<p>I heard that if you visit an Ivy League, you show true interest in that school and the acceptance chance will be greater. But what if I live in Cali and want to go to Harvard or WUSTL or Yale? Do they expect to get on an airplane and do that? How do I show true interest in a school??? I heard that WUSTL denies the over qualified ones who just apply to it because they think it is safe.</p>
<p>There is no advantage in visiting any of the Ivy League colleges. They do not track applicant interest. They understand that not everyone is in a position to visit, and in fact they are anxious to admit more people who, for reasons of distance and economics, would have a hard time visiting.</p>
<p>The situation may be different with WUSTL. I’m not sure whether it tracks interest or not; possibly it does. But it is very possible to show interest even if you can’t visit. Make sure you request an interview; e-mail the admissions department with some well-chosen questions (that aren’t already answered on their website), etc. Slip in that you wish you could visit but you can’t. That will work fine.</p>
<p>As for denying superqualified applicants, people sometimes refer to that as “Tufts Syndrome,” because Tufts was often suspected of turning down people they thought were using Tufts as a safety for their Harvard/Yale applications. I wouldn’t worry too much about that, for a couple of reasons. First, if it happens, there’s nothing you can do about it. More importantly, however, the dynamics have changed a lot. Ivy applications have gone up so much that places like Harvard have to turn down tons of superqualified kids, so places like Tufts and WUSTL can’t assume anymore that a superqualified kid is going to be accepted at Harvard. Meanwhile, THEIR applications have gone up a lot, too, and they don’t accept students by the numbers alone any more than Harvard does. So they ARE going to turn down some people with great stats no matter what.</p>
<p>WUSTL does track interest. They do a lot of traveling road shows (so to speak) though, so you can attend those and also demonstrate interest that way. Be sure you sign in.
As JHS says, the Ivy League schools do not track interest, with the exception of Columbia.</p>
<p>Pomona College tracks interest too. If you live in CA and do not visit Pomona, don’t bother to apply. They will assume you are not serious about attending.</p>
<p>As I recall, when we visited Harvard D junior year, there was no place to even provide the visiting student’s information. They absolutely do not track. D visited twice and Harvard never knew it.</p>
<p>How do I show interest for WUSTL though? Like if I could visit. What should I say at the interviews? Do I mention my accolades?</p>
<p>^Perhaps elaborate on why you find one of its departments interesting (relating to your academic ambitions, of course) in a part of its supplemental application.</p>
<p>Columbia asks on its application whether you’ve visited the campus, so I’d assume that it’s information they use in considering applicants. D2 had visited H and Y but not C - she got in at H and Y but was waitlisted at C.</p>
<p>We visited Brown & Yale this summer and they do not take names. There’s a big difference between the Ivies and the next tier of colleges. After we visited Emory, my daughter got a thank you note. WashU was great as well. My daughter’s interview there seemed to be the interviewer selling her on the school. I feel the ivies’ attitude is there going to get there 20,000 plus applicants so it doesn’t matter who’s visiting them.</p>
<p>does columbia really track interest? i live in NJ but my parents don’t really have the time to take me there to look around. summer is over.</p>
<p>Columbia makes it especially clear that if you live in the metropolitan area, they expect you to visit. As I recall, they do have you sign in.</p>
<p>looks like im gonna have to make time. it’s a good thing i looked at this thread… i thought only a few top schools (like WUSTL) checked interest.</p>