Mediating “Fit” in International College Admissions Consulting

• In Event: Connections, Expectations and Fit: Institutional Agents and Student Success

Abstract

Selective college admissions are an important arena of social reproduction struggles, with affluent families increasingly relying on admissions entrepreneurs to target institutions that “fit” their social class. However, we know little about the resources that help international applicants find their class “fit”. This article uses interviews with 21 private admissions consultants and marketing materials of 18 consultancies in India to explore how “fit” is understood and actualized internationally. Consultants described helping clients: 1) identify appropriately reputed colleges, 2) optimize subject choices for international careers, and 3) showcase deservingness for admission. Examining the privatization of college access in a novel context, this study illustrates how prestige hierarchies and migration regulations have created an industry that gatekeeps access to leading global universities.

Author

• Swati Puri, Harvard University