I Can Get Your Kid Into an Ivy

Admissions officers, of course, have little respect for the work of Hernandez and other consultants. "I believe that most of the funds expended on independent counselors are simply wasted," Jeffrey Brenzel, the dean of admissions at Yale, wrote in an e-mail. "We do not believe they have much, if any, effect on who we accept."

Hernandez' apparent success depends, too, on how well she manages the expectations of the kids and their parents. She says nearly all of her students are accepted to the school they most want to attend. But in many cases, she strongly suggests which college would be a reasonable first choice. She calls that strategizing. First she writes a 12-to-18 page report for each new student, based on transcripts, test scores, and other accomplishments, that gives the likelihood of their gaining admission to the schools they are interested in. "I have written: 'You have 0% chance of getting into Harvard early decision. Don't apply,'" she says. "People pay for accuracy. I know exactly what it takes to get into Harvard." Her apparent candor serves another purpose, too: Such an assessment makes it unlikely that she will fail.

When she begins working with kids already in their junior year of high school, she is naturally a bit constrained in what she can advise after that initial evaluation. "At that age, they have what they have," she says. When John Garza contacted Hernandez in January, 2002, Andrew already knew he wanted to attend Haverford. Hernandez told him it would be a reach. Then she started suggesting ways he could fashion himself into a more attractive applicant.

"I'd like to think I would have gotten in [to Haverford] anyway," says Andrew Garza. Photo credit: Chris Casaburi.

Over the next year, as she does with most of her clients, she worked with him by e-mail and over the phone, occasionally in person. She helped him navigate the International Baccalaureate curriculum, advising him to sign up for classes that U.S. colleges would recognize as difficult. She directed his interests. "I helped in ways that would look good and let him be true to himself," she says. Early in his junior year, Andrew had become involved with Habitat for Humanity, though his contributions were modest. Hernandez talked to him about the importance of leadership: In his senior year, he served as president of the local chapter. She encouraged him to make a bigger impact: He helped raise $4,000 to build homes in Kyrgyzstan and Hungary by expanding the organization's sandwich-making business on campus.

Then she suggested he write his main application essay about something else altogether. "The Habitat for Humanity theme, the tug on your heartstrings, sounded too common," says Andrew. So he tried another topic that would reveal more about his intellectual enthusiasms: how running helped him understand the existentialist philosophy he was reading about. "She gave me specific suggestions about the essay to form one cogent image of who I am," says Andrew.

Crafting that singular, convincing portrait of the student is central to Hernandez' approach. She considers sentimental pursuits a distraction and those done out of obligation misguided. So it went with Ben Selznick, who started to work with Hernandez in the spring of 2002 when he was a junior. His father, David, a tax attorney in Armonk, N.Y., paid $16,500 for about a year's worth of advice. "We had a very motivated son who wanted to attend a top university," he says. "We wanted to give him every opportunity we could."

Ben Selznick, pictured here, took Hernandez' counsel and got into Dartmouth. Photo credit: Chris Casaburi.

Ben was a talented drummer, and Hernandez told him to concentrate on his music. He recalls conversations about his schedule: "I was on the track team and she asked: 'Are you going to be a track star?' So I quit and got a job as a drum teacher at a local music school." She put the kibosh on plans to be a camp counselor, too; instead he spent several weeks that summer at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

During his senior year, Ben joined a couple of singing groups, took more music classes, and completed an independent study in composition. "A lot of it came from me realizing that music could be a good way to pitch myself," he says. At Hernandez' suggestion, he visited Dartmouth. It became his first choice. Hernandez then told him to apply early decision, which is binding. (Almost all of her clients apply early somewhere because the acceptance rate is higher than during regular admission.)

He applied as a music major. Ben had been uncertain about how to frame his main essay until Hernandez advised him to write about the experience of listening to his favorite piece of classical music, Wagner's Tannhauser Overture, and its influence on his own creative process. Ben was accepted to Dartmouth. He graduated in May with a degree in religious studies and is now working as a paralegal at a law firm outside of Boston.

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