<p>I dont know what this means, and so many people have told me different things, but what does it mean when good colleges contact you in the mail without you telling them about yourself? For example, ive gotten letters from columbia, dartmouth, and stanford, as elite schools, asking for me to visit them and pestering me. what does this mean? why would they contact me out of everyone? are they interested?</p>
<p>As pointed out in your other thread–[College</a> stuff in the mail](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/751370-college-stuff-mail.html]College”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/751370-college-stuff-mail.html)–it’s because you took the PSAT and signed up to receive mail from colleges. It means nothing else.</p>
<p>As noted, it means you have a test score (and it could be the SAT or ACT not just PSAT) that has been provided to colleges and is high enough in the eyes of those selective colleges to cause them to send you (and tens of thousands of others) information to entice you to apply so they will have the pleasure of rejecting you.</p>
<p>You and about 20000 other HS students. Are they interested in your applying? Sure – but they have only the slightest info that you’d be remotely qualified. </p>
<p>Obviously you’re hoping that this is a positive indication. It’s not. It’s like being named on the Honor Roll. Again.</p>
<p>The most lame-brained student in your HS, if he/she took the PSAT, is getting tons of college mail too.</p>
<p>Sorry, burst bubble.</p>
<p>They just want you to apply.</p>
<p>It’s a form of marketing. Nothing more, nothing less.</p>
<p>Means they want you to apply and put down some $$$</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be quite so cynical. I received a bunch of letters in the mail and so did my brother and we did fairly well on our PSAT’s (top 15% or so I’d guess). None of them were from Ivies or Ivy-equivs like Stanford.</p>
<p>I’m not saying for you to get your hopes up, but I don’t think the top universities advertise to everyone.</p>
<p>I concur, follow the money. They want that application fee. Also they want you to get rejected so their acceptance rate stays low. Ask yourself, do these colleges REALLY need to advertise themselves?</p>
<p>
I live in an urban city in Florida. Even after my senior year, I had never heard of Dartmouth until I started visiting this website when I was looking to transfer. I’d say that not all the Ivies are ubiquitously known.</p>
<p>I used to be so excited when a school sent me mail, but in reality it meant nothing because all they know is your PSAT score. So many other things play a factor in whether you will get in or not. They’re just trying to market themselves so that you will apply. </p>
<p>An example of a school that didn’t market themselves very well was UChicago in the 1990s. Back then, they were an elite school with a 60% admit rate, so they had to admit students that weren’t so qualified (which may explain why it’s the school where “fun goes to die”), but that’s because most people had never heard of UChicago outside of the academic community … heck, more people heard of Northwestern (Big 10) than UChicago. Lately, admissions has done a much better job of recruiting students … because the admit rate has gone down to somewhere around 25%, though still low for an elite school. </p>
<p>Anyways, story time about college marketing: When I was a junior, Chicago sent me an info letter and a copy of the magazine … but nothing terribly interesting (even though the school is brilliant and awesome). This year, my sophomore sister got a nifty (and creative) postcard, and it makes me love them even more. See? Marketing in action :)</p>