Can someone explain the mail?

Parents Forum
1

<p>This college thing is SO new to us. </p>

<p>My son has not taken SAT yet but he did score high on PSAT.</p>

<p>We have received letters like:</p>

<p>From Dartmouth- " We think Dartmouth would be a good match for you."
Yale - "Congrats on our academic performance. We encourage you to consider Yale... "
MIT - Repeat of above
Cal-Tech - "congrats on your high performance.. We would like to send you info... "
SMU, TCU, Baylor - Same as above.
Purdue - "The advantages to early admission are...."
University of Chicago - same as above.
Swarthmore - same
Westpoint - same
Brown - experience the summer at Brown to see if Ivy league is for you.
NC State, Ohio State</p>

<p>Many others, you get the picture. </p>

<p>We were invited to private interview with recruiter from University of Miami,
reception for prospective Texas Tech students, Conversations with Cornell, info sesson with Boston College, Info session with Penn State</p>

<p>Several leadership conferences from everywhere.</p>

<p>We have also received Applications for admissions (3 with waivers for application fee if we send in before June 1).</p>

<p>My question is: Does everyone get these letters? My husband says everyone gets these letters. </p>

<p>We don't have a guidance counselor at school (small private school).</p>

<p>Any help from experience would help.</p>

2

<p>well I got a lot of emails/letters.
I got stuff from columbia, yale, caltech, u-penn, cornell, amherst, swarthmore, naval academy, and various state schools.
Also got stuff like people to people summit, NSLC conference.
I got invited to info session in my region from Princeton, Duke Harvard Upenn Georgetown joint session etc.
I received an application to for washington University at St. Louis.
Anyways I wouldn't really keep my hopes up. When I first got these stuff I was really flattered but then realized that some juniors at my school got responses too.
If you were here in like Jan. you would have seen people posting about the mail. The responses you receive are to encourage you to apply to that school. It doesn't guarantee you anything.
Anyways I see that your S is talented and hopes he gets into his first choice college.</p>

3

<p>Everyone on the board will say that they all got these letters and to ignore them. But I disagree a little bit. Some of the materials that were sent to my son were very useful in compiling an initial list, and some materials might be more useful than others. Yes, they are just doing a mass mailing (to high scorers) and comments like most of the ones above are typical (info sessions, etc). But - even though the letters might not be personal - there are schools out there that really, really want to recruit high scorers. Don't just dump them into the trash, but look through the materials and see if there might not be some things that trigger an interest with your son (or mentioned merit scholarships for NM semi-finalists). Think of them as "leads" to schools that you might not have already thought of.</p>

<p>We separated the letters into several piles: those thrown away right away, those that my son wanted to keep for a futher look at some of the materials, and another pile for those that would make good material for other students - we gave those to the school for the library in the guidance office.</p>

4

<p>You will be bonbarded with mail and will need to start a box. especially with high scores on the PSAT. Just throw out unwanted stuff fromthe getgo. None of these are guarantees, the schools want a large number of applicants but it does mean you are in the range for their college and have a shot. Schools look at the info you check off on the PSAT. Every student recieves a ton of mail and invites but the caliber of colleges depends on the scores . Congradulations to your son and best of luck. It is a great experience.</p>

5

<p>Heres the reality. Your son did well on his PSATs and now colleges are trying to cash in. Think of it in business perspective. You son will probably apply to a handful of colleges(given its not ED), and each college will make over $50 with only one that he will choose to go to. While colleges like Miami are truly interested in getting top students that normally would not choose to go there, the others are trying to boost up the number of applicants, hence creating competition for their school and giving them higher rankings and prestige which in terms pays their salaries. </p>

<p>Congrats on your son's high score, but please take the letters with a pinch of a salt. My parents put all the letters in a bag and won't open any of them until the summer comes. I did manage to look at the shiny, and glossy I might add interest letter from Harvard.</p>

6

<p>You son noted a major of interest on the PSAT, and also noted that it was ok that colleges send him stuff. Then, he took the test and filled in most of the right bubbles.</p>

<p>The colleges you mentioned purchases names and addresses from college board for students with a range of psat scores. Your son fit the profile - bingo - a flood of mail.</p>

<p>The thing to keep in mind at this point is that while its great he's getting stuff - and not everybody does - most of these schools solicit many more applications than they accept. He's off to a great start! Now you need to find schools he likes, can afford - at a range of competitiveness so he will be assured of great options!</p>

7

<p>My D also received many mailings as did a few others in the top 6 of her class with whom she is a clase friend. They all attended the info sessions, etc., (it's good to go so they see interest, if that school is on your child's radar screen), and they all applied. Just because they send you the letters doesn't mean they are guaranteed an acceptance. Of the top 3, one admitted MIT, WL Harvard, one admitted Rice/Baylor combined undergrad/MD program, rejected Harvard, one admitted Amherst, WL Princeton, Georgetown, rejected HY. If your son wants to go to some of those schools, then attend the sessions, etc., but realize that merely receiving the letters is not recruiting - real recruiting is a phone call, a visit, an offer.</p>

8

<p>junk mail..........</p>

9

<p>SurvivorMom,</p>

<p>High scores on the SAT, for which the PSAT is an indicator, are one valid factor in the complex and multifaceted process of college admissions. Assuming that your son's SAT scores follow suit with his PSATs, then congratulations, he can take a ticket in the selective school sweepstakes. In that context it’s perfectly okay to take the letters and brochures he received as an “invitation” to join the competition.</p>

<p>It is, however, important to put this invitation in context. Scores and other statistics like grades and rank are the starting block, not the finish line. </p>

<p>Welcome to the process and to this board. You've just acquired several hundred guidance counselors :). Good luck and fire away with those questions.</p>

10

<p>Everyone who scores above a certain threshhold on the PSAT gets those letters. I don't know what the score range is. My son got tons of mail.</p>

<p>My daughter was out of the country and did not take the PSAT junior year. No mail. None at all, with the exception of colleges she has contacted directly asking for information.</p>

11

<p>SurvivorMom,</p>

<p>I know this isn't going to come out in the way I mean it to, so I will apologize up from. Your original post is filled with "we" when it should be about your son. YOu did not receive the letters, you were not invited for an interview. YOur son is the one applying to college, not the parents.</p>

<p>I once had a wise psychologist inform me when I spoke about my son's issues that I spoken as if we were one person, my son and I. I made the same comments you did above, so I do understand. Some children get upset when the parents take over too much of the college admission process, while other children need all the parents help they can get. </p>

<p>There was a great article written by I believe Art Buchwald about a father telling about "his" college admission process which was really his son's admissions process. I will try to find the link to that.</p>

<p>Again I do not mean to put you down as I have been there before and have been known to slip often. As writing isn't my strong point, I hope I haven't offended you or anyone else.</p>

12

<p>We have a small TON of letters from places telling DD that she is the "perfect student for their school". She started getting these letters BEFORE she took the PSAT. We jokingly said she should include copies of them with her letter of application and include a cover letter that says "My application should support what you have said in these letters to me. I AM the perfect student for your school." </p>

<p>The letters are marketing and in no way guarantee acceptance. What they are trying to do is encourage you to look and see their place.</p>

13

<p>pokey,
I think that you have made a very good point, and that its something to keep in mind. However, the OP notes that college counseling is lacking at her son's school, so he does not, effectively, have this resource. My son's school is good at counseling kids for Ohio schools - but cross the border and the expertise fades. I sometimes use 'we' because of the teamwork involved in the process. My son realized the limitations of his HS guidence office, and asked me to do the research for him, and derive an initial list based on his parameters (lots of those) because I had more time to do so than he (junior year is evil). He then picked schools to visit, formulated the final list, and so on. Its basically a 'parent as researcher/secretary' model. Our major disagreement was that I thought he should apply to more schools than he did. Anyway, he's been accepted at his first choice school, and is still speaking to me, so it worked pretty well. </p>

<p>Your point about not taking over the process is well taken. If the kid doesn't own the process, and do a lot of soul searching over it, he or she misses a great chance to grow and mature, and the possibility of a poor outcome is increased.</p>

14

<p>My daughter is in a similar situation as your son, and yes, she has received those mailings. She is especially amused by the mailings from Caltech, MIT, and West Point as she has no interest in the sciences or the military. She is also not interested in Ivy League schools. Since she has already come up with her "list", she only gives these mailings a cursory glance before dropping them to the floor (where I have to come along and do something with them). But she has enjoyed "receiving" more mail these days, and occasionally a particularly interesting letter will pique her interest.</p>

15

<p>Here is the article link:
<a href="http://www.ldresources.org/?p=547%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ldresources.org/?p=547&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

16

<p>Everyone gets letters who takes the PSAT junior year and checks that it's ok for the college board to release their name.</p>

<p>The kind of letters that students get depends on factors such as : prospective majors, PSAT score, zip code, gender and race. Thus, students who score extremely low on the PSAT are not going to get letters from places like Ivies.</p>

<p>Colleges buy mailing lists from the College Board. Colleges never see individual students' PSAT scores, but can request names of students within broad PSAT score ranges, and based on the other factors listed above.</p>

<p>Getting a letter from a top college does not mean that one is a shoo-in for admission. The colleges still cast a wide net, and the overwhelming majority of students who apply to places like Harvard qualify for admission, but still only about 1 in 9 will get in because of space reasons.</p>

<p>Invitations to Ivy's summer programs are essentially invitations to spend big bucks to have your child experience an Ivy atmosphere for the summer. I am sure that such invitations are only sent to students who scored high enough to be able to appreciate such an experience. However, neither an invitation nor attending such a program indicates your child will be admitted to that college. All it indicates is that your child had the bucks and scores to be in the range of students who are similar to the majority of applicants to such colleges.</p>

<p>When it comes to lower ranking colleges -- probably ones that are sending free applications and asking for interviews now -- your child's prospects are much better. More than likely, they are hoping to lure your child away from an interest in top 10 colleges to consider their lesser ranked college.</p>

<p>There's a good chance that if your child applies, your child would have a good shot at merit aid, honors dorms, and any other perks they give top recruits.</p>

<p>It's worth it to take the time to read the letters (as you seem to have been doing) and to check out college guides such as US News Ultimate Guide and the college web site as well as CC to find out more about the college.</p>

<p>And if your son scored at least a 202 make sure that he sends to the college by May 18th the 2 colleges that he wants to receive the info that he's in the top 55,000 scorers in the country. If he is in that group, in the fall he will either be named National Merit Commended or a National Merit Semi Finalist.</p>

<p>There is an older thread with suggestions about how to pick the colleges to get information about being in the top 55,000.</p>

<p>Both are nice honors that he should put on his college apps. There are something like 1,300 scholarships for the 33,000 commended students. From what I can figure out, those scholarships depend on where the parents work. In addition some second tier and lower colleges give scholarships to commended students or may give them strong consideration for other merit aid.</p>

<p>National Merit has major scholarships attached to it. The ones directly from College Board are small -- one time awards of $2,500. Some universities, however give full tuition scholarships to National Merit scholars. </p>

<p>Ivies, Stanford and MIT give no merit aid nor do most of the top liberal arts colleges. Davidson and Grinnell are exceptions. However, there are top 25 colleges that give merit aid. His prospects are better, however, at colleges ranked below the top 25.</p>

17

<p>I remember having the same question back in 2002. I went to the archive and looked it up because Dave Berry gave me a great answer to why we were getting so much mail. His post follows:</p>

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<p>In the computer world, it's called "spam," 1TCM. Your son's name is on many colleges' direct-marketing lists. They bombard millions of juniors and seniors every year in hopes that their slick brochures will inspire more applications. For Tier 3 schools, the hope is enough enrollments to fill their classes, thus enough tuition dollars to pay the bills. For elite schools, the goal is to garner more applications so that they can reject more applicants, thus lowering their acceptance rate, thereby becoming more "prestigious." Pretty interesting, huh?</p>

18

<p>Nice touch- Colgate send S a postcard thanking him for having his scores sent to Colgate (SAT). I thought that was classy.</p>

19

<p>My son received similar letters last year based on his PSAT scores. He did apply to several of the schools sending the letters, but they were already on his list. The letters and unsolicited applications from Yale and Harvard were received with much amusement, as he was not a realistic candidate for either of these schools. Northstarmom's post just above is filled with great advice. If your son is above the 202 cutoff, definitely follow up on the notices to the two schools, etc. My son ended up with a small NM corporate scholarship, which is a nice thing for doing a good job on a test one morning.</p>

20

<p>MOWC, if your son put Colgate as one of the two schools to receive notice of the PSAT scores, he'll get a nice letter in response too :)</p>