<p>All the information about admission rates is accessible: </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Harvard College - Admission </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Yale University - Admission </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Princeton University - Admission </p>
<p>College</a> Search - Stanford University - The Farm - Admission </p>
<p>and so on and so on.</p>
<p>It's been years for me, after my oldest applied 7 years ago we had the next two check the 'no mail' option on the PSAT. But DS1 still has part of a WashU mailing from back then in a montage in his room that says "We Want You."</p>
<p>Token, the families I have seen fall for this hook line and sinker often don't have a computer in the home, have no ability to do research and are not highly analytical.</p>
<p>Doesn't the information posted by College Board rely on numbers provided by the schools?</p>
<p>hmom5 - I don't know in your area, but the college letters send to my house are adressed to my child, not to me, my husband, or the family. These agencies knows exactly what they are doing, and they are well aware of the psychological impact it has on the child. Of course at 14 years old, one is not highly analytical, because if they were, they would be the one sitting at a desk, sending these college letters. Ultimately, there is people out there that just cannot believe that their children are being used to increase popularity of a college. Mainly because they are honest people and are respectful to others. To others, they are gullible.</p>
<p>It occurs to me that a student who scores well on the PSAT probably will receive many mailings from schools that certainly would admit him or her--I know my so did. These are schools in which he had no interest, but if a school writes to you about its honor college, that's a pretty big indication that you're going to be admitted. I suppose that if a student who wasn't too savvy received a bunch of those letters, he might think the letters from more selective schools are the same. And some of the schools (I'm talkin' to you, Grinnell) send a ton of stuff over a lengthy period of time, which might reasonably make some students think that the school is pursuing them.
But like tokenadult, I'd be interested in seeing more actual wording.</p>
<p>Let me just add, that I don't suspect the schools of just trying to run up the numbers of applicants for statistical purposes. I think they are really trying to cast a very broad net to try to get the best entering class they possibly can. The question is whether their net is too broad, though.</p>
<p>"Let me just add, that I don't suspect the schools of just trying to run up the numbers of applicants for statistical purposes."</p>
<p>Are you kidding? The U.S. News rankings include this exact statistic as part of their formula for ranking. Of course they try to run up the numbers!</p>
<p>"Of course they try to run up the numbers!"</p>
<p>Which ones do? How can you or we tell which ones do?</p>
<p>Agree with Hunt, for the most part: I think most of them do not, but where's the evidence one way or another?</p>
<p>Well, the "Acceptance Rate" is part of the formula used in the college rankings in the U.S. News' 2009 Edition to America's Best Colleges. Along with factors like "Average freshman retention rate" and "Freshmen in top 10% of HS class" etc. I quote from the guide itself: "In each category, data on up to 15 indicators of academic quality are gathered from each school and tabulated. Schools are ranked within categories by their total weighted score." </p>
<p>So....the more kids apply, the lower the acceptance rate. Lower acceptance rate means higher weighted score, thus higher ranking.</p>
<p>well if they would put how many waitlisted applicants they have and how many put down a deposit to be on waitlist along with some idea how much the waitlist moves each year, we might have an idea of how much they encourage those who don't have much of a chance.</p>
<p>Please!! Of course these schools try to get the most applicants they can. It's money in the bank as surely as it is to Kellogg's if they sell more cereal.</p>
<p>This is business folks! And they build new dorms, gyms and put in Sushi bars for the same reason.</p>
<p>givings, it's clear how it works. I'm looking for the evidence show who is running up the numbers. Clearly some of us are more cynical than others!</p>
<p>Evidence? You're right. I've never sat in on an info session and heard the admissions rep say "Please apply to our school so that when prospective applicants look at our stats, they will see a lower acceptance rate." Nor do they state it in any of their slick marketing brochures.</p>
<p>There really is no mystery here. It's widely documented and written about that with the number of college age kids dropping off in the US, the vast majority of colleges have had to take measures to remain competitive and for many, in existence. </p>
<p>There are consulting firms that serve the college market, advising them what to do to remain competitive. It really is quite fascinating. Shiny new facilities are key, I was not being facetious about the new luxury dorms and gyms.</p>
<p>But most important are rankings, they are paramount, and selectivity is central to rankings.</p>
<p>Do HYP need to drive up applications? Certainly not to the degree other colleges do. But they and the other ivies are participating in the efforts to keep applicant numbers high. They have all stepped up recruiting internationally. Perhaps the major reason is to keep their classes tipy top, but let's face it, rejecting the most kids keeps them in demand.</p>
<p>Look at colleges like USC which in the last decade has made a huge effort to climb in the ranks. It has been successful and benefits them in countless ways. Marketing was the way they achieved this.</p>
<p>Again, this is business. Big business.</p>
<p>Harvard reports that about 70 percent of the students who eventually enroll at Harvard (the freshman class size is a bit more than 1600) are among the 70,000 high school students who receive a mailing from Harvard. </p>
<p>Online</a> Extra: How Harvard Gets its Best and Brightest </p>
<p>But that means that 30 percent of those who eventually enroll, and some unknown percentage of the more than 20,000 students (these days close to 30,000 students) who apply, weren't particularly put up to applying by Harvard. Students have their own informational channels, and their own reasons for applying to one college or another.</p>
<p>What strikes me is that they approach 70,000 high school students!! What percentage is remotely qualified to get in?</p>
<p>Ok, so they're dishonest if we think they are, and if we think they could benefit from being dishonest. Guilty since there's no way to show them innocent. Some of us are more cynical than others.</p>
<p>I think the level of dishonesty is shown by the wording of the marketing materials, so let's get specific, instead of branding them all dishonest: What are some current dishonest lures in today's mailings?</p>
<p>
[quote]
What percentage is remotely qualified to get in?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>We don't even have to talk about "remotely" qualified. Harvard admission officers consistently say that the majority of students who actually submit completed applications to Harvard are qualified to be students there. But not all of them will be admitted, and to be sure the admission committee tries to select out the best of that very large pool. But the admission committee, by the text of its rejection letter and by other public statements, also acknowledges that many fine students don't get an offer of admission. There is only so much space in the dorms around Harvard Yard.</p>
<p>
[quote]
We throw out all of the paper mailouts, but here are some sample emails:</p>
<p>"You are receiving this message because you have been identified as a good fit for **** University."</p>
<p>"Special students deserve special attention. That's why I think that ***** and our Honors College could be the perfect place for you."</p>
<p>"Timothy, your high school achievements indicate you have a very bright future. I want to help make that future even better by sending you a new guide, The 4 Big Keys to Finding Your College."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I guess I don't see any of that as misleading, or a statement that the school Really Personally Cares about young Timothy, or something that should raise Timothy's hopes of admission because he's so special, or anything other than marketing dust to say "Hey, yoo-hoo there, consider us as you do your college search." They're all clearly form letters; personalizing it with Timothy's name doesn't make it any less of a form letter. </p>
<p>I guess I just don't get being "flattered" by being on mailing lists and then "shocked" that it's just a mailing list and not an engraved invitation! </p>
<p>My kids (sophs) get plenty of mail from those organizations that praise their leadership and then offer them a chance to go to Washington for a "leadership conference" or do an exchange program for some ungodly sum of money, and they try to flatter them by suggesting that they were chosen because of their "leadership potential." I don't feel scammed by that; it's a mailing list, presumably they chose my kids based off standardized testing scores and perhaps some zip code demographics to ensure they were targeting a certain level of affluence -- over and done. Is there a difference?</p>
<p>My kids have gotten mailings (presumably through PSAT scores) for both some pretty heavy-hitter schools (top 20 - U Chicago and Brown come to mind) as well as some relative unknown and fairly non-selective schools (various directional state u's in states not near ours).</p>
<p>Now, one might argue that top 20 schools with low acceptance rates don't need to publicize their schools any more -- they have no shortage of applicants.</p>
<p>But if I were, oh, I don't know, the admissions person at Western Whatever State University, and I was really trying to position my school as something other than a fallback for people who can't get into my state flagship, and I really want to increase the caliber of students who go there, what would be wrong with me sending something to a bright student (per PSAT) who might not otherwise know about me and saying, "Hey! You're a good fit for our school - look at all the things we offer that are so cool -- come check us out!" I don't see an ethical problem here. Don't we want schools of all stripes to increase diversity?</p>
<p>speaking of mailing lists, when my daughter was in middle school, she signed up for a magazine subscription that I didn't authorize her to have. Dont remember what it was- some dumb teen girl thing- maybe Cosmo teen or somthin like that :rolleyes:
They misspelled her name anyway- I called them up and let them know to cancel it.</p>
<p>So had forgotten about that, until a few days ago, when a sample box of baby formula came- to the same misspelled name- have * no idea* what that was about
:confused:</p>