<p>If we sometimes ask as a parent the school some questions on behalf of son or daughter regarding applications, is it bad or doesn't matter to the applicant ?</p>
<p>I mean should alsways the applicant himself/herself ask the school to show
strong interest or desire to apply for the school ?</p>
<p>At the top colleges, it will count against your S or D because the most competitive colleges want to accept students who are independent enough to get information for themselves, not have their parents do this for them.</p>
<p>It also is a very good idea senior year to teach students to get info on their ow if they haven't yet learned to do this. After all, in college, students will have to be able to talk one on one with professors, advisors, housing administrators, etc., so when they are seniors, it can be fine for parents to guide students in contacting colleges, but not to do the contacting for the students.</p>
<p>I do not believe they are taking notes in the admissions' office about who calls when. That's ridiculous. </p>
<p>I mean, for a lot of reasons (not the least of which might be to accustom your child to dealing with a bureaucracy) it is better for them to call - but if they just can't, oh well.</p>
<p>(You'll also notice that it is not uncommon for the phone to be answered by students who work in admissions.)</p>
<p>Ask away. They know who's paying.</p>
<p>They might not be taking notes but this lighthearted little piece in the Washington Post points out some of the oddities that are noted by admissions (#8 might be relevant.)
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101600543.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101600543.html</a></p>
<p>I'm inclined to agree with Northstarmom that encouraging your s or d to handle might be the best course. It's good practice if nothing else.</p>
<p>I read those tips and they were good ones. But I have a question about the last: what happens if the wrong app gets in the wrong envelope because it's sent by the high school? I could so see that happening.</p>
<p>yea sure its good for one to be independent, but regardless it wont affect your chances at all, no matter how many calls u make and whom</p>
<p>"if the wrong app gets in the wrong envelope because it's sent by the high school? I could so see that happening."</p>
<p>I imagine the college would send the app to the right college, and also would contact the guidance counselor and probably the other college. I can't imagine they'd just throw the application away. More than most people, the colleges know how much the applications mean to students.</p>
<p>"regardless it wont affect your chances at all, no matter how many calls u make and whom"</p>
<p>Your proof?
I've talked to admissions officers at top colleges and they do value independence a great deal. One told me that she has returned students' calls and parents have asked to talk to her about "our application" instead of allowing the admission officer to talk to the student. The admissions officers said she would politely insist on talking to the student, and would do her best not to count the parent's behavior against the student. However, I can imagine that if a parent calls and is obnoxious or suggests that they are calling because their student is too shy, etc., that even if admissions officers try not to allow such things to hurt the student's app, the parent's behavior probably would hurt the student.</p>
<p>Given that most colleges are accessible through e-mail, and most students have cell phones so don't have to be at home to make calls, I think that unlike the old days, there are few situations now in which parents have to make calls because students can't. At the very least, the student's making the call allows them a chance to make a positive impression and to possibly establish a relationship with someone who may be part of the admissions decision making team.</p>
<p>On one occasion last year, we needed an answer to a question pretty much right away, and my son was in classes all day. So, I called (WUSTL, I think) myself and started out by profusely apologizing that I was calling because my son couldn't get to a phone, blah blah; the person on the other end cut me off, laughed and said "relax, we understand kids can't always make these calls. We don't care if the parents call".</p>
<p>There may be an institution or two that is leery of overbearing parents--and maybe even with good reason--but it is not universal, and it does not seem to extend to a simple phone call with a straightforward question.</p>
<p>My S typical day at school including commute is 700a-430p EST. Not a lot of time to speak to admin people unless they're in a central or west coast time slot. On less immediate issues an email or fax would work and S takes the lead. However there was some situations when S was coordinating visits and contact with the adcoms had to be immediate to facilitate scheduling. Also, we had to schedule our time off work(no easy task in our professions) etc, to get S to and from the airport and to know particulars to S itinerary. We have done this several times. I could be wrong but the various adcom people that I have spoken to seem to be very very understanding and accomodating. In our particular situation, S has or will be applying to many schools & it's a lot of work as many in this forum know. Hope our periodical interventions doesn't hurt S chances. We'll know for sure in the spring! All the schools I'm referring to by the way are very selective.(not gloating)</p>
<p>look it doesnt do anything to your chances at all, admissions officers analyzing your application based on the number of calls you are your parent make whether its independent or not, is something they are not interested in. THere are a lot of parents that call because they are worried about financial aid and the parent aspect of it all. I think that is perfectly reasonable. when it comes to college sometimes students get so enthralled with getting into their dream school that they overlook the financial aspect and in many times parents, especially parents that are knew to the whole thing find it easy to pick up the phone and call a university. so don't say that it affects your chances in a negative/positive way cuz it doesnt, otherwise your just employing a scare tactic on college bound students such as me.</p>