A host of schools including Dartmouth, Brown, Harvard on the Common Data set report they do not track demonstrated interest. However, on the common app supplemental section there is a section called contacts and asks applicants to list how in order of influence how they have learned about the said colleges. This seems to me as if these colleges are tracking interest… A follow up question is does it matter if i have not attended a campus tour or info session to the schools im applying to? Thanks CCers
I’m guessing their marketing departments want this info to figure out how best to reach applicants. Especially ones from groups they don’t get enough of. Not everything is a nefarious plot.
I don’t believe the CDS asks whether or not schools track demonstrated interest. Rather, in section C7 schools list the relative importance of various factors one of which is “level of applicant’s interest.” One option is “not considered.” So if that box is checked, to me that means that the “level” of your interest is supposedly not considered. That’s not exactly the same as saying they don’t track it. It’s also not the same as saying you don’t have to demonstrate at least some interest. As the OP pointed out, schools sometimes ask in the Common App about your contacts. For example, on my D’s Pomona application last year, you could list 3 contacts using a drop down menu. She listed campus visit, high school visit with the Pomona representative, and on-campus interview. Maybe @mathmom is right and it’s just for the marketing department. But we were glad that D could list 3 contacts, just in case the admissions department cared about it.
Mathmom is right. This is the marketing dept. Obviously you have to show that you know something about the school and why it’s a good fit, but most top schools say they don’t track interest and have no reason to lie about it.
As others have mentioned, for most of the really selective schools it is for the marketing folks, as well as helping them decide how to allocate the time and efforts of their admissions officers. On the other hand… If you do see that a college does consider “level of applicant’s interest” (and you’ll find some even in the 10s and 20s acceptance ranges), know that they can track a lot, even after you apply. That includes whether you open their emails, click on links in those emails, and change the password on your admissions portal.
Why on earth would a school lie about that? Marketing and Admissions are two separate groups.
I would imagine that super selective schools with a 1-digit admit rate would simply assume interest. It’s the schools with lower yields that would care.
I don’t think schools always tell the truth to avoid students gaming the system.
When my older son was applying one of his schools stated on their website “Interviews are for your benefit only and are not considered in admission decisions. If you have attended an information session, you do not need to interview.” Consequently, since we had visited the school twice and attended an information session, we did not interview. Later that year a newspaper article came out where the reporter sat in with the admissions committee as they were discussing the final admits. One of the decisions made was to admit one student over another because they had interviewed.
" One of the decisions made was to admit one student over another because they had interviewed. "
But let’s give a little context. The committee felt it had a little more to go on with the interviewed kid. If the non-interviewed kid’s app had provided enough info, that would have gotten the nod. These scenarios are rare – and many kids are admitted w/o an interview.
Granted, it was used as a tie-breaker. But this is a lot different than “not considered”. After the newspaper article came out, that college changed their website and CDS.
So the school wasn’t representing itself accurately in the CDS and got caught out? Well, shame on them, but that doesn’t change the fact most schools don’t lie in their CDS.