High school students applying to college this fall represent the largest applicant pool the United States has ever seen. As the process of applying to college becomes increasingly lengthy and competitive, many of these students are turning to alternative counseling sources to put them one step ahead of their competition.

Students seek private counseling for a number of reasons, but primarily to compensate for the lack of private attention provided by their high schools. Over-burdened guidance counselors, especially at large public schools, simply don't have enough time to dedicate to individual students.

The National Center for Educational Statistics reported in 2008 that the national student-to-guidance counselor ratio for 2008 was 488-to-1, with students receiving an average of 20 minutes of one-on-one time. Alison Flores, A&S '12, found this to be true of her high school counseling services. "I used a former admissions officer at Boston University to help me decide where to apply and to help with my application," she said.

Private counseling services vary depending on how much a student can stand to pay. The most basic form of private advising is a standardized testing preparation course for the SAT and ACT, which is offered by the famed college preparatory Princeton Review company, starting at $125. The cost of these classes, however, can easily soar into the thousands of dollars.

The most affluent and ambitious students tend to hire full-time tutors whom they believe have the "golden ticket" for access into elite universities, some foolproof tactic to provide them with a noticeable advantage over their peers who are relying strictly on public-high-school counseling. The starting price for these services rests around $2,000, but can climb rapidly into five-digit figures. These tutors assist students in creating their college profile and walk them through every step of the application process.

One such tutor is Michele Hernandez, a celebrity in the world of college consultants, who boasts an almost 100 percent acceptance rate for admission to Ivy League schools. Her private counseling package includes unlimited time with students, preparation for standardized testing, and assistance with essays, among a number of other services. She charges anywhere from $34,000 to $40,000 annually, roughly the equivalent of one year at a private American university. Students can enroll in her program at the ripe age of 14, or the average age of an eighth-grader.

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