<p>I'm trying to get a further reality check on college mailings to high school students here. We received one yesterday that said, "According to information we received from College Board, your achievements suggest you would be a strong addition to our student body and would appreciate the rich academic environment we can offer you." Then the letter launches into bullet points about how good the college is, and closes with "If you would like to learn more about the unique benefits of a [College X] education, please visit [college website] and tell us more about yourself. [Log-in information was provided.] We will send you information pertaining to your specific academic interests and student life at [College X], as well as a personal invitation to visit our campus." </p>
<p>Does that sound like it is making unwarranted promises to the student? Is that a misleading mailing?</p>
<p>I can't form an opinion without more information about the student in relation to the school. If the student has a 3.0 gpa and a 1700 SAT score and the school is say, ivy level, than yes-- it would be a terribly misleading mailing.
If, however, the studen is a 3.9 gpa with 2300 SAT and the school is a very good, but not "crapshoot admissions" type school, then, no-- I don't think it would be misleading at all.</p>
<p>When my son registered for the PSAT, he must have made a typo when writing his name, so we can tell automatically when a college letter is from that marketing list! It's kind of funny. The letters from running coaches are usually very individual and specific, so that's nice.</p>
<p>token-
this sounds like the "typical" enrollment management generated letter. My son received dozens of these types of letters when he was in HS. </p>
<p>"you would be a strong addition to our student body "
How could a 16 year old, who had never received this type of letter before, NOT think that the college was REALLY interested in him? In that way I think it is misleading, because they letter does not ALSO state the real "odds" of acceptance to that college.</p>
<p>It is a standard marketing letter to get students interested. I see no promises being made. As for a 16 year old being confused - possibly. But then again I thought that is what parents were for - unless they also respond to every targeted bulk mail solicitation that they receive.</p>
<p>"As for a 16 year old being confused - possibly. But then again I thought that is what parents were for"</p>
<p>And yet, well educated professional parents of one of my kids' friends proudly posted such a letter on their refrigerator believing it to be almost a pre-admit promise. Sadly, it turned out to be nothing of the sort.</p>
<p>It sounded a tad bit more definite than most of the letters we have received, which is why I ask, to see where other parents think the line is between encouraging applications and going too far.</p>
<p>The college has a base admission rate of 22 percent in the most recently reported year. The college is not on most (any?) of the debatable top-twenty lists that I see, certainly not in admission selectivity, although it is fairly selective. The student is a National Merit semifinalist (for sure, based on PSAT score, which generated the mailing) and has SAT scores from eighth grade above the school's 75th percentile of enrolled class on reading and math.</p>
<p>When my son took the PSATs as a sophomore, he did not check the box saying he did not want all of the mail, so of course we were inundated with college brochures. He listed biology as his projected major. The one that really surprised me was a personal letter from a physician in Virginia telling him how wonderful college XXX was for pre-med. This for a kid that freaks out when he sees needles. This time around he checked "no" for the mail and put undecided for his major.</p>
<p>The lack of marketing by the Independent 529 Plan amazes me. I opened an account for my son 4 years ago and named 5 schools as his possible choices. I thought that would target us for a lot of mail but it hasn't happened. Only one of the schools has sent more than one piece of mail and that is a school that we have shown an interest in by both visiting the campus and attending a local presentation.</p>
<p>It's just a marketing tool. Don't take it too seriously. At the end of the OP child's junior year and beginning of senior year, they should be on the look out for Priority College Applications. This is how colleges skew their selectivity ratings. They send them out in mass emails. Because they're free and easy to fill out, they get a ton of kids applying (many of which wouldn't bother applying if they had to fill out the standard full application with the application fee). Colleges email them out to numerous kids. They get an increase in the number of applications. They accept the usual number of applicants. Thus, they increase their selectivity rating. On paper, it makes it seem as though they have a low acceptance rate. Truth is, many kids that obviously would not be accepted under normal circumstances get the email of the priority application and assume that the college wants them and that it is a match for their academic statistics. Tulane is great for this.</p>
<p>alh - I suppose one can only hope that parents have a bit more sense. Unfortunately, I suppose that is not always the case. I wonder if they also respond to every targeted bulk mail offer that they receive.</p>
<p>Yes, I believe this is a much more tangible sign of eagerness to admit a student than a general recruiting letter. I've not found any recruiting letters to be more definite than the one I quoted in the opening post. </p>
<p>By the way, our state's flagship university, which on many grounds should be a suitable "safety" for my son's application list, offers "on the spot" admission meetings in the first week of October for students who are current dual-enrollment high school students or alumni of the university's accelerated math program for secondary students. (My son fits both criteria.) So unless disaster strikes between now and then, we should be able to get a very definite read on his admission chances by then, just more than a half year from now.</p>
<p>My son also made an error in filling out his name on the PSAT - he skipped a space or something. But we too knew exactly what mailings came as a result of his PSAT and which ones just… umm… came. Not that there is a real difference there. I did end up having to change his name through the college board though… which only made it more obvious when as a senior he was still getting info sent to the wrong name.</p>
<p>Update: one consequence of state budget cuts is that now our state flagship university no longer has the “on the spot” admission opportunities mentioned in my last post in this thread. So my son has to wait for rolling admission notification, which seems to be slower than ever this year, just like all other applicants. That means he has to apply for more “reachy” colleges before he knows definitely that his presumptive “safety” really is safe. </p>
<p>Which colleges have been sending offers of no-fee personalized applications provides somewhat of a read on chances. Presumably they have access to my son’s AP test score profile (one college said its offer was based on AP test performance) as well as general entrance test data. I’m still not sure how much use colleges make of self-reported G.P.A. and course-taking pattern data from the PSAT or SAT demographic questionnaires. Some regard but many disregard my son’s self-reported intended major subject. We get too much mail from our own region, even though the plan here is to have him study out of town if that is at all feasible financially. It’s hard to self-report an interest in being more than 500 miles from home in most demographic surveys.</p>
<p>“The lack of marketing by the Independent 529 Plan amazes me”…I never even thought of that; we have had one for both kids for awhile now and have never heard boo from any of those schools…is it possible that they do not distribute the choices made?</p>
<p>D who graduated HS in 2009 began getting letters/emails of that sort in junior year ie 2008 based on testscores. Yes, the first few were flattering, but then when the avalanche of marketing materials hit, and I do mean avalanche, the memory of the earliest ones faded. Sounds like your S or D is going to be facing a similar situation.</p>