<p>I'm sure this has been asked before, but I was curious about college's recruiting methods. I recently took the PSAT and PLAN (I'm a sophomore FYI), and have now begun getting tons of college emails. I don't understand how the colleges determine to send you mail, or if I'm simply just part of a massive spam list. Do the colleges get a general score range or my exact scores or anything?</p>
<p>Just for reference, some of the colleges that I've been contacted by are: </p>
<p>WashU
Rockhurst
Colgate
Kalamazoo
Carleton
Colorado State
UC Davis</p>
<p>yeah i just started getting them on tuesday
i’m a junior and i took the psats in october as well as the sats in january
i don’t know if i have started receiving these emails because of the psat or sat
and i don’t know if the colleges have seen my scores</p>
<p>i’ve gotten
WashU
Colgate
Duke
Carleton
Davidson
RIT
RPI
UCF
among others</p>
<p>You’re mostly part of a massive spam list. Every college is trying to get as many applicants as possible, and the money spent on recruiting is generally worth it for them. Be prepared for many, many, maaaany emails, and while they’re nice to get, they don’t usually mean much.</p>
<p>I have a friend who got an email and letter from Harvard and fell into the trap of thinking that they’re trying to personally recruit her. Not looking forward to consoling her in April.</p>
<p>It’s basically a huge spam list. I’m now a freshman in college and I’ve been receiving these emails since my sophomore year in high school; the funny thing is that some of them still haven’t stopped. They may ask for a list of students with certain very basic parameters (interest in X subject, scores over 200, etc) but really it’s just a huge recruitment program and means nothing.</p>
<p>I’m fairly certain you gave Collegeboard express permission to release your scores to these institutions. I certainly didn’t get the same college spam as my brother.</p>
<p>As for how “serious” these colleges are about you, it would depend on what they offer. Most colleges offer nothing but for certain some will give you at least a free or discounted application fee.</p>
<p>It’s true I have a senior and a sophomore and when my senior was a sophomore I tthought somehow they were recruiting her. Now my other daughter I getting the same flyers. You must do your research…ton of it and find what’s best for you</p>
<p>Did we also sign away the rights to our GPA and high school coursework? I can’t remember.</p>
<p>By the way, I’ve also heard that good colleges send emails and apps to kids that have no chance of getting in with the hope they can garner interest and get our app fee?</p>
<p>I had to get a new email because those emails get really damn annoying. I mean you first get them sophomore year and you oh so flattered~. But no, it gets overwhelming and 9/10 of the schools aren’t any of the ones you’re interested in. You’ll find when you’re a senior that they’ll all offer free applications.
It’s just a massive spam list. They want to up the amount of apps they get.</p>
<p>this is the truth. colleges are constantly trying to decrease their acceptance rate, even if this means being dishonest. now, if they only sent letters to people who had an actual chance, that’d be different. but colleges, especially ones that are renowned for advertising like crazy (cough washU), most likely are sending them to just about everybody they can get their hands on.</p>
<p>my parents totally fell for it. i prefer to be more cynical =]</p>
<p>No - the box you check actually gives them permission to release your name, GPA, and anything else you write on the information section, but not your scores. Or at least, that’s what I remember it saying and that’s what my GC told me when I started receiving hundreds of emails a week…haha. So the colleges receive your name, your GPA and a little bit about you, and figure that they should contact you, mainly to increase the number of applicants that they could potentially get. That is why such a diverse range of schools will contact you.</p>