Coming Full Circle

very interesting, but I don't agree with you
Idetrorce

Yup. These services are a bit problematic.

I've set up an open directory of admissions consulting services like IvyWise, Essay Edge and others where families can anonymously review their experience working with them.

IvyWise actually has an entry on the index
http://www.collegeconsultantreviews.com/content...

Anyone weighs in on their experience would be doing a service to the whole educational community.

Someone needs to hold these consultants accountable and help separate the honest operators from the "packagers."

http://www.collegeconsultantreviews.com

Any comments or feedback would be appreciated.

hey, anglebrackets-p doesn't work either... how DO you start a new paragraph on this thing...??

aww, i was sure disappointed to come back here and find out that our continued discussion of the Stuyvesant Cuddle Puddle was not deemed suitable for continued consumption. or is it because there are no nested comments on this blog! (*are* there??) dammit Jack, why don't you give me nested comments...!?? gree.i also found out that your blog doesn't automatically format line-breaks like Livejournal does. gee, that sure made me look like a fool.glad to hear you're back in New York, though. as for my huge blog entries, well, be aware that if i stop writing them, i might just stop writing blog entries at all... so what i would suggest, is read maybe one paragraph a day, and treat it like lots of *little* blog entries, and by the time you're done... well, still i'll most likely not have posted anything else.Oh, yes, and that's right: Cuddle puddles are the future. I eagerly anticipate our new cuddly overlords.

wait a minute... that "Cuddle Puddle" article was at the same time "purely sensational garbage" and "completely non-nonsensical"...?? how, pray tell, Jack, is that possible? dammit, i put great emotional value onto that article! the least i can ask for is consistent opinions on it!

... hey Jack. how's it going? nice blog you've got here.

regarding "stem cell researcher", it is obvious bullshit. Doing 20 hrs lab-work a week is very far from being at the biology-grad-student level, much less a researcher. The Westinghouse projects that eventually (and inevitably) result are generally more a reflection of the lab than any great originality by the student. If you can get hooked up with a lab at Rockefeller, Columbia, etc then of course chances are that in three years plus summers you can make some mini-discovery about cancer cells or whatever. Much of the work in such labs is done by lab technicians who certainly don't have PhD's and sometimes no university degree in biology. It's no surprise that high school students, or monkeys, can be trained to the same.

Yay Harmain! He's an awesome guy. I got to travel to Intel ISEF with him and I must say I have met some brilliant people at that fair, but he was the only one that I know to win first place. I am in absolute awe of him. And we both did the NYC Envirothon last year! =) He will definitely go far in life and really is a super college candidate!

I actually happen to know Courtney (the stem cell research girl). Not only is she by far the smartest and nicest person I know, but she has in fact been doing stem cell research since 9th grade. I have visited her lab and can vouch that she works there 20+ hours a week!

Wow. Okay, NY Mag has a history of misreporting information. She's on Hunter Math Team A, but she isn't on the Math League mentioned in the article.

Matt is not the only founder. It was his idea first, but he will tell you -- Liming is co-founder and very much active at that.

Oh, it is possible to research on stem cells in high school. You just need a sponsor who's willing to supervise your experiment.

Wait... yea, she was never part of Hunter A....
Co-founder on MAO? I thought Matt was the only founder.

Wearing a T-shirt is misleading, implying that she was on the NYC math team. It's fine to have a shirt and all but you shouldn't be wearing it in a photo that's gonna be published.

um, jeanne, it's not a stupid question. in fact, it's not even a question. wearing a shirt does not automatically indicate affiliation. i know of a certain ninja (arrr) who has math team shirts from years during which the said ninja could not possibly have been on the team. is the said ninja necessarily harboring malicious intent? (probably, but that's besides the point) is the said ninja necessarily trying to imply affiliation? of course not. you're digging too deep for something that isn't there.

Incidentally, not to be nitpicky, but as a representative of Hunter I just want to point out that Liming is on Hunter A, but the team is not, unfortunately, ranked second in the city using any set of scores at this point. The team was second (or first) last year, but at that time Liming was on neither of the Hunter A teams. Again, I'm just pointing out a detail since someone referenced it earlier.

What kind of stupid question is that: "Liming Luo is wearing the New York City team shirt, which does not necessarily mean she is a member of the team."? The clear implication of wearing a NYC Math team t-shirt in a publically shown photo is to state that one is affliated with said organization. What, the NYC math team t-shirt is supposed to be some subtle message for being part of the Hunter girls' volleyball team?
And just because someone doesn't need to lie about themselves, doesn't mean he/she doesn't. No offense intended towards Liming. And still Hunter pride.

Liming Luo is wearing the New York City team shirt, which does not necessarily mean she is a member of the team. She is (as clearly stated in the article) a member of the Hunter College High School math team (ranked second in New York City). Say what you will about the other students; I can tell you that Liming Luo does not need to lie about herself to anyone for any reason.

Although what should be entitled, "Swarms of Morons," is inaccurate the so called "cuddle puddles" are more the norm. Just because we are from Gen X and Next does not mean the shallow days of the 80s are not reinventing themselves as Gen XXY.

Couple of observations, Jack.

This sort of resume puffing has been going on for generations. I'm sure I lost out on a place at Columbia because I was honest about my extra-curriculars and didn't make a deal to sleep with a Stuy teacher in exchange for a glowing letter about my assistance in (insert teacher's discipline here), as others did.

I know this for a fact because at NYU, I ran into at least three kids who had neither the grades nor the excuses to make that school, and who owned up to having teachers fudge on the e-c's and recommendations.

But take this one step further: how many CEOs in the last decade have lost plum jobs because someone took a moment to vett their CV after the fact, in the wake of one scandal or another?