<p>After a lull over the summer, the college mail my daughter is receiving is really picking up...including large and expensive packages including applications from schools she has never heard from before. </p>
<p>I find this fascinating --- by the time you factor in the cost of the materials, cost of buying names, and mailing costs, these schools must be paying several dollars for each of these packages they send out to students who have not really shown any interest. And, at this point, it would be impossible to visit many of these schools as they are across the country. I'm wondering if schools think that rising seniors are going to be swayed to just add schools willy-nilly at this late date. My guess is they must find these mailings worthwhile or they wouldn't do them.</p>
<p>Lots of "large" mail here too, though all from schools we've heard of at this point. I'm surprised that schools spend the money on unsolicited applications when they're all online anyway.</p>
<p>We've heard of all of the schools, just not ones that have been on my daughter's radar at all. I'm kind of surprised. Ironically, we haven't received these big packages from ANY of the schools that ARE on her radar. Maybe they already know she's hooked. :)</p>
<p>Oops, just reread your post and realized that they were schools she'd never heard "from," not "of."
If anyone would have heard of ALL the schools, it would certainly be you and your daughter, Carolyn ... no doubt!
Maybe the schools on her radar screen are hedging their bets and waiting until she's feeling 100% before sending mail! :)</p>
<p>For most seniors, it's not a matter of adding a college at this late date, but coming up with an initial list. Carolyn, your daughter is better prepared than most students. Many don't have final lists until November or December.</p>
<p>None of the schools I'm interested in are sending me stuff. All of the selective top 25/ivy schools are sending me stuff even though I'm so far out of the range of acceptable scores I really think they're wasting their time. Probably just a lot of students who fall for their traps.</p>
<p>AS one person involved described it the costs are worth it, getting a student to decide to attend your colege/university is like --in some istances-making a $250,000 sale. Just remember you are a consumer and they are selling a product/service... and determine if you are getting value. The cost of even a few hundred dollars in marketing -can pay off hansomely for the school.</p>
<p>When you read this material think of it this way and see if it helps with the decision ... i also liked a post somewhere about the 'girl under the tree with leaves falling and classes outdoor' from every school</p>
<p>It's a cycle. The colleges try to sell themselves in their mailings so that students apply, the students try to sell themselves on their applications to get in, and then the colleges try to sell themselves again by hosting accepted student weekends so that the students attend!</p>
<p>A large part of the problem is that our school did not really have counselors. Students could talk to their base group advisors, but they each have at least 20 students with them in addition to planning and developing a new school. </p>
<p>My decision to major in History ended up being a matter of personal choice - I found that I liked the subject more than anything else with only a hint from one teacher.</p>
<p>The PSAT's were really a surprise to us. I had no idea what they meant and did not really hear about the ACT and SAT until at least my Junior year. </p>
<p>If I can recall correctly, I did get three or four mailings, but not from any schools that I am interested in.</p>
<p>What is the best way to get OFF a college mailing list? Will an email to the admissions office do? </p>
<p>My d. has now decided firmly against some colleges that she has been receiving mail from, including some that she previously requested information from. So while it was nice of them to send the first batch of mail, we don't like seeing the waste of paper for the subsequent mailings; we're getting some printed material that is probably very expensive to produce, & in some cases multiple copies of the same thing. </p>
<p>I wish the colleges all had unsubscribe links.... ;)</p>
<p>Most of the big mailings that are coming to my D now include the application, some of which she requested, others not. The amazing thing to me is the mass of stuff she gets to schools she has never been interested in, would never be interested in, never asked for, and doesn't even fit into the school demographic for. E.g., we live in Michigan...and she gets weekly mail, e-mail, you name it, from Central Florida University. My parents retired to FL and know a bit about CFU which does not offer merit aid and generally does not generally attract probable NMF which is who they seem to be targetting. They can't possibly hope to get students from our state in blind mailings.</p>
<p>"...by the time you factor in the cost of the materials, cost of buying names, and mailing costs, these schools must be paying several dollars for each of these packages they send out to students who have not really shown any interest."</p>
<p>Why do you think college tuition is so high? Just like any business, those who pay tuition or donate $$$ will end up contributing to a college's marketing effort. It will pay off for the college when a student, who may never have heard of that college or might not have seriously considered it, ends up applying.</p>
<p>BTW, don't throw the college material away. Donate it to your HS college/career counseling center or a local library reference dept. They appreciate making the material available for other students.</p>
<p>I've been getting a lot of "you asked for" (which I didn't) mail and got my first one from Switzerland! (Franklin) Not quite my 3 hour limit though. : )</p>
<p>I'm sure our mail carrier has some choice comments about college mail! By the way, the Skidmore word of the month is "Blink". Despite what people have said, there's been no flood of mail from WUStL, but there have been a lot of postcards from Kenyon. We've also been getting quite a few invitations to meet with adreps who are travelling.</p>
<p>Last weekend I went through the box of mail and sorted them by interested/not interested. I took the not interested group to a junior high teacher who teaches a "Careers" class (they do a research project on colleges).</p>
<p>I didn't care for the tone of the letter from the school in Switzerland. I can't recall the exact wording, but basically they sent a letter in the spring, but my son had not responded. Just seemed a bit bold. He doesn't want to look out of our area - there is no way he would consider a school out of the country.</p>
<p>My daughter is getting emails from schools...with ID numbers for easy online application. Of course, they are schools she's made contact with.
She also gets online magazines from some colleges.</p>
<p>Sounds like the more economical route...and much more direct.</p>
<p>What's really funny is when my son, who's going off to college in three weeks, is still getting mail from a few random schools, some even wondering if he'd like to play tennis for them!</p>
<p>Yep, I hadn't really noticed how much the mail was picking up until we went on vacation for a week and had our mail held. When we picked up the big bundle upon our return, it included tons of college stuff (and he's only a rising Junior). Bucknell in particular has been very active, which is odd because S has never indicated any particular interest -- not the geographic area he's looking at. Their last postcard highlighted the fact that they received the 2005 ESPY Award for "Biggest Upset" -- which I was more than happy to bring in and show a colleague who bleeds Kansas blue.</p>