I went to a very competitive public high school. For a couple of students, it’s Stanford or Shut up, Berkeley or Bust, Dartmouth or Die. I had pretty good test scores but could’ve had better grades. Nonetheless, some lucky star must’ve been shining down on me and I got into a top-20 school. Every year since I’ve been at my college, our SAT and GPA median and number of applicants have been growing by leaps and bounds. I’m just happy I got in when I did… ’cause the incoming kids are truly frightening. See Exhibit A. It’s easy to understand why parents and students are more and more wiling to pay big bucks for a consultant to walk them through the process.
I didn’t use an admissions consultant service, but my parents spent a fair amount during the application process. I applied to 14 or 15 colleges, got a couple of fee waivers, so 13 schools at $50 application fee per school = $650. I didn’t visit any schools on my own dime. I took SAT classes (my counselor got me into a free class offered at school) and SAT 2 classes ($500-$600 total). I also took 5 or 6 AP tests at $90 a pop = $540. And then there are all the prep books that I bought ($100). So in all, my parents spent almost $2,000 before I ever set foot inside the hallowed halls of higher education. And THEN they had to shell out $25k to $30k per year for tuition and room/board. I bet Mom saw the irony in that. 
True, paying for college admissions consultants and to a lesser extent, SAT prep classes, are somewhat controversial. I don’t know how many PF bloggers would feel that spending a couple (or more) thousand dollars on their kids’ college application season is worthwhile. (I say yes to the $1k prep classes, am a bit iffy on the $15k consultant packages). From my personal experience, I am so glad that my parents let me decide what schools to apply to, wrote me checks when I asked, and were generally supportive without being overbearing.
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If you’re looking at a school which decides scholarships based on SAT scores, it might actually pay a good return to take those classes and boost your score. I would have gotten one of those, except the school I went to gave automatic scholarships based on your class ranking, not your GPA – and I went to a school similar to yours and with a 3.75 was only in the top third. But if I had gone to Univ of Dayton (which offered me a ranked scholarship in 10th grade!) I would have gotten a full scholarship had my SAT been 60 points higher, so that would have paid off handsomely.
Your parents did an awesome job and I am pretty sure you deserved it
..sometimes I wonder..if most parents do it..it might just save a whole generation from student debt. Of course I am talking about those who can afford to do it.
Thank GOD I started the college application process last century
. When I see how competitive kids are now, I don’t feel like I would have had a chance. My grades were great but I wasn’t the valedictorian, and my SAT scores were high but I was no 1600-er, and I managed to get my undergraduate education for free… now I would have been lucky to be admitted to some of the schools that were offering me money to study with them only seven years ago!
Now that I’m applying for graduate schools, it’s much harder… I felt that I had no choice but to fork over $1250 for LSAT prep classes (which seems to have paid off…), and apply to 13 different schools just to make sure I had a chance somewhere strong. Maybe we’re all imagining it, but it seems that it’s harder than it ever was and requires more of an investment BEFORE EVEN STARTING than it ever did.
I just find out there’s nothing to be worry about. Everything is ok. My SAT tests is good enough. And so will yours. Take Care