On the first day of the SAT classes that I taught in college, we showed students a copy of an ad, taken from a national magazine, whose copy was worded like a multiple choice test question. The question: How many miles has trucker N.F. Plunkett Jr. driven without an accident? The correct answer: 2.5 million miles, and just about anybody could get the question right. Here’s how. (1) The ad was for the American Trucking Association. (2) 2.5 million was the largest number of the available answer choices. The trucking company wouldn’t pay big bucks for an ad and then make Plunkett’s perfect record anything other than the largest of the choices. That would have sacrificed some of the necessary oomph in their messaging.

The lesson for our students at the time was that like the trucking ad, SAT test-writers had an agenda. And knowing what it was could often help them distinguish between right and wrong answers.

But there’s also a lesson about advertising: consider the messenger before you act on the message.

Here are a few examples:

• A test prep company gives a presentation that includes the (stellar) average SAT and ACT scores for admits to the nation’s most selective colleges.
• A financial aid advising service points out how much the average cost for college is increasing annually.
• A college counseling organization’s website lists the prestigious colleges who accept fewer than 10% of their applicants.

None of those statements are untrue. You’re not being misled. But it’s important to remember that the messengers have an agenda—they’re hoping you buy their services.

While I wish organizations wouldn’t exacerbate the already high anxiety levels surrounding getting into college, my point is not to be critical or to tell families they should never hire outside help. Just because an organization charges for services doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not acting in the best interest of students.

But before you do something to address a college admissions fear, stress, or uncertainty that someone else has introduced, it’s worth asking yourself whether their agenda is for your benefit or theirs. An SAT tutor has something to gain when he tells you that you need to improve your test scores. But your high school counselor has no such angle. Her agenda is to help you succeed.

Too many families have enough angst about the college admissions process as it is. When someone introduces even more of it, consider the messenger before you act on the message.