Here's yet another example of why rich kids have a distinct advantage in the college admissions frenzy.

Several companies are now offering intensive summer programs to help kids and their families master the fine art of competing for college admission. For a measly few grand, you can spend a couple of weeks practicing your essays, gaining tips on interviewing, prepping for the SAT, fine-tuning your list of target schools, and visiting dozens of campuses. Says one such company, "Colleges don't accept people, they accept applications." How wonderfully dehumanizing.

Is it worth it? Who knows? But families are evidently willing to invest in the chance that it'll make a difference. Some college officials, though, have a different opinion. To wit:

"This is just sick," said Bruce Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College in California. "I can't imagine how it's going to help, and it sounds like such a ridiculous waste of money that it distresses me that parents would be so obsessive-compulsive."And what about the families who can't afford such a camp? What about the kids who actually have to work during the summer, who don't have the luxury of spending a few weeks perfecting interview skills and gallivanting from one campus to the next?

Yes, those are indeed rhetorical questions.