Lets say you have a kid who is targeting some pretty lofty "reach" schools and can probably use athletics as the differentiator to get them past the 20 other kids with perfect grades and lofty SAT scores who are competing for the same spot. How would you find the right kind of college admissions consultant to really help them do that? Before the jokes start, I'm talking about really being an athlete, not paying a coach for an extra spot on a team and never actually playing.

We know a kid that recently graduated from our private school who did just that (had excellent grades and SAT score, but used football as the hook to get admitted to MIT). However, the consultant they used recently passed away. I don't know where to even start looking. I'd like to avoid wasting a bunch of time with a bunch on frauds that I got from a Google search.

Alexandra Wax in Houston is very good.

I should clarify that we are in the Houston area. Also, I'm looking for somebody who can help us map out everything that needs to be done from start of freshman year through completed college applications, not just test prep and essay critiques.

Buck Turgidson said:

---

I should clarify that we are in the Houston area. Also, I'm looking for somebody who can help us map out everything that needs to be done from start of freshman year through completed college applications, not just test prep and essay critiques.

---

At Avant Garde, we take pride in our comprehensive approach to college admissions, guiding students toward their dream universities and programs. Our success stories from last year include students admitted to prestigious institutions such as Princeton, Columbia, and Brown, showcasing our ability to assist in securing placements at top-tier universities.

Another one of our remarkable achievements from last year was helping a student from Poland gain admission to Carnegie Mellon, the nation's top-ranked Computer Science program. We began working with her during her sophomore year, providing the necessary support and coaching to make her application stand out in the competitive pool.

Another remarkable accomplishment was our collaboration with a student who received a full-ride scholarship as a 40 Acres Scholar at UT - Austin last year. We started working with him even before his freshman year, guiding him toward research opportunities that allowed him to excel as a researcher at Harvard for six weeks before his senior year.

We also take pride in supporting talented athletes, like the local parent's son who is ranked near the top of his class and aims to enter the Ivies as an athlete. We are currently assisting them through this process, ensuring they receive the necessary guidance and support to achieve their goals.

As the owner of Avant Garde, I personally conduct all consultations with our clients, ensuring they receive individualized attention and tailored advice. With my expertise, I can recognize high-end talent and provide the appropriate coaching to place students confidently in highly selective university pools.

If you're interested in learning more about our services and the outstanding work we do, I encourage you to visit our website and explore our social media pages for additional information and success stories. At Avant Garde, we are fully equipped to manage all aspects of college admissions and help students achieve their academic dreams.

https://www.instagram.com/avantgarde.collegeprep/

Buck
What sport does your kid play? Hopefully Field Hockey. That seems to be the golden ticket to the Ivies. My son's high school just had 25+ kids admitted to Ivies/Stanford/MIT. These kids start resume building in 9th grade. If you want someone local Alex Wax is very good; however, all my kids' interaction was virtual so I'm not sure local is that important. Avant sounds like a great option too.

Avant
Looks like you've built a great business. What HS was your Princeton kid from? My son will also be a Freshman there this fall. We should put them in touch.

He's not actually looking at the Ivy League schools (which are NCAA Div I). Right now he plays football and basketball, but I suspect he'll just focus on basketball after this year. It just so happens that MIT and Cal Tech have Div III basketball teams that are basically like good high school teams. They don't offer athletic scholarships, but the coaches do send lists of targeted athletes to the admissions staff. The athletes still must have top grades and 1500+ SAT scores (just like everyone else in the applicant pool), but those schools have lower than 10% admissions rates, so adding a sport can be the trick to move you to the front of the line. If he does well enough on the PSAT to make us think he has a shot, you can bet he'll be signed up for the MIT basketball camp the summer after his sophomore year.

Does the family care about money, or just admissions?

When it comes to these reach schools, just admissions really.

I'd never pay full tuition for a school like SMU for example (poor bang for the buck), but for MIT or Cal Tech I would.

Buck Turgidson said:

---

When it comes to these reach schools, just admissions really.

I'd never pay full tuition for a school like SMU for example (poor bang for the buck), but for MIT or Cal Tech I would.

---

I know I will get disagreement here, but I feel the same way. I have a rising senior who has high aspirations and who tests well. We live in Georgia. IF he can get into a school that is demonstrably better than being in the Honors College at UGA (he has zero interest in GA Tech and I don't blame him), I will pay for him to go there. I won't necessarily be happy about it, but I will do it.

My son played HS football, but he's really not talented athletically. He's going to have to get into one of his "reach" schools on the merits of his grades and scores. I did "bite the bullet" and hire an outside counselor/advisor once it became obvious to me that:
1). His HS counselor wasn't really all that helpful outside of "Go Dawgs!" or GA Tech admissions
2). His test scores started coming back showing he's in the range for "reach" schools
3). He expressed interest in applying to "reach" schools, and has put a lot of effort into positioning himself for these schools.

Our outside counselor has been very helpful in setting timelines for him, making suggestions for schools we might not have otherwise considered, and now "lighting the fire under him" to start writing essays and putting his resume and other things in order so that, once school starts, he can focus on that and not be quite as burdened by getting these things done. She has even helped him choose high school classes, and I am pretty amazed at how much knowledge she has of the class offerings at his school. She started working with him (us) at about the midpoint of his junior year.

There's nothing wrong with wanting opportunities for your kid(s).

I told mine that if you need to go to a school that prestigious, then you'll need to go to graduate school too. So why not just go to the prestigious graduate school, and they'll pay you to go there. You could spend $315,000 on an MIT bachelor's degree. Or, you could take a merit scholarship to a state flagship, and MIT will pay you $48,000/year to get your Ph.D.

As a personal story, by the time I was entering my junior year at A&M, I had no clue, but my mentor told me I could go anywhere I wanted for grad school. I didn't even know about grad school. But when I learned that if I wanted to be a professor, or direct my own projects in industry, it was obvious. I applied to "those" places - Harvard, MIT, Caltech, and UNC. I ended up going to UNC, which was as good as any of them. To this day, all of my professional colleagues - despite my Aggie ring - know me as a Tar Heel. Where you finish is really what carries weight. Of course that is somewhat discipline-dependent.

Buck Turgidson said:

---

When it comes to these reach schools, just admissions really.

I'd never pay full tuition for a school like SMU for example (poor bang for the buck), but for MIT or Cal Tech I would.

---

OK. What you need to do is contact the coaches directly. If the kid is a legit recruit for the school, the coach can help them get in if they're otherwise qualified. The coach can even help more if the student is early decision. (Sounds like that's happening already)

The coaches at Emory, Rice, and Swarthmore, IIRC, offered help like this. She refused to apply to Harvard.

We had a consultant, which was fine, but putting your running times in the subject line of an email to the head coach works too.

Rome84 said:

---

Buck
What sport does your kid play? Hopefully Field Hockey. That seems to be the golden ticket to the Ivies. My son's high school just had 25+ kids admitted to Ivies/Stanford/MIT. These kids start resume building in 9th grade. If you want someone local Alex Wax is very good; however, all my kids' interaction was virtual so I'm not sure local is that important. Avant sounds like a great option too.

Avant
Looks like you've built a great business. What HS was your Princeton kid from? My son will also be a Freshman there this fall. We should put them in touch.

---

Thank you for the kind comments. I started 11 years ago with two clients and met with them in their homes. Today, I have 1500 square feet of retail space and a staff of professionals who help me assist 100+ high school students each year with all aspects of college prep. I've been truly blessed.

Congrats on your student going to Princeton! That is such an awesome achievement. I have two students who are attending Princeton next year from a local College Station HS. I'll check with them if they are comfortable with me sharing their information.

1. Kool stories and interesting perspectives.
2. I kinda don't know who that is.

94chem said:

---

1. Kool stories and interesting perspectives.
2. I kinda don't know who that is.

---

That's Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House. He offered to take pictures with some of the kids and Kool Jr. absolutely jumped at the chance.

Thanks. I pretty much only hear these people on the radio. I only watch politics on t.v. during election nights.

Kool said:

---

94chem said:

---

I told mine that if you need to go to a school that prestigious, then you'll need to go to graduate school too. So why not just go to the prestigious graduate school, and they'll pay you to go there. You could spend $315,000 on an MIT bachelor's degree. Or, you could take a merit scholarship to a state flagship, and MIT will pay you $48,000/year to get your Ph.D.

As a personal story, by the time I was entering my junior year at A&M, I had no clue, but my mentor told me I could go anywhere I wanted for grad school. I didn't even know about grad school. But when I learned that if I wanted to be a professor, or direct my own projects in industry, it was obvious. I applied to "those" places - Harvard, MIT, Caltech, and UNC. I ended up going to UNC, which was as good as any of them. To this day, all of my professional colleagues - despite my Aggie ring - know me as a Tar Heel. Where you finish is really what carries weight. Of course that is somewhat discipline-dependent.

---

I do understand exactly what you are saying. When I was looking at colleges, I knew for a fact that I was going to go to medical school. I also knew for a fact that I would get $0 from my family for school. I was wrong on the latter - my Dad did end up giving me $20 for gas one time to get me back to school, much to my delight. I turned down offers from Rice and Plan II (?) at Texas to attend A&M, and I am glad I did. My undergraduate degree has zero value to me - if I lost my medical license, it would offer me nothing. I finished in 3 years and ended up with almost zero debt for my undergraduate degree. But I am not my son.

My son has interests in Politics and Finance. I have no idea as to whether or not he will pursue a graduate degree (personally, I think he would make an excellent lawyer). Based on what I have seen of him to date, he will make and use connections by going to an out of state school (especially if it is in the Northeast). Also, I think graduate programs (MBA or law schools or other) do give kids a better chance when they come from "prestige" schools. I'm also completely open to being dead wrong on this one.

I'm not made of money, but I did put money away into a 529 when he was young. It has done nicely. His grandmother did the same. He may get opportunities I didn't really have available to me. If he gets a tremendous opportunity because he worked hard, applied himself, and is lucky enough to have a 529 plan, I will let him pursue it. As I stated earlier, though, it has to be demonstrably better than attending the state school for free - in our case UGA.

Kool Jr. taking advantage of an surprise opportunity a couple of weeks ago (National Youth Leadership Forum Capitol tour)



Unfortunately this was a surprise otherwise he would have been better dressed. It was a 3-hour tour in and around The Swamp and the kids were told to dress comfortably for the day.

---

Admission to my grad degree was more dependent on how you compared to the rest of your cohort than your undergrad institution (If you're a consultant (or banker, or nontraditonal candidate, or engineer, whatever), how were your grades, GMAT, and work experience compared to the rest of the consultants (or banker, or nontrad, etc…) being admitted)

94chem said:

---

I told mine that if you need to go to a school that prestigious, then you'll need to go to graduate school too. So why not just go to the prestigious graduate school, and they'll pay you to go there. You could spend $315,000 on an MIT bachelor's degree. Or, you could take a merit scholarship to a state flagship, and MIT will pay you $48,000/year to get your Ph.D.

As a personal story, by the time I was entering my junior year at A&M, I had no clue, but my mentor told me I could go anywhere I wanted for grad school. I didn't even know about grad school. But when I learned that if I wanted to be a professor, or direct my own projects in industry, it was obvious. I applied to "those" places - Harvard, MIT, Caltech, and UNC. I ended up going to UNC, which was as good as any of them. To this day, all of my professional colleagues - despite my Aggie ring - know me as a Tar Heel. Where you finish is really what carries weight. Of course that is somewhat discipline-dependent.

---

Not bad advice.

I was not a top applicant for top schools out of high school. The professor I worked for in undergrad suggested I apply to MIT, a school I'd have had zero hope of getting into out of high school. It kind of surprised me actually and I wasn't interested in going there (cultural fit and weather). I ended up getting a full ride to Texas A&M for my graduate degree in engineering.

One university that rejected me out of high school recruited me for grad school and invited me for an on-site recruiting event only extended to top applicants where I got campus and lab tours, and got to meet professors and have 1-on-1s.

This also depends on the major and what plans a student has for after they finish their degree.

Undergraduate admissions isn't the end of the story, it's the beginning.