Do rich students have a better chance of getting into top colleges? One-hundred percent YES! 20% of millionaires under age 55 spend more than $50,000 to get their kids into college. Thanks to the college admissions scandal, we all know that wealthy parents have spent tens of thousands to millions of dollars to give their children an unfair advantage of getting into their alma maters or other elite universities.
Besides having parents who donate funds to build science labs or theaters for target colleges, many wealthy children benefit from receiving private lessons in the arts, sports, or other extracurricular activities that make them stand out to college admissions officers. They can get the best SAT/ACT preparation, hire private college advisors, have experts write their college application essays, and get “family friends of influence” to write them letters of recommendation.
As a college advisor myself, I recognize that we at Merit Educational Consultants cater to families who can afford our fees for college advisory, ProjectMerit, essay guidance, and SAT/ACT prep. But we do offer probono support for low-income students and I write blogs giving free advice for all students and parents. This doesn’t even the playing field but I hope that it helps.
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