<p>Wabash, hard to say right now. Not at the top of his list, having a hard time with the all-male thing. But he'll be attending an Open House in November with an open mind, and we'll take it from there.</p>
<p>fresh/sop/jr/SR?</p>
<p>Do keep in mind that sometimes good things come in those mailings. Wash U sent S an invitation to fly him in for a weekend. U Rochester sent easy paperwork for S to qualify for a fee waiver application and, I think, a $6,000 scholarship. </p>
<p>Before tossing the mail out, take time to look at the mail from colleges your student may want to consider. There may be a nice surprise inside that envelope.</p>
<p>(Student intruding!)</p>
<p>My mail is picking up, too, especially with the larger packages. I'm always surprised to see the postage on those.</p>
<p>I can't understand some of the mailings, to be honest. Colby sent me a postcard promoting their athletics department, but I've expressed no interest in playing a college sport. (Can't anyway; physical disability.)</p>
<p>A lot of my recent mailers have had fee waivers and mentions of scholarships I'd automatically be considered for, but they're not schools I'm interested in applying to. (I'm also not applying until next year, so it's kinda pointless to send me waivers that expire after this year, isn't it?) </p>
<p>What I have liked about most of my recent mailers is that they have a more personal touch to them. A lot of the automated stuff gets recycled quickly, but when someone takes the time to hand-write a "P.S." at the bottom or even just sign their name, that makes a difference for me. Even form letters that have been customized beyond the name and address stand out a little more. One admissions director in Maryland sent a fairly standard letter, but she repeatedly mentioned my specific interests and included a post script mentioning a scholarship I'd automatically get. I liked that, because I felt like a person and not a GPA.</p>
<p>As far as getting off lists goes: After a while, a lot of schools will send you "interest" cards. Simply don't send them back, or if there's a box saying you're not interested, check that and mail it back. If they don't hear back from you, they'll generally take you off their lists. You're not worth the expense any longer.</p>
<p>Our biggest surprise is the schools who have sent the application without any warning, invitation, or introduction, not even a postcard:
Harvard, Yale, Williams, Cornell, and......(ta-da) the University of Pittsburgh???? :D</p>
<p>Wabash, if you think you like HSC, go for it! I have had no luck encouraging my S, but he's been in a boy's only prep school since second grade. I, however, went to a women's college after only public school, and I will guarantee you there will be plenty of opportunity to meet girls at HSC. And the entire process is much more comfortable and romantic than at coed schools--"familiarity breeds contempt" you know. :)</p>
<p>Don't scoff at U Pitt. They are very generous in handing out full tuition scholarships early in the fall to strong students. For seniors whose parents have been worried about college costs, such scholarships can be a deterrence preventing students bothering to apply elsewhere.</p>
<p>BTW, whoever mentioned the University of Central Florida earlier, they do indeed give full scholarships to most (i think all?) national merit finalists. Decent school. But if you're a NMF and you want to move to florida...go to UF!</p>
<p>Our household has received a lot of mail from U Pitt also which was not on the radar screen here. Anyone have any additional info to share on the school?</p>
<p>the large majority of rising seniors really are not dead sure on a college list. If I talk to most friends about college stuff, they tell me I'm crazy, that I don't have to think about that untill Thanksgiving. Lol! To each his own.</p>
<p>I didn't start receiving mail from Pitt until I spoke with their reps at a college fair. I actually really liked most of what I learned about the school, but the size and some other factors are turn-offs for me.</p>
<p>A bit embarrassed to admit this, but - my d actually kept every mailing she received over junior and senior year in a large bin, which eventually became two large bins. (Yes, she's that kind of gal.) After graduation, she counted and weighed it: 726 pieces of mail that collectively weighed 70 pounds/some ounces. We were somewhat surprised the total came in under 1000 pieces.</p>
<p>If it seems to you that WUSTL is the most enthusiastic by-mail recruiter, you're right - they sent 28 separate mailings. Followed, in order, by: Tulane (20), CWRU (19), Drexel (18), and UChicago and UMiami (17). W & L mailed early and often (15 total), but must have some trigger built into their system to stop mailing after a specific date in the absence of a response - something I wish more schools would look into - because d didn't hear from them at all after very early fall of senior year. (We used to joke that they didn't like her anymore.)</p>
<p>Let me add a very favorable opinion of Pitt. As someone suggested above, it's generous with merit aid to top kids who apply early. It's also, we found after a very positive visit, an excellent option with several highly-regarded programs, in a cool city, with impressive facilities, an enthusiastic student body, and a nice urban campus. They do rolling admissions, so it's possible to have an acceptance and merit award from them in early November. Though she's headed elsewhere, my d really liked Pitt and believes she would have been happy there.</p>
<p>Frazzled, I assume your D is either studying accounting or is well on here way to a career in market research? :)</p>
<p>She'd be in her element in either field but has apparently chosen classics instead. She does like to categorize!</p>
<p>Regarding mail, yeah our son got lots too. But the most valuable items he got were the college catalogues. For the 10 or so colleges he was most interested in, he called admissions, chatted for a bit and asked for a copy of the catalogue. All were more than happy to send him one.</p>
<p>View books are just advertising tools with all the pretty pictures. But the catalogue is the college's bible, listing all course offerings, department offerings, degree programs/schedules, special academic programs, faculty info, admissions/app reqts, scholarships.fin aid, etc, etc. All in an easy to follow format, much easier than the college web site. BTW, many web sites have the catalogue in pdf format too. I find the paper copy easier to digest though. But few if any pretty pictures.</p>
<p>Because they are relatively expensive to print, students should request one only from those colleges they are relatively sure they will be applying to. They can usually get a copy during a visit.</p>
<p>To echo what originaloog said, the college catalog is one of the most critical items that you can get from a college. On our trips to colleges we usually do the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Attend Info Session and Tour</li>
<li>Take a course catalog</li>
<li>Take a student newpaper</li>
<li>Take pictures to make it easy to remember</li>
</ul>
<p>Of the 10 schools we have visited the only school we did not get a course catalog from was UNC. I am expecting to need them a bit more when he is making his final decision.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thanks, now I'm worrying about aid and convincing my parents, who seemed dead set on me attending the state cc/university.</p>
<p>I was a bit surprised to get mail from WUSTL today because they haven't sent me anything at all and I got a huge package today. For the other schools I got smaller things before the viewbook/application came</p>
<p>Regarding college catalogs --- read them with a healthy grain of salt until you actually check out how many of the classes in the catalog are actually offered every year. I've taken many college catalogs and done an historic search of course offerings and found that very few schools offer every class in their catalog on a regular basis.</p>
<p>True Carolyn, but that is the beauty of the college catalogue. Because it is the tool that both current students and advisors(and I am one) use to chart out academic programs, they provide information as to when courses are normally offered. Some are only offered fall or spring semesters, others alternate years during a particular semester.</p>
<p>Last year my teacher advisor had a big laundry basket in the back of our room. we could bring in any college mailings that we did not want to keep and toss it in the basket. Everybody could look through it but we had an honor system thing to keep the stuff in the basket to share. As the year went on it was the best treasure chest and we had lots of lunch time discussions and arguments around the college laundry basket. It was more casual and fun than going to the library or the office to look at college stuff. Some students don't get all these mailings so it was helpful to have this pile in the room. Kids from other rooms could use it too it was a real magnet. It was overflowing after a while.</p>