On the one hand, admissions policies that consider race have been deemed anti-meritocratic.
On the other hand, wealthy parents hellbent on getting their kids into elite colleges are paying consultants up to $120,000 a year from 8th grade on for their children to have weekly meetings with academic tutors and admissions coaches, and then paying additional fees for SAT/ACT prep. Given their clientele, the academic tutors are sometimes charging $1250 an hour just for the academic support.
Meanwhile, the average public school counselor is responsible for 405 students.
Meanwhile, as wealthy peers are being supported all through elite high school by tutors making six figures, many poor and working class students who attended under-resourced high schools have internalized the belief that asking for help is a sign of weakness.
The literature on first-generation poor and working-class students is filled with references to their "imposter syndrome" and relentless doubt about whether they're cut out for college.
I've never seen a word about wealthy students whose weekly high school routines included intensive, obscenely expensive – but largely hidden – academic and admissions support doubting whether they deserve to actually be at Harvard or Yale.
