An interesting report on Good Morning America (of all places) highlighted an industry centered around consulting young women about getting into the sorority of their choice. It’s been called the 21st century equivalent of finishing school; and the people behind these consulting businesses are making a killing.

Consulting firms in general seem like a wonderful way to get money from people just by telling them what they want to hear. Some offer tech consulting, others, like my ex’s father, offer consulting to the Department of Defense (lesson: never date a girl from northern Virginia); sites like Rushbiddies offer consulting on how to get into sororities.

The whole point of sororities is to offer an organization that acts as a team and a family for the young woman—to make bonds that will last a lifetime, so to speak, and connections hopefully to better jobs and a better life through this family. The incentives behind getting into a sorority are beneficial for the type of person who feels that these things are necessary for a developed upbringing. But paying $300 an hour to be told how to get into one – essentially paying $300 to be told to be a slightly jazzier version of yourself – seems like a swindle. But then, who am I to talk—I blog for a living.

Check out the sweet ’90s web design of Rushbiddies and take a look for yourself. Is it worth it? Would you pay a month’s rent to one of these people to be told how to look and act just so you could get into an organization that ultimately preaches that you should be yourself? It seems awfully counterintuitive.

h/t: Good Morning America