<p>I'm always told, by my guidance counselor, and by my parents, to keep in touch with an admissions officer to show my interest in a school. But...how does that work? I am I supposed to call the guy up so we can have weekly chats about the weather and current events or something? -sarcasm- But really, what do admissions officers want to hear from kids who are "interested"?</p>
<p>Admissions officers are busy enough as they are. I do not recommend keeping in touch with an admissions officer. You show interest by going to interviews, requesting more information from the school, and stuff like that, not by chatting with the admissions officer.</p>
<p>The admissions officer at your favorite college, assuming it isn't a huge public like UCLA, will keep tabs on which applicants have shown interest over time. That means attending every info session they hold in your area (introduce yourself or say hello at each meeting), visiting the school, and taking advantage of optional interviews and other opportunities to visit the campus. The rep will get to know your name from doing these things. Even if the rep doesn't remember your face, if the school cares about demonstrated interest, they will have a record of your attendance at their events from the sign in sheets and that will be looked on favorably.</p>
<p>Admission people are up to their necks in applications at the moment. They don't have time to chat (or be stalked - which some families do to the student disadvantage). </p>
<p>Per Columbia ADCOM dir, if you are deferred it is appropriate for the STUDENT (not the family) to write a note to the adcom, confirming that you are still interested and listing not more then three updates.</p>
<p>A decade or more ago, it's wasn't very common for students to have contact with admission officials beyond the very obvious (e.g., scheduling an interview, attending a campus info session or one held at the local high school, going to college fairs). But then suddenly, various "experts" advised that "showing interest" via additional contact with admission folks was a fast track to a fat letter. So now the poor admission officials are beleaguered with countless "suck-up" letters and phone calls.</p>
<p>Thus, my advice is to pull the plug on disingenuous contact. Do go out of the way to attend scheduled events in your community or, when possible, on campus. It's fine to send one "Update" letter around now if there are new successes or activities to report since the application was submitted a couple months ago.</p>
<p>But the typical admissions officer does not have the time to be a pen-pal. This is also true of professors. There was similar buzz some years back that currying favor with a faculty member by expressing an interest in his or her field would spur that prof to say good things to the admissions office. While that does happen occasionally, it's a route that should be reserved only for students with true passion, unique experiences, or unusual specific questions. Most of my faculty friends just roll their eyes when yet another applicant e-mail rolls in, and I even knew one professor who asked an admission officer to kindly NOT admit a candidate who was overloading his inbox.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and I even knew one professor who asked an admission officer to kindly NOT admit a candidate who was overloading his inbox.
[/quote]
Respect.</p>
<p>For the OP, I would say your guidance counselor's advice is the surest way to get you rejected. If I were an admissions officer, I certainly wouldn't want to admit a kid that annoys the **** out of everyone by spamming inboxes. I can't speak for everyone, but generally if you annoy people they will not have a good impression of you. Plus, if you do feel the need to spam in order to gain acceptance, I'd be wondering if you have weaknesses in your application that you'd need to compensate for.</p>
<p>I agree with all the responses you have gotten so far. It IS important to show interest in a college. But bombarding the admissions officer with frequent contact is not the way to do it and could backfire (nor do they have this kind of time). </p>
<p>First, you should have shown SPECIFIC interest in the college ON your application. Some applications include a "Why X College" essay and you should have been very specific to show how the school fits you and how you fit them and how you'd contribute to that school. If the school's app did not have such an essay, it is appropriate to include such a statement or letter WITH your application. Then, college visits, meetings at fairs or when reps come to your school or area, are another way to have contact and demonstrate interest. Follow up any meetings you have had with anyone on campus or locally (including the person who interviews you) with thank you notes and expressed interest. </p>
<p>At THIS juncture in the admissions cycle, the ONLY thing that I think would be appropriate is to send an update letter ONLY IF you truly have a few things of significance to report that have happened SINCE you sent in the application. If you have some new news, send a note to your adcom and you can use bullet points, and in such a letter, you can briefly reiterate your interest in attending. I would not send such a letter of interest by itself, however, if you have no new news to report or if you have only one small thing to report. Ideally, it should be a couple of things significant enough to update them about.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor is giving you terrible advice.</p>
<p>The only thing I would say differently from what's been said above is this: if you are sure you have a first choice option among your schools...then it can be good to make a contact to an admission counselor saying that.
However, many students may not feel that they can indicate a number one choice.
(and by this I do not mean, that you will definitely attend...most admissions officers are realistic to know that FA packages and other decision factors may mean students go elsewhere)</p>
<p>If a school is your first choice, that should have been shown ON the original application.</p>
<p>The only time that my son contacted the admissions officer for any school was with an update about things that had happened to him after he sent in his application. For example, he won a national award, and he thought it could have an impact on his application for certain schools. He kept it short -- a line or two. He received notes from those adcoms, saying that the information would be added to his file.</p>
<p>I think the OP's question should be, "How much contact with an admissions officer is appropriate?" And I think the answer is going to depend on the school and the culture of its admissions office. At a big state school, personal relationships are not going to have an impact on admissions. However, there were several private schools where an admissions officer wrote my son(s) after meeting them during a school visit. I think a response to a personal note is appropriate. So is a note after an interview. So is a February update on your achievements.<br>
Most of the "friendly" schools offered admissions to my kids; whether their interest was enhanced by the correspondence, I'll never know. I suspect it didn't make a great difference, but if you have ever seen tapes of admission sessions at private schools, you'll know that the decisions are sometimes very close, and having someone as your advocate is a valuable thing.</p>
<p>Contact is good. Showing interest is good. But the OP was talking about contacting the adcom just to well, contact him/her. Writing a follow up note after an interview or a school visit meeting is something a candidate should do. An update of achievements and new happenings around this time of year and since the app was filed, is also a good thing (my kids did that and one included a national award, like momreads also mentions), but only if you truly have new "news" to report. Expressing interest on an application is also very important. But continued calls or emails over the winter to just keep showing interest is not good. It is HOW it is done, not that one should do it. Yes, showing interest, particularly in private colleges, matters. They want to think you will attend if offered a spot. The interest shown should be very SPECIFIC and not just how much you want to go there.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, I spoke to my admissions officer at FSU like 5 times over 3months. But I had questions.</p>
<p>Agreed with what everyone else has said about making contact only if you have a valid, specific reason. I've emailed admissions offices with specific questions before, receiving timely or not-so-timely responses (some emails just get eaten, apparently)--I don't know if the college tracks that kind of contact, but I did it for the information, not for "showing interest."</p>
<p>Also, when I requested information from Knox and included a couple of questions in their "other inquiries" box, I was surprised to receive a cheerful email from my admissions counselor that was clearly meant to initiate conversation. I've since corresponded back and forth several times, and the personal touch has given me a very favorable impression of the school. Knox, however, is in my experience a rare exception.</p>
<p>I agree with everyone. Make sure you are very careful about who you listen to about things like that. Some guidance counselors are not very helpful and actually do not know a lot or even really care about you</p>
<p>Definitely not at "elite," selective colleges. If a certain, small private school has contacted you first, and you want to keep in contact, I can see how that's appropriate. But anything beyond that just seems annoying to me.</p>
<p>Okay, what about this? My son sent a second-semester update via snail mail with what we feverently hope wil be regarded as a significant achievement (Intel Science Semi-finalist and a few other items). His GC said he should follow up with phone calls to ensure the schools received it. Is that overkill? I wouldn't want him to be perceived as a pest, but God forbid the letter (marked outside and in with his application number) doesn't end up in his file. He has not called or e-mailed before this letter. Follow up or not?</p>
<p>Well, for me, I sent an e-mail to my counselor after I was deferred about once a week (for 5 weeks?). But they weren't e-mails saying "How are you doing?"
They were e-mails asking about the materials I needed to send, some complimentary things that relate to me (like my recordings), and about interviews.
For me, my financial strains don't let me take a plane to visit the campus, so I think the best way for me to show interest is to do what the school encourages, and at the same time keep in contact with your counselor, but not in a way in which the counselor can tell I am trying to get an unfair leeway (which I'm not).
Yeah :D</p>
<p>MominVA,
Yes, Intel STS SF is worthy of a mid-year update! We debated paper vs. electronic for updates last year, and ultimately, S sent emails to schools where he had a designated admissions rep, and snail mail to the others. All the folks he emailed acknowledged the update, which was nice.</p>
<p>Otherwise, S1 showed up when the adcom came to visit his HS, attended presentations for the school when the road show was in our area, and interviewed with every school that offered the opportunity. (S went to one presentation at his school and he was the only one who showed. He had an hour-long chat with the Director of Admissions for that school!) S2 visited a campus over the summer and the admissions rep who did the info session turns out to be the reader for our area. S2 chatted with him briefly after the presentation. When the admissions rep came to school this fall, he remembered my son. </p>
<p>Also -- send thank you notes when you interview! S1 did them by email, and they almost always generated further response from the recipient.</p>
<p>In this economy, I think admissions folks are aware not everyone can come for a look-see. However, there are plenty of cost-effective alternatives to showing love besides buying plane tickets and spamming!</p>
<p>One comment about mid-year updates with new awards, etc. -- don't forget to send those to the schools where you were accepted EA/ED/rolling, ESPECIALLY if they offer merit awards/honors programs, etc. At one large school, S sent the update to the undergrad advisor for the department he was considering (they had spoken several times previously). This person told said him she'd forward the info to the scholarship selection committee. It could make the difference!</p>