<p>What do you do when a college that you know offers potential sends really lame admission material?</p>
<p>Do to help the college improve their materials or do to help your chances of acceptance there?</p>
<p>The road is littered with the marketing materials of colleges that either dont conform to the image they project or offer lame marketing materials but have a wonderful school. The road is also littered with the stories of "Newman the Postman" from Seinfeld kind of Admissions Directors. Many Admissions Offices deserve the Golden Fickle Finger of Fate. Its a tough job sorting through tens of thousands of applications, with all sorts of paperwork to keep track of. And then deciding who gets in and who doesnt and who gets a scholarship and who doesnt and sometimes splitting hairs in the process. I could write a PhD thesis on the evils that lurk within Admissions Offices at some prestigious schools. That is the bad news.</p>
<p>The really GOOD NEWS is that you will likely notice, that except for some workstudy students who work in Admissions or a few kids who just like to give tours for some reason, students largely cutoff and ignore Admissions from the minute they arrive on campus. The University is its facilities, its library, its faculty and its students. Its NOT the Admissions Office. I met some wonderful people from Admissions along our path and I also met some really unfortunate types. And I continue to hear stories (some of them VERY disturbing) about Admissions foibles and downright mean conduct. Maybe its a sign of the times with extreme financial pressures on families and colleges alike. Again, I empathize with their enormous task, but I still don't understand why they say and do what they do sometimes. It defies logic.</p>
<p>In short, DONT judge a book by its cover or a college by its Admissions Office or its marketing materials. Focus on the students, the overall culture of the school, the faculty, the facilities and programs. Admissions is NOT it.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Both my son and daughter were turned off by the initial interest letters sent by several colleges which were obviously written by the same marketing firm (in Virginia, I beleive). You know the ones - "we have a free brochure for you on how to select a college" "please respond to the following website using your special password". The colleges may be great, but these letters are awful!</p>