A wide range of web sites are aimed at helping high school seniors looking for an upper hand in the ultra-competitive college application process. Go4College.com, for example, uses analytics that incorporate a student's GPA, SAT score, and a host of other factors to quantify the student's chances to win admittance at various schools. The site produces a percentage that shows how likely the student is to be accepted. Other web sites, such as Accepted.com, sell products such as 'Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips.'
iAdmissions.com, a California-based site launched in September, is straying from the automated advice model and bringing current and former applications officials to students whose families can't afford a high-priced personal advisor. Students pay between $129 and $399 for college counseling, depending on the level of application help they want–compared to thousands of dollars for a private counselor. iAdmissions counselors include admissions officials from Harvard, Brown, and Stanford universities. Van Niekerk said admissions advice companies have had to establish an online presence in recent years as their target audience has become more reliant on the Internet for everything from homework to social networking to shopping.
