<p>Hello parents, </p>
<p>I'm a sophmore. I took the PSATs in October or so. Now, I'm recieving all this mail from colleges and a whole lot of it. To my surprise, some of the mailings are coming from prestigious colleges, such as Mt. Holyoke, RIT, Brown, UChicago, etc. Does this mean that if I maintain my academic record I have a good chance of attending some of these colleges? Or, are they trying to boost their selectivity by luring students, like me, to apply and then be rejected?</p>
<p>lol they dont mean much, but its a good way to find out in the schools u are interested in</p>
<p>For one, u are a soph, so u dont need to worry much yet. Junior year, when the letters are mailed, u will get some kind of idea where u fit in the admissions process according to the type of scools which right to you to apply</p>
<p>My D, who is also a sophomore, actually got letters from Brown, Chicago, Columbia, UPenn, Colgate, Swarthmore, Williams...and the list goes on and on. She has gotten about 6 peices a day from colleges since Feb. 1! Its getting quite overwhelming.</p>
<p>D is a junior and also started getting lots of college mail about two weeks ago. She replies to the colleges that interest her by going to the website and filling in some info (there is usually a password contained in the letter). But not to be TOO cynical about it, it's a marketing ploy. Colleges are basically trying to expand their applicant pool so that they can turn more candidates down and inprove their selectivity ranking!</p>
<p>Some colleges may use it as a marketing ploy to increase their selectivity rating, but I don't think the ivy league schools and top LAC's need to boost anything, as they already get a lot of applicants. I've advised my D to respond particularly to the top schools, as I don't think those schools would send letters out just to increase their numbers.</p>
<p>Schools are criticized if they do not spend enough on solicitations or ... too much. One easy solution is to outsource the process to companies that will deliver results by culling "good names" from sources such as TCB. </p>
<p>Be happy for the computer-driven attention and the unsolicited emails or packages. However, remember that it means ABSOLUTELY nothing in terms of admissions. As far as the prestige of the senders, you may also remember that the more prestigious schools have large budgets (the applications' fee income adds up nicely) and do not hesitate to use them up. </p>
<p>It is not really cynical: it is the job of admission offices to recruit potential students. If they found you, they must do something right. :)</p>
<p>I agree with Xiggi. I've done enough research and reading on how these "lists" are created, even for the so-called elite schools. Highly selective schools may not need more applications, but they do need to insure they attract applications from the right <em>type</em> of applicants so that they meet their goals for diversity, revenues, etc. </p>
<p>There are many factors that are considered in developing these mailing lists, not just your PSAT scores or even your grades. Even living in a high income zip code or attending a private school can get your name in the database for a particular college. </p>
<p>But, does it mean you have a better chance of getting in than someone who doesn't make the list? Nope. It just means that your scores were probably in range and your self-reported data shows at least 2 or 3 other "database" markers that tag you as a student worth marketing to. Beyond that, don't read too much into these mass mailings, although it's nice to see names like Cal Tech, Brown, etc. in your mailbox. :)</p>
<p>All it means is that colleges purchased your mailing address from the College Board, based on some criteria which could include PSAT score, geographic region, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic indicator (PSAT fee waiver), type of hs (public or private; low-performing or high-performing), etc.</p>
<p>It doesn't really mean that colleges are interested in you specifically, but that you generally fit a profile that is of interest to them.</p>
<p>sorry...</p>
<p>That may all but true, but I think it would be foolish not to follow up on colleges you may be interested in if they contact you...unles, of course, you just don't want to be bothered. If you fit the profile of the students they choose to contact, why should you care why they are contacting you? I know no one is guaranteed anything, but I feel comfortable in advising my D to respond to the schools she wants to pursue further.</p>
<p>Dabost, there is absolutely nothing wrong with responding to schools of particular interest, as long as the student understands that, at this point, this is mostly about marketing, not about boosting chances significantly.</p>
<p>However, I can also guarantee that, whether you respond or not, almost of the schools will be sending and resending and resending materials to your child for the next two years so if she doesn't respond now, she'll have AMPLE opportunity to do so later when her college preferences may be a little more fine-tuned. :)</p>
<p>You can also jsut sign up to get info on a particular college web site</p>
<p>My youngest D (14) gets mail from the military ALL THE TIME...the coast guard is currently pursuing her, how she got on that list...who knows...but I can guess</p>
<p>Actually, D doesn't mind getting the college mail, as long as they're schools she's interested in. The others, she just throws out. As it turns out, 10 of the schools that have contacted her was on her college list anyway.</p>
<p>You can learn about the College Board Student Search Service at <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/highered/ra/sss.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/highered/ra/sss.html</a></p>
<p>Check out the fee structure and discover more search options at <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/sss/help/feesandliability/competitorcomparison/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeboard.com/sss/help/feesandliability/competitorcomparison/index.html</a></p>
<p>As others have stated, it's isn't a bad thing to have colleges interested in you. These mass mailing may even lead to interest in a college that you may not have considered or even know about before.</p>
<p>Freshman D came back from the mailbox the other day and announced, "I've got my first piece of college mail!! Early bird gets the worm--I'll be going to. . .</p>
<p>UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND!!"</p>
<p>(She was kidding. . .)</p>
<p>Ellemenope- Hey we got that one!
My son isn't that interested in the mail that has come but I find it interesting. The geographic range of the schools span the US. Quite a few of the schools I had never before heard of before CC.
He hasn't gotten mail from the elite's but for him even University of Puget Sound is a reach. I can tell by the spelling of his name it is being generated by the PSAT. And most are regarding the area of interest he put down. I would say that most of his mail based on his PSAT would be a possibility but without the grades to match his end results with be unpredictable.</p>
<p>mom60--oh, yes, the "area of interest" thing. One year, my elder D starting getting all sorts of mail about Russian programs. Why is she getting info on Russian programs, I wondered. Turns out that she put down Russian as her area of iterest one year on the PSAT form. What a kidder!</p>
<p>My S's both got mail from everywhere except the schools they are currently enrolled in. I found it interesting that the schools they were most interested in didn't show much interest in them.</p>
<p>The mail my son received seemed rather random, and largely places he would not have considered because of their location.</p>
<p>Rather than tossing all the college mail you don't want ask if your guidance office would like to have it. Or check with other schools in your area who may have students who aren't receiving the mail yet.</p>
<p>My little sister started receiving college-related mail before I did. Not sure how that happened, but when she sent the card back to the Army when she was in middle school (and she created an eighth grade check box for her current year in school), they sent a letter telling her to look into it again when she was a few years older. She may have been a little upset as they promised a tshirt or something similar to those who responded, but didn't send it to her.</p>
<p>She's now a sophomore, so the mass mailings just started and I've already heard by way of my mother which schools she's definitely not interested in.</p>