Advice for college interviews from a $15,000 consultant
posted: 12th June 2009.
Shannon Duff is an independent college admissions consultant in Greenwich, Conn., who charges families “in the range of ” $15,000 for the full breadth of her advice about the application process. Ms. Duff, who calls her business Collegiate Compass, says in her promotional materials that one of her main credentials for doing such work was a job as a reader of applications in the Yale undergraduate admissions office, while she was on campus studying for her masters in 2003 and 2004. She said that she might devote upwards of 60 hours to an applicant who spends as much as $15,000 to be guided through the application process. For $7,000 or so, an applicant would get a limited amount of face time with her supplemented by instruction she had recorded on video. A fashion show was recently held in New York city to provide free fashion advice for high school seniors who will soon be attending college interviews, however, two Deans of Admission argue that what students wear to their interviews is largely irrelevant.