<p>I decided where I was going to apply in the beginning of September; at that point I removed myself from the mailing lists of all the colleges that were flooding me with unwanted promotional e-mails and letters. Strangely enough, though, the volume of junk mail I've received from colleges since then has, if anything, increased, to the point where I get 5-10 letters and magazines from college's every day. Today I received a large package from Swarthmore with all kinds of promotional paraphenalia, including their complete course cataloge and a t-shirt bearing the colleges name and emblem. It came with a postcard on which was written,
[quote]
While others are pondering
New Year's resolutions
You are applying to academic institutions
To lighten your load and ease the tension
Here is a fee waiver and an extension</p>
<p>So January 15th, your application is due
Now there's more time for careful review
If Swarthmore College is still on you list
We hope this little message
has brought you some bliss.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Nice. Classy. But what exactly does any college hope to gain by flooding all its potential applicants with this crap? I have never expressed any interest in attending Swarthmore, or, for that matter, any of these other institutions. In fact, the junk mail is getting a bit annoying.
So what's the point?</p>