<p>To the OP: I wouldn't hurt to respond to the colleges you are truly interested in, though, of course, there is never any guarantee of admission. If elite colleges are contacting you, there must be something in your profile that attracted them to you. It would certainly make sense to explore further.</p>
<p>What initially feels like flattery rapidly turns into annoyance when this stuff keeps coming and coming and coming, like the Eveready Bunny. After the Jan 1st RD application deadline, most of it drops off and quits cluttering the mailbox, but not all. My D still gets mail daily from colleges that don't have application deadlines. Please don't feel flattered or lulled into a false sense of security by this stuff. A friend of my D was crushed by this...her parents were absolutely convinced that Yale wanted her because she had received mail from them in her junior year, when the child, though bright and nice, would not be in the running by any measure. Her mother refused to believe that this mail had no meaning and pushed her daughter to apply SCEA (without a rolling admit school or safety). The entire family was crushed and bewildered when she was rejected and she had to scramble to complete more applications. So, please, if the mail provides you with a way to contact a school that interests your child, then fine. But don't think it means that he/she will be accepted.</p>
<p>Amen, QG! Mail from the super-selectives doesn't mean that they will accept you.</p>
<p>I'm feeling so left out! Day after day I check the mailbox for the exciting college mail only to find emptiness (well, except for the bills). My DD scored high enough on the PSAT this year to probably qualify for NMSF (based on the last few years threshold), so I thought we'd have lots of interesting mail. I finally asked her if she declined the Student Search Service and she calmly stated, "Yes, last year you said all the mail was a pain." AHHHHH... Although I don't remember saying that, she was a sophomore last year and the mail was unnecessary. So... how do we let colleges know she is interested? I had her fill out the Request for Information on the websites of her top choices but these pages don't really ask for any detailed information. She will take the SAT in April 1 and it appears that a mailing list is also generated from the SAT, so I will have her sign up then. Hopefully this will result in some summer reading material. Her first choice school this week is University of Chicago - which just sent her a great "Life of the Mind" publication, so I guess they know she is interested. Of course, I wouldn't really know she should be getting mail if I didn't have CC to inform me!</p>
<p>Mum, Most school marketing firms use other things besides SAT scores to generate their lists. They can use zip codes, for instance, to get a pretty clear picture of where low income or high income students are likely to live. They may send info. to students who wrote specific majors on their forms, attend private or public school, report a high GPA, etc. So, don't feel left out. It is absolutely NO indication of your daughter's chances. If she or you really want to start generating some mail, just sign on to any college website and fill out the request information form in the admissions area. :)</p>
<p>Thanks Carolyn! I'm most concerned about missing information about schools that we weren't aware of (although, now that I've been reading CC for so long, I hardly think it possible that there are schools I haven't heard of ;) ) or missing invitations to Junior Day Visits. I did have DD sign up on several admissions pages - she currently has a list of about 30 schools so once that mail starts arriving, I should be entertained for awhile! For the schools that have sent information, I read the mailings from cover to cover - DD barely glances at most of them.</p>
<p>mum07 -- We don't want you to feel left out! If you want, I'll gladly send you all the stuff my kid is getting. (I think it was 5 pieces yesterday and 6 the day before.) And none of it is read. He has his one collage picked out that he wants to go to (and he has the grades for) and three more colleges he will apply at because we told him he had to apply at more than one college. Every time I suggest he check out a piece of mail, he looks at me and says "I'm OK". So it is all going into the recycling.</p>
<p>Not too many years back, right at the beginning of this mass mailing trend, I heard people talking about getting "recruited" by schools because they got some of these letters. Looking back on it, it was just the marketing effort, but with stronger language that made it seem more like you were being accepted in advance. I think the language has been tempered somewhat since then.</p>
<p>Thanks Peggy! Please forward all those that offer money, have gorgeous campus pictures, or include descriptions that make me want to go back to college! You're lucky your son is so decisive. Mine has a new favourite school every few weeks. We have a list (organized in comprehensive spreadsheet fashion thanks to the guidance of several of the posters here) of all of her requirements and her new favourite college doesn't match any of them. DD thinks I'm obsessed - probably a fair assessment. :)</p>
<p>mum07 - If your daughter registered for the SAT online she just has to update her profile. There's a place she can check off that she wants to receive mail. My S did the same thing when he took the PSAT's his junior year. He said he knew he would do well and he didn't want to get mail from every school in the country. The mail does give you information about scholarship money at some schools that you may not know about.</p>
<p>Thanks so much Cookiemom! I updated her profile - and await the mail... I promise not to complain about the amount we receive. Based on what I read here, I set up labeled files for a number of schools that met her requirements. I now look forward to filling them with viewbooks and applications. Its going to be such an interesting year! Thanks again to everyone for your help.</p>
<p>College mailings this year (for sophomore son) is kind of fun!</p>
<p>For senior son, I only recognized a couple of colleges outside of the ivys. We just tossed all the junk into a basket.</p>
<p>This year, S#2 is receiving literature from many LACS that I have heard about on CC. It is much more exciting to read about places that you've already heard about.</p>
<p>It also appears that S#2 is being targeted a little differently than S#1. S#2 has a high PSAT score and attends the local rural high school. S#1 attends a public charter school held on a college campus.</p>
<p>mum07, be prepared to get a LOT of mail! Since Feb. 1, my D has received an average of 6 pieces per day. They range the gamut from some ivy league schools, to elite LACs, to state schools, to small schools we have never heard of; from very competitive, to not-so-competitive. My D has been junking the ones she's not interested in, and replying to the ones she is. Though she's only a sophomore, she's found the mailings to be a great resource by which to begin her college research, to learn which do or do not offer scholarships, etc. </p>
<p>I like your idea of keeping labeled files. I think I'll try that, too! Best of luck to your D.</p>
<p>My son's main complaint isn't about the brochures and letters - it is about the emails he is receiving. He counted TWENTY-SIX emails in his mailbox yesterday. He told me that he feels he is being "spammed" and is just mass deleting everything from all colleges. Many of the emails are coming from schools that have also sent him "real world" mailings. He is more than a little miffed at this point. :)</p>
<p>Carolyn, my D didn't give out her email, and when replying to the "real world" mail she is receiving, she never fills in the email line. Does your son have the option of unsuscribing from the email lists? Usually each email gives an option to unsuscribe.</p>
<p>We'll be ready for the mail once it starts, dabost. D did receive quite a bit of mail last year so she has a good idea of the types of schools she's interested in. The labeled files are quite helpful. It allows us to find information quickly and discard duplicates. We don't file schools she knows she isn't interested in but I keep a couple of miscellaneous files for schools that we want to research a little more (or schools I think she should consider). I bought file boxes and file the schools alphabetically. Once we have a reasonable list, one box will be just for the top schools. Then we have to find a good way to organize applications so she doesn't miss deadlines - but that is a project for next year!</p>
<p>Carolyn,
I set up a separate mailbox on my home account just for college emails. We both have access and can check it anytime. My D was also annoyed by the amount of mail she was getting on her school email. When she applies to a school, she will change the email to her school account so that she won't miss anything important.</p>
<p>Yes, that's what I did with my daughter, but son put his own email down on the PSAT form. Dabost, thanks for reminding me about the opt out at the end of most mailings. I'll tell him to use it, but I think he is committed to just deleting. Gives him a sense of power. :)</p>
<p>My son put down his Dad's email so he has been getting all the mail. My son is an odd one who doesn't use email.</p>
<p>At my daughter's request several months ago, I sent an email to Washington U. of St. Louis requesting that she be removed from their mailing list. After about a week, all the mail from WUSTL stopped. </p>
<p>This technique also worked for many other colleges, though we didn't have the heart to tell poor Tulane that they had fallen off the grid. (Plus, we're still kind of heartened to see their marketing efforts in such great shape).</p>
<p>I've been deleting the spam email that comes to our shared college email account... don't know what d. does about her personal email account, both emails have been given out at various times to different universities. However, upon digging up some of the old email that remained intact (love that gmail search feature!) -- I discovered that they all had unsubscribe links at the bottom of the email. Amazingly enough, they were all worded the exact same way: I received your e-mail address from a previous contact with you, or a national student testing or research organization. Let me know if you'd rather not receive e-mail from XXXX College. -- "Let me know" is always an automatic unsubscribe link, the type that doesn't require you to enter in any information, but just confirms that the specific email has been unsubscribed when clicked. So it looks like all of the colleges are using the same mailing software, or outsourced college marketing program?</p>
<p>Anyway... it turns out that if you don't want the mail, it works pretty well to simply tell the college that. </p>
<p>Now if only I could figure out a way to stop all the other junk mail and spam I receive I'd be happy.</p>
<p>mum07 -- I will send you all the college brochures that have good looking girls on them because MY baby is going to college to study. Not to look at girls. Or party.</p>