general advice for the universities he went to

I don't know. he knows exactly what the admissions people are looking for and has lots of experience putting them together.  He also seems to be doing this for a living and likely has plenty of experience at that level now too.

The idea that he would be overqualified seems odd.  My university holds workshops where senior faculty give tips for applying for grants.  You could make the same argument here, but they have a lot of useful info to share.