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Members commit to maintain the highest standards of integrity and competence in dealing with the Association, other members, clients, and third parties.
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Principles of Good Practice for AIGAC Members
In serving clients, members agree to:
- Put the interests of the clients and prospective clients ahead of their own.
- Advise applicants to explore career goals before applying to school.
- Support applicant introspection.
- Encourage applicants to research schools and their programs while providing information and resources.
- Urge students to discharge their responsibilities in the admissions process in a timely manner.
- Insist that clients write their own essays.
- Advocate that clients’ recommenders write their own recommendations.
- Maintain client confidentiality.
- Serve their clients and prospective clients in an ethical manner, with professionalism and respect.
In interactions with other consultants, members agree to:
- Share information with other consultants in a reasonable and appropriate way.
- Respect the intellectual property of other consultants.
In growing their businesses, members agree to:
- Strive to improve the professional skills of their staff.
- Maintain awareness of current trends and practices in admissions.
- Be factual in claiming professional training, experience, and affiliations.
- Abstain from solicitation of clients at school-sponsored functions.
- Avoid any relationship that creates or appears to create a conflict of interest.
- Refrain from claiming Independent Consultant member status when an Associate Member or Student Member.
- Increase public understanding of the graduate admissions consulting profession.
In dealing with schools and other third parties in the admissions field, members agree to:
- Refuse compensation from schools for placing candidates.
- Decline to interview candidates on behalf of any graduate school.
- Cooperate with third parties to keep school statistics, test results, and rankings in perspective.
- Maintain independence of thought and action.
In all instances, members agree to uphold the honor and dignity of the admissions consulting industry.
Violation of these principles of good practice can result in the termination of membership after review by, and in the sole discretion of, the AIGAC
Board of Directors.
AIGAC seeks to help members comply with the principles of good practice and welcomes questions from any member or other stakeholder about the compliance of an existing or proposed practice.