Admission Tactic : Counseling for College: Ethics Issue

Michael McArthur is waiting for the word. The 17-year-old senior at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego County has sent applications for admission to Stanford, UC Berkeley, USC, Vanderbilt, Southern Methodist and, just to be safe, San Diego State.

The way Mike tells it, fate itself will soon arrive in his mailbox.

“I’m really worried,” he admitted. “I mean, it seems like your whole future is decided by where you go to college. People ask you where you’re going to school, you figure you have to answer some big name to make you feel important.”

For Mike and thousands of other college-bound students, this is the season of anxiety: acceptance or rejection, Stanford or State? But unlike most students, Mike might have an edge--a private educational counselor helped him with college selections, coached him through the application process and edited his entrance essays.

And the counselor is “supposed to have a little clout with the admissions officers,” Mike says.

Controversy Stirring

That assertion isn’t necessarily so, college officials say. But there is no question that private educational advisers have emerged as a force in the collegiate marketplace, causing ripples of controversy.

The competition for admission into the nation’s most prestigious private and public colleges is intense. That competition, combined with cuts in high school counseling budgets, has prompted more and more families to pay independent counselors from $100 to $1,200 for help in getting their children into the college of their choice.

“Our college business is going bonkers. It’s amazing,” said Alice Jackson, who started counseling part time in 1974 and now heads a firm with four full-time counselors and offices in San Francisco and Santa Monica. Her college-bound clientele has tripled since last year, she said, from 45 “active files” to 150.

Record Number of Applicants

Jackson and other counselors agree that the heated competition for entrance at several top colleges has fueled their business. For example, Stanford’s current freshman class of 1,611 was gleaned from 15,612 applicants, then a record. Already, 1985 has produced a record, with about 17,600 applicants. “Our admissions people are crushed,” a Stanford spokesman said.

Similarly, UC Berkeley’s applications rose 24% in 1984 to a record 11,313, of whom 6,611 were admitted. At UCLA, 16,700 applications were received last fall for 5,650 “new student” slots.

Applications at some other top institutions have leveled off. At Harvard, applications have hovered near 13,000 for the last seven years, and enrollees near 1,600. For some private colleges, climbing tuitions have resulted in a decline in applications--but that, in turn, has helped increase the number of students applying to such highly regarded public institutions as Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Virginia and University of Texas at Austin.

Independent counselors have been in business for decades, primarily in the East, but the field is now booming. The Independent Educational Counselors Assn., formed in 1974 with about 10 members, now numbers 87, and its officers estimate that about seven to 10 times as many non-IECA counselors perform similar work. Many of the advisers--often former or moonlighting teachers or prep school officials--also place younger students in boarding schools.

As they grow in number, the private advisers are gaining grudging acceptance from peers at high schools and colleges. Last fall, after much debate, the National Assn. of College Admissions Counselors approved full voting membership to several independents.

Still, the effect of private counselors has raised questions among educators.

Fred Hargadon, senior vice president of the College Board, a nonprofit organization that conducts college entrance exams, has complained that families typically put more research into the purchase of a new car than toward the selection of a university. Still, Hargadon, who was Stanford’s dean of admissions for 15 years before joining the College Board last year, has qualms about independent counselors. The central question is one of fairness.

‘College Savvy’

“It’s the parents who are already college savvy who will have money to add this service. It’s really the parents who aren’t college savvy, not from college backgrounds, who need it,” Hargadon said.

And there are ethical concerns: How far should private counselors go in marketing their students? At what point does a little advice and editing on an entrance essay become a virtual rewrite or ghostwrite?

“Most admission officers I know are really interested in being fair,” Hargadon said. “If you know that one applicant has been helped by an independent counselor, and you read another application from a student who had simply done what was asked, applied on his own, written the essay without any help . . . well, the admissions officer sitting there has to weigh some pretty serious questions.

“How are you going to make comparisons if there’s another actor in this process?”

Independent counselors often write letters of recommendation or make phone calls on behalf of their clients. But private counselors, in general, have no more influence than high school counselors, says Raeleen Siporin, director of undergraduate admissions at UCLA. It depends on the credibility and reputation of the individual, she said.

Unscrupulous Counselors

And a few may be without scruples. Some private counselors said they know of competitors who have taken placement commissions from tuition-hungry colleges while pretending to represent only the student’s interest. A sure sign of a fraud, they say, is a counselor who claims he can guarantee admission to a top university.

The quality of college-prep counseling in public schools varies widely. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, according to Charles Espalin, the district’s director of counseling and guidance services, each comprehensive high school is staffed with a college counseling specialist, but individual caseloads can number 500 students.

Some school districts have cut college counseling services severely. As a rule, educators say, schools that serve affluent neighborhoods have counselors who spend much of their time preparing students for college; schools that serve poor communities have counselors who find their workday consumed more by vocational counseling and disciplinary concerns.

Torrey Pines High School serves Rancho Santa Fe, one of the wealthiest communities in the nation, a place where millionaires are routine. “We do probably twice as much college counseling here than any other school I’ve worked at,” said counselor Bob Sanchez, a veteran of five high schools.

Retained Independent Counselor

But Dan McArthur believed that the Torrey Pines counselors still didn’t have enough time to serve his son’s needs. Last fall, McArthur, who has business interests in equipment leasing and thoroughbreds, decided to send Mike to Albert Rosenstein, an independent counselor in Orange County.

“I didn’t have any information on the types of universities Mike would like and would like him,” McArthur recalled. Rosenstein, he said, interviewed and tested Mike to learn about his aptitudes, interests and personality.

Mike has been a good but not exceptional high school student, with grades in the B-plus to A-minus range. Rosenstein recommended a group of 10 colleges for Mike to apply to--members of what counselors typically describe as the “second tier” of universities, a level below Ivy League-quality institutions. While competition is heated in the nation’s top 10 or 12 schools, admission to others is not as competitive as many parents and students believe, counselors and admissions officers say.

Then, as McArthur put it, Rosenstein began to “spit shine” Mike’s portfolio. For example, Mike’s scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, a common measuring tool used in the admissions process, were about 1,100--again, good but not outstanding. So, after tutoring from Rosenstein, Mike took the American College Test and recorded a stronger score. Universities typically accept the student’s better performance on the SAT or ACT. The counselor also provided advice for Mike’s essays, McArthur said.

$500 Investment

Dan McArthur spent more than $500 for Rosenstein’s services, and he considers it a wise investment. “If Mike were on his own, he probably would have never heard of SMU or Vanderbilt,” he said. “I’m a strong believer that a degree from the best universities with the best reputations carries a lot of weight in the job search. It just opens a lot more doors--not necessarily that it should.”

The family’s preference is Stanford. In early April, the university will send Mike a letter of congratulations or condolence. “The counselor said, ‘Forget it,’ ” McArthur said. “But we can’t forget it, because I went there and his mother went there and a lot of relatives went there. . . . I don’t know if that helps or not.” (As in many private institutions, family ties or other good connections do indeed help, Stanford officials say. But they are hardly guarantees for admission.)

The editing of student entrance essays is a touchy subject, a great gray area in the ethical debates surrounding the use of private counselors. Kenneth Seid, a private counselor in San Diego and former English teacher, boasts of assisting a Yale candidate through five rewrites before arriving at “a really fine piece of work.” The young man is now a Yalie.

‘Seeds of Brilliance’

The student’s original essay “had the seeds of brilliance,” Seid explained. “But there were 13 spelling errors, numerous grammatical errors, and the structure was a mess.” Seid said he pointed out the errors and made suggestions, but stresses that he never rewrote the work himself. “The ideas were all his.”

But wouldn’t admissions officers have preferred the chance to find those “seeds of brilliance” in an unadulterated form? Maybe yes, maybe no.

The authenticity of student essays is a chronic quandary for admissions officials, wary that overzealous parents or mentors sometimes produce the work. They are also concerned about the risk posed by independent counselors, who stand to profit by building a reputation for placing students in top colleges. “When we have an absolutely outstanding essay and low verbal scores, we are going to be suspicious,” said Siporin of UCLA.

Some help from teachers, counselors and parents is generally expected, admission officers say. But the line between some editing and too much editing is drawn in different places by different people.

Rewriting Essays Taboo

Rewriting of entrance essays is considered a taboo in the code of ethics of the Independent Educational Counseling Assn. The work of Seid, who is not in the IECA, with the Yale candidate was described to two members of the group. One said five rewrites seemed excessive, bordering on unethical. The other said it seemed entirely appropriate in the counseling process.

Similarly, authorities on college admissions have differing viewpoints.

“It’s hard to argue against them putting their best foot forward . . . but if it’s an unrealistic foot, there can be problems. . . . You’re really looking for a representative example of the student’s work . . . the student’s work,” Hargadon emphasized.

“When you read an application, you want to get some sense both of the student’s abilities and his limitations, because you’re going to have to put up with his limitations. When you get into class, you’re not going to be doing five drafts with somebody over your shoulder.”

Siporin saw it this way: “My guess is a student who has done an essay, then redone it, redone it and redone it--that’s a dedicated student. He’ll find somebody else (to provide tutorial or editing help) if it’s that important to him.”

Parental Expectations

Both independent and public school counselors say their first chore, typically, is to quash unrealistic parental expectations. Their daughter might be the student body president, head cheerleader and have a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, but that doesn’t mean she’ll get accepted by a Harvard or Princeton. In fact, Stanford reports that it had 2,365 applicants with 4.0 grade-point averages apply for the current freshman class; 902 of them were offered admission.

Many families, weighed down by the anxiety of college admissions, depend on counselors for moral support. “Frankly, we do a lot of hand-holding,” counselor Jackson said.

Lisa Piniella needed plenty of support. Her parents hired Seid while Lisa was a high school senior in Berkeley. At Seid’s behest, she applied to 12 colleges, then narrowed her choices to Mount Holyoke, a prestigious women’s school in South Hadley, Mass., and Scripps College in Claremont. She preferred Scripps, but her parents insisted on Mount Holyoke, known for its rigorous academics.

“There were a lot of tears,” Lisa recalled. “I used to call Dr. Seid and say, ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to do?’ ”

Lisa, her parents and Seid met for a counseling session last spring. Her parents still were insistent on Mount Holyoke. Lisa and her mother cried some more. During the conversation, Seid said, it became clear that Lisa feared she would fail at Mount Holyoke.

Compromise Offered

Then Lisa’s parents offered a compromise, which she accepted: Lisa would attend Mount Holyoke for a year. If she didn’t like it, she could transfer to the college of her choice.

So far, Mount Holyoke is working out well. Lisa said she enjoys campus life and earned a 3.1 grade-point average in her first semester.

Some counselors and college officials are disturbed that more and more families and students are consumed by the notion that the “right” college will result in a happy, successful life, and the “wrong” college would be a shameful disaster.

Jean Dawes, who works part time as a non-certified college adviser at Palo Alto High School and operates a private counseling business, suggests that many private counselors foster the anxiety they stand to profit by.

Dawes provides a leaner and, at $150, less expensive service than most private counselors. The emphasis is on information, and the students are expected to do substantial work on their own.

“They’re going to be out on their own soon. . . . I think the level at which you start to spoon-feed them is really a disservice,” she said. She says she tries to remind her client students that where they go to college “isn’t as important as what you do with what you’ve got.”

Success Stories

Hargadon tells of getting letters from parents that he had frustrated years earlier by turning down their children for admission to Stanford. Invariably, the parents describe the fabulous success their son or daughter has had and suggest that Hargadon obviously had been in error. “A long time to hold a grudge,” he observed.

Those letters bespeak parents who had their hearts set on one college, or perhaps parents who “see the school their child goes to as a mark of social prestige,” Hargadon said.

“There are hundreds of first-rate colleges. But for many people it becomes a name-brand kind of thing . . . Harvard, Stanford, Princeton,” he lamented. “Well, it’s easy to pick a name brand, rather than shop around.”