College Letters

College Search & Selection
1

<p>OK, so I took the PSAT and did fairly well on them (211). My mailbox is now being flooded with letters from colleges all over the country. Typically they are brochures of smiling, diverse students with the sun shining on them...you know the kind. Well, most of them are from schools I have absolutely no interest in (i.e. University of Colorado at Boulder and one in Oregon). A couple (Duke, UPenn, Columbia, Brown, Bowdoin, etc.) I have a legitimate interest in, however. Basically, my question is: Do these highly competitive colleges send these letters to everyone? Or, by receiving one does it show I have a good (or at least better) chance at admission to that institution (i.e. does the fact I got one from Columbia mean I have a better chance of going there than if I didn't get one).</p>

<p>Oh, and finally, many of these letters are saying that I am a member of an elite group of students, and that my academic achievements are commendable...all that jazz. Again, is this said to everyone, or can I feel special about it?</p>

2

<p>Yes, above a 200 I think makes you eligible for the National Merit Scholarship contest or whatever. I could be wrong, but a few at my school were finalists.</p>

3

<p>My question is more along the lines of:</p>

<p>Do these letters have any validity, or are they simply used to publicize the college so more people apply to it?</p>

4

<p>The latter, I’m afraid. If you do a search, you’ll find quite a few threads about this.</p>

5

<p>And that also applies to top-schools like Ivies and Dukes and whatnot?</p>

<p>Because I wouldn’t imagine Harvard or Yale sending one to a student with a 2.5 GPA and a 150 PSAT…</p>

6

<p>Sorry, but those letters really don’t mean anything. They don’t know your GPA or anything about you… they just send them to everyone who got above a certain PSAT score. They are just trying to get the word out about their school. </p>

<p>Basically, the more people that apply, the more people they can reject… which in turn lowers their acceptance % and makes them look more “selective”.</p>

7

<p>OK, well I guess a followup question to that would be:</p>

<p>Do colleges notice at all if I respond to their letters. For Duke, Columbia, UPenn, and Emory for example I registered in their mailing list and ordered a viewbook.</p>

<p>Do these colleges notice that I am paying interest, or is my name just thrown into a database with thousands of other “interested” students?</p>

8

<p>bump bump bump</p>

9

<p>Nope. This is all marketing BS.</p>

10

<p>As one of those people who also received a flood of college mail in junior year… I don’t think replying to the bulk mailing and requesting a viewbook sounds particularly significant to them, since many people do that. Now, if you were to visit, and talk to someone on admissions about how enthusiastically interested you were in the school, that might help you.</p>