서울에 있는 친구 성희가 보내준 감사한 글
You may not realize this – but the following is 100% true.
Think about some part of it daily.
There are at least 2 people in this world who you would die for.
And…….at least 15 people in this world who you love in some way.
The only reason that anyone would ever hate you, ss because they want to be just like you.
A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone,even if they do not like you.
Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you.
You mean the world to someone.
You are special and unique.
Someone you don’t even know – loves you.
When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
When you think the World has turned it’s back on you……take another look.
Always remember the compliments that you received.
Forget about the rude remarks.
Always remember…when life hands you a lemon – always ask for sugar!
Good friends are like stars, you don’t always see them – but you know they are there.
I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a Friend while I am here – than a whole truckload when I am gone.
Happiness keeps you sweet,Trials keep you strong.
Sorrows keep you Human, Life keeps you humble.
Success keeps you glowing, But, only Friends keep you going.
Forward this to your friends, and don’t tell me that you are too busy!!
Don’t you know the phrase – ‘stop and smell the flowers’?

To my friends – I was not too busy to make it and send it to you.

미국에서 대학 입시 전과정을 책임지는 고액의 사설 입시 컨설팅이 날로 호황을 누리고 있다고 뉴욕타임스(NYT)가 19일 보도했다.

NYT에 따르면 컨설팅 서비스는 대개 우리나라의 중학교 2학년에 해당하는 8학년 학생을 대상으로 시작하는데 입학처장에게 좋은 인상을 주기 위해 들어야 하는 과목, 배워야 할 악기 등 세세한 부분까지 조언해준다. 컨설팅 패키지의 가격은 어지간한 대학의 일년치 등록금과 맞먹는 최대 4만달러에 이른다. 미국 사립교육컨설턴트협회에 따르면 등록 컨설턴트가 최근 3년 사이에 2,000명에서 5,000명으로 증가했다.

고액의 비용을 받는 이들 컨설턴트는 대부분 유명 대학에서 실제 입학 업무를 담당했던 직원 출신이다. 다트머스대학 입학 담당자였던 에르난데스는 현재 자신의 서비스를 받는 학생이 학년 당 많게는 25명이라고 말한다. 그는 매년 8월 보스턴의 한 호텔에서 입시 관련 캠프를 여는데 정원은 40명이며 비용은 1만4,000달러 수준이다.

학부모들은 특정 대학 출신 컨설턴트와 계약하면 해당 대학의 입학 가능성이 높아질 것이라고 믿는다. 하지만 30년간 펜실베이니아대학의 입학처장으로 일했던 리 스텟슨은 "입학 과정을 이해하는 데는 도움을 주겠지만 입학에 실질적인 영향을 끼치지는 못한다"라고 말한다. 스텟슨 역시 2007년 퇴임 후 입시 컨설팅에 뛰어들었다. 고교 2학년 학생이 대학에 들어갈 때까지 스텟슨으로부터 제공받는 컨설팅 패키지는 가격이 1만5,000달러에 이른다.

NYT는 이처럼 입시 컨설팅이 성황을 이루고 있지만 자격 미달 컨설턴트가 부지기수라고 지적했다. 대학에서 입학 사정 업무를 담당했다고 경력을 속이는 컨설턴트가 많다는 것이다. 패키지당 3만달러를 부과하는 아이비석세스의 빅토리아 샤오는 인터넷 사이트를 통해 1990년대 후반 코넬대학에서 입학 담당으로 일했다고 밝혔다

하지만 NYT의 확인 결과 그런 이름의 직원은 없었다. 포모나대학의 입학처장 브루스 포치는 "입학 담당자에게 로비를 할 수 있다고 주장하는 이들을 특히 조심해야 한다"고 조언했다.

한국일보 07/20/2009 기사

대입 컨설팅에 4만달러.. 차라리 로또에 맡기지?

수학능력평가란 말 그대로 "대학에서 수학을 할 능력"이 있는 것인가를 평가하는 것인데.. 이 평가에서 상위 1% 내에 들었다면 도대체 다른 무슨 능력이 필요한 것일까요?

한국은 지금 입학사정관제에 대한 논의가 뜨거운데 어제 <뉴욕타임스>에 흥미로운 기사가 실렸습니다. 자녀의 아이비리그 진학을 원하는 학부모를 대상으로 연 1만5천달러에서 최고 4만달러까지 받는 사설 대입 컨설턴트들이 성업중이라는 것입니다.

이들은 에세이 작성법에서 각종 과외 활동과 스포츠, 심지어 아이비리그에 맞는 패션 가이드에 이르기까지 마치 연예인 매니저를 방불케 하는 전방위적인 개인 컨설팅을 제공한다고 합니다. 이들의 조언이 아이비리그 입학에 실제로 도움이 될지는 두고 볼 일이지만 이런 열풍이 생기게 된 원인은 충분히 이해가 갑니다.

바로 입학사정관제지요. 아이비리그, 특히 하바드 등 톱 3 대학에 입학할 정도의 학생이라면 사실 수학능력성적만으로 줄을 세우기가 어렵게 됩니다. 거의 만점에 가까운 성적을 준비해 오기 때문이지요. 따라서 성적 외에 학생의 가문, 과외활동, 해외봉사, 스포츠/예능 등 다양한 면모를 평가해 전인적 인재를 뽑는다는 취지 하에 생긴 제도가 '입학사정관제'라고 볼 수 있습니다.

그런데 이런 평가 항목에 맞추어 연 최고 4만달러짜리 사설 컨설턴트가 활약한다는 것은, 학교공부 외에 이만한 시간과 돈과 정력을 투입할수 있는 상류층 부모를 제외하면 아이비리그에 자녀를 입학시키기가 갈수록 힘들어지고 있음을 입증한다고 볼 수 있습니다. 맞벌이하기 바쁜 중하층 부모가 이런 엄청난 대입준비를 지원할 수는 없는 노릇이기 때문이지요.

아이비리그의 입학경쟁이 얼마나 치열한지 심지어 하바드를 졸업한 <뉴욕타임스>의 한 기자가 동문행사에 초청되어 모교를 방문했다가 자신의 자녀는 도저히 하바드에 입학할 수 없겠다는 자괴감만 안고 돌아왔다고 합니다.

하지만 이렇게 엄정한 입학사정관제를 통과한 학생들이 과연 떨어진 학생들보다 더 뛰어난 것인지, 또 그만큼 미래에도 성공한 인재가 될지는 아무도 알 수 없지요. 말콤 글래드웰은 최근작 <아웃라이어>에서 아이비리그 신입생 선발방식의 모순을 논리적이고 실증적으로 논박한 바 있습니다.

사실 상위 1% 그룹에 들 정도의 실력이라면 그 다음부터는 아무리 기막힌 잣대를 들이댄다 해도 통계적으로 유의미한 줄세우기를 할수가 없다는 것입니다. 또 그런 줄세우기대로 사회적 성공이 결정되는 것도 아니고 말이지요.

말콤 글래드웰은 그래서 수능에서 상위권 성적을 올린 학생을 대상으로 차라리 로또를 돌려 신입생을 선발하는 것이 훨씬 더 사회적 비용을 줄이는 비결이라고 주장한 바 있습니다. 저 역시 그의 주장에 동의합니다.

수능이든 입학사정관제든 기본적으로 희소한 명문대 정원을 향한 경쟁이라면 사람들은 어떻게든 줄세우기를 동원할 것이 틀림없고, 이에 따라 미국의 4만달러짜리 대입 컨설턴트처럼 해괴한 일들이 벌어질 것이라는 주장이지요.

이런 풍조가 확산되면 거의 연예인 매니저처럼 자녀를 챙길 능력이 없는 중하층 가정은 갈수록 사회의 하위계층으로 추락할수밖에 없을 것입니다.

저는 말콤 글래드웰의 주장을 받아들여 한국의 SKY 역시 로또 추첨으로 신입생을 뽑을 것을 강력히 주장합니다. 수능에서 상위 5% 정도에 드는 학생이라면 그 중에서 아무나 로또로 추첨해 뽑아도 입학사정관제에 비해 전혀 모자랄 것이 없다는 것이지요. 다만 조금 정원을 초과해 뽑은 뒤 10% 정도의 학생은 면접과정에서 걸러낼 수 있겠지요.

대학이 계급사회의 이해관계를 더욱 굳히는 수단이 아니라 사회의 건강한 역동성을 추동하는 조직으로서 기능하려면 바로 이것이 정답이라고 봅니다.

오마이뉴스 07/21/2009 기사


Before College, Costly Advice Just on Getting In - New York Time 07/19/2009

The free fashion show at a Greenwich, Conn., boutique in June was billed as a crash course in dressing for a college admissions interview.

Yet the proposed “looks” — a young man in seersucker shorts, a young woman in a blue blazer over a low-cut blouse and short madras skirt — appeared better suited for a nearby yacht club. After Jennifer Delahunty, dean of admissions at Kenyon College, was shown photos of those outfits, she rendered her review.

“I burst out laughing,” she said.

Shannon Duff, the independent college counselor who organized the event, says she ordinarily charges families “in the range of” $15,000 for guidance about the application process, including matters far more weighty than just what to wear.

Ms. Duff is a practitioner in a rapidly growing, largely unregulated field seeking to serve families bewildered by the admissions gantlet at selective colleges.

No test or licensing is required to offer such services, and there is no way to evaluate the counselors’ often extravagant claims of success or experience. And Ms. Duff’s asking price, though higher than many, is eclipsed by those of competitors who may charge upwards of $40,000 — more than a year’s tuition at many colleges.

In the last three years, the number of independent admissions advisers (as opposed to school-based counselors) is estimated to have grown to nearly 5,000, from about 2,000, according to the Independent Educational Consultants Association, a membership group trying to promote basic standards of competency and ethics. While initially clustered on the East and West Coasts, counselors are making inroads across the country.

The consultants association has made a particular target of counselors who boast of helping nearly all their clients gain admission to their top-choice colleges.

“When you say things like, ‘We know the secrets of getting in,’ it kind of implies that it’s not the student’s ability,” said Mark H. Sklarow, executive director of the association, in Fairfax, Va. “It suggests that there’s some kind of underground code.”

A reputable, experienced counselor might, for a few hundred dollars, help a student compile a list of prospective colleges, or brainstorm topics for an essay. But others demand tens of thousands of dollars to oversee the entire application process — tutoring jittery applicants on what classes to take in high school or musical instruments to play, the better, their families are told, to impress the admissions dean.

Never mind that admissions officers say that no outsider can truly predict how a particular applicant might fare. “I guess there are snake oil salesman in every field,” said Amy Gutmann, the president of the University of Pennsylvania, “and they are preying on vulnerable and anxious people.”

While the going national rate for such work is about $185 an hour, a counselor in Vermont and another in New York City are among those who charge some families more than $40,000. Their packages might begin when a child is in eighth grade.

“It’s annoying when people complain about the money,” the Vermont-based counselor, Michele Hernandez, said. “I’m at the top of my field. Do people economize when they have a brain tumor and are looking for a neurosurgeon? If you want to go with someone cheaper, or chance it, don’t hire me.”

Dr. Hernandez, a former Dartmouth admissions officer, says she counsels as many as 25 students in each high school grade each year. She also offers four-day “boot camps” every August in a Boston hotel, charging 40 incoming high school seniors as much as $14,000 each.

Lee Stetson, who retired in 2007 after three decades as dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, now has a counseling practice near Philadelphia, where he charges as much as $15,000 for his junior-senior package. Unlike many competitors, Mr. Stetson says he cautions his small group of clients, maybe seven students a year, that he will not handicap their chances of admission to a particular college, nor button-hole former colleagues on their behalf. “I’m hoping they see me more as someone who understands the process,” he said, “than someone who can influence the chances of acceptance.”

While Mr. Stetson was one of the most influential admissions officers in the country, the extent of other counselors’ experience may be more difficult for parents to divine.

On her business Web site, Collegiate Compass, Ms. Duff says she brings “firsthand perspective to today’s admissions landscape,” borne of her earlier work “as a reader” in the Yale undergraduate admissions office. While outside readers help evaluate some candidates’ files, they typically have no decision-making authority.

It is not uncommon for other counselors to exaggerate their backgrounds. Ivy Success, in Garden City, N.Y., which charges some clients nearly $30,000, says on its Web site that its counselors have “years of experience as admissions officers to help you gain an edge in this competitive and uncertain process.”

Asked about the discrepancy, Ms. Hsiao said she had mainly assisted the admissions office as an alumna who conducted interviews. She also said a partner, Robert Shaw, had been an admissions officer at the University of Pennsylvania. Asked about this in an e-mail message, Mr. Shaw said he had been only “an assistant,” from 1987 to 1988.

“Don’t remember all the details,” he said, adding, “We really don’t want to be a part of your article as we’re not a service for the masses.”

Admissions officers say that for many students, the advice of their high school counselors should suffice. Those applicants who might benefit from supplemental counseling — like those at urban high schools with overworked counselors — are often among the least able to afford such services.

Regardless, colleges say parents should be wary of any counselor’s claim of being able to lobby for a candidate’s admission. While noting that there are “genuinely rational and knowledgeable folks out there doing this work,” Bruce Poch, the dean of admissions at Pomona College, adds, “Some of the independents leave me looking for the nearest emergency shower.”

Though none of the counselors said business was off in the struggling economy, some are making adjustments. Having initially presented the fashion show outfits as serious, Ms. Duff later said she had intended to “create a lighthearted environment,” the better to promote two new advisory DVDs she is offering, “at a price that is accessible.” (One for $45; two for $80.)

Katherine Cohen, the founder of IvyWise in New York City, has a team that charges from a few hundred dollars to more than $40,000. But she also has been emphasizing a spinoff called ApplyWise that for $299 helps students assemble their application in ways reminiscent of Turbo Tax.

Dr. Cohen, a former reader at Yale, is a member of the independent consultants association — despite a claim on the IvyWise Web site that runs afoul of an association admonition. “Congratulations,” it blares, “100 percent of IvyWise students were admitted to one of their top three choices in 2009!”

Fewer than one of every five admissions consultants can claim to be an association member. Bill Dingledine, a longtime educational consultant in Greenville, S.C., is among those advocating even more stringent certification offered by the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners. It requires counselors to pass a three-hour written examination.

The concept has yet to catch on, at least in part because many counselors’ practices are already booming. Asked how many counselors had sought, and won, that certification last year, Mr. Dingledine had a ready answer: about 20.