<p>This is my second go-round with the college admissions process, but I don't recall this issue the last time (4 years ago). Our phone has been ringing - a lot - with calls from colleges wanting to talk with my child about attending their school. We are not talking about a highly in demand student and calls from top schools; more like mid-range colleges and a good, solid but not tippy-top student. And he goes to boarding school, so he's not even here to answer them :)</p>
<p>Living in a swing state, I thought that I would lose my mind after the last election and the constant phone ringing, so maybe I'm a bit overly sensitive about this. But I find these calls intrusive and annoying. Is anyone else dealing with this?</p>
<p>We get a lot of calls, too many calls (well got, they have basically stopped now that the app process is done). It’s annoying really. Back in the dark ages, I remember getting the calls from schools. It was annoying back then too :D. I just give the phone to the kids or if it is a school they didn’t apply to let them know that the kids have completed all the applications they were planning to do. They take them off the calling list then.</p>
<p>Are these places your S applied to or requested info from? In that case, I think it is unfair to call them cold calls. Anyway, I don’t see what the big deal is. Just tell them he’s at boarding school and say good bye. As someone who has to call people for my job, I can tell you that simply picking up the phone and saying he isn’t at that number will relieve both you AND the caller. They really have no desire to drive you crazy, and they hate having to call repeatedly to make some kind of contact.</p>
<p>The only calls we got came from one college, and S wasn’t even applying there. It was kind of nice in a way because they must have really wanted him since he was a top student, so that was an ego-booster. They had a student volunteer call, which was nice, I thought, because it was more informal and more like a peer rather than an adminstrator. It was kind of a waste of their time, though, because he wasn’t even interested in the school.</p>
<p>We go some cold calls and even after not accepting an offer they called alot asking why- to improve their acceptance with others. Harvey Mudd was especially persistent in an answer why not, they called a couple of times until D told them where she was going.</p>
<p>If your student applied to a school it’s not a cold call. A cold call is getting a phone call from a school out of the blue asking your child if they are interested in that school or not.</p>
<p>We got many calls from colleges we never even expressed any interest in. As we no longer had a land line, they all came to my cell phone and I gave them a polite “don’t call us, we’ll call you” message. Seemed like a strange waste of time but I figure they’re not killing trees sending promotional material that will just get recycled. I guess it’s their way to give a “personal” touch. A waste of my “minutes”, though.</p>
<p>There are many calls made by phone hackers now.
We don’t know for sure the calls are from colleges.</p>
<p>Ask for name and phone number to call back, unless the caller is from the college that your kid apply to. But you still need to be careful. It could be some parent in you kid’s school trying to find out where your kid apply to.</p>
<p>My kids are in college in the last 3, 4 years but I still got calls asking for them. Sometimes I asked for names and callback numbers but they did not give, and they just simply said they would call back. They usually did not leave message on the answering machine.</p>
<p>This is a good reason to keep the land line. We only answer if we know the number on caller ID. I keep seeing one college on there, but we have never answered. Never applied or expressed interest. One college did call because scores were sent there early on, but D decided not to apply there. We did answer them and explain that she had changed her mind and was applying to other schools. Oh, we got military calls too. I answer and tell them she is not interested - they are persistent and I have to just end the call. Not sure what to do when we see my alma mater on the caller ID - usually they are asking me for donations, but now that she is accepted there, the call could be for her. I guess they should leave a message if it is important. She gets stuff from them via email though too.</p>
<p>I am a member of the Parent Council of my DS and DD’s college. We are asked to call about 10 accepted students parents in March/April. These are calls to parents who live in each of our home geographical area. We don’t pressure the parents, we simply say who we are, congratulate them on their child’s acceptance and offer ourselves as a resource of any information regarding the college, transportation, packing, etc. A number of these parents have called us or emailed us for advice. I even helped a family whose daughter chose to attend another school. I am usually at the college for move in weekend and again help parents with advice or rides to the local stores for items they might need. This past week, I was able to meet with 2 families that I contacted at Family Weekend. In general, we as a group have found the calls to be appreciated. We want to be a resource for the family and a personal point of contact.</p>
<p>That sounds like a valuable program, ECmother.</p>
<p>Sometimes it seems that colleges are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Most of them, even those with zillions of applicants, want to broaden their base and be considered by students who might not think of applying, due to geography or income or whatever. If they send a mailing, people complain about junk mail. If they call, people complain about cold calls. If they do neither, people complain that they are snooty and exclusive and aren’t interested in diversity.</p>
<p>I know some schools overdo it–WUSTL must have sent my kid what seemed like 20 mailings, and he never applied, although he did indicate interest at some point by checking a box–and some students are misled by receiving mailings from schools at which they have little or no hope of admittance, notably H&Y, but I think a little perspective is in order. </p>
<p>In the Dartmouth forum, some kid started a thread claiming that the alumni interviewer was “spamming” him because he made a couple of attempts to set up a meeting! (There are really some posters one hopes DON’T get in, as ungenerous as it may be. :rolleyes: )</p>
<p>I get a LOT of cold calls from colleges that I’ve never sent scores to, applied to, or even indicated I was interested in. Mostly from chilly states (lots from Minnesota and Illinois) for some weird reason, and they still are coming, even though application deadlines have passed. My youngest sister likes to field them for me. She has a good time with this . . .</p>
<p>Don’t forget to add the military to this list. </p>
<p>S got a call from the Marines last week to tell him about how they could help him pay for college. He asked S about his scores and grades, where he wanted to go to college, and how he was going to pay for college. When S said he had scholarships, the caller was nice and said he would not waste S’s time and thanked him.</p>
<p>OP here…kid is a junior so he hasn’t applied anywhere yet; he has not expressed any interest in these schools or requested any info from them. He hasn’t even taken SAT yet. So I would consider these cold calls. I did answer one and the person on the other end was very nice and polite - she was a student caller and said that my S had stats that they felt might be a good match with their school. Perhaps info gotten from his PSATs. I did explain that he goes to boarding school, so it would probably be best to take us off the call list. It’s not that she wasn’t nice or that it’s the worst thing in the world or anything. I just felt it is a bit intrusive. Everyone has their little pet peeves…I guess this is one of mine And also was just kind of wondering, as I don’t recall getting phone calls when my now college aged son was his age.</p>
<p>Q1 … How do those people obtain the number of the student in the first place? </p>
<p>Q2 … If you did not give it to ANYONE in the process of the college application, how do you think it got there.</p>
<p>Q3 … If you allowed your phone number to be listed ANYWHERE on any questionaire such as the PSAT, or anything remotely close to a college application, why do you think you should call them “cold calls?”</p>
<p>We had cold calls from colleges we had never heard of, and as a family we are fairly cognizant of most colleges within 100 miles. It was annoying, especially when I couldn’t find a single reason my son would consider these schools. (Dominican I’m talking to you!)</p>
<p>xiggi, if they have the family name and the address they can usually get a phone number. There are data services. </p>
<p>I have to say that it sounds like an awfully labor-intensive way of drumming up a few more applications. I don’t recall my S getting any such calls when he applied, which was in the 2007/8 application period, and he was an NMF and all that stuff that one would think would get a kid on lists. (He did get a LOT of mailings, though.) I wonder if calling is the new trend</p>
<p>My DS got a lot of cold calls from smaller Liberal Art schools. I used caller id it’s awesome. I didn’t even bother answering the phone. They usually just left their name and number and moved on. He’s still getting mailings from OOS flagship schools that he didn’t apply to and I’m almost positive most of the deadlines for applications has past. Some of these letters are reminding him to fill out the Financial Aid forms! I think they just aren’t cleaning up their mailing lists. However it seems like a big waste of money.</p>
And also was just kind of wondering, as I don’t recall getting phone calls when my now college aged son was his age.</p>