<p>Just curious---after the tour, interview and decision to apply has been made, how much contact should the student and/or parents have with the school?</p>
<p>The drawback to doing so much research is that there are not too many stones left unturned for us parents and we find ourselves trying to think up questions to ask for the simple excuse of initiating a communication.</p>
<p>We already know the answers to any reasonable questions and don't want to sound like idiots. :) We just want the adcoms at the school to know we love the place! </p>
<p>So, how do we let them know this without a) becoming nuisances or b) seeming like we don't get the fact that we need to wait until the admissions decision is made to get feedback on our kid?</p>
<p>From my son's perspective:
My son plans to email the baseball coaches to ask specific questions about the program and I've considered having him read the web site news to see if he is interested in any "goings-on" with clubs, academics, etc. and would like to know more. Then, he could email contacts mentioned in the article of interest. Any feedback on this approach?</p>
<p>How much contact is too much?</p>
<p>Ok, I now realize I have officially entered the deep pits of admission anxiety! This is just the beginning. :)</p>
<p>When S#1 was applying to prep schools in addition to the tour/interview, he had contacted coaches of his 2 sports and met with them as well at the time of the interview. Afterwards he wrote a hand-written thank you note to his interviewer, tour guide and coaches. We received personal notes back from all the interviewers Most of the coaches followed up with a note or email. too Several kept in contact with him through out the pre-application process, but once the applications were in, most of the contact stopped (there may be some sort of rule about this). All of the coaches came to a game or 2 to see how he would fit with their program. (His first sport is a winter sport). For baseball, he simply shared his stats with the coach.</p>
<p>Once the acceptances came out, all the coaches called that same day to encourage him to choose their school.</p>
<p>I would say the thank you notes are mandatory and then I would let the schools take the lead in general. In our case it was important for our son to show interest in the school particularly with the coaches, but it is a fine balance between showing interest and being a pest.</p>
<p>One more suggestion---most of the contact should be between your son and the school in my opinion</p>
<p>My husband did speak quite frankly with each coach once as well as with the financial aid folks---the rest of the contact was between our son and the school</p>
<p>Thank you note (mailed) from child to interviewer, tour guide & any faculty/coaches you met with; e-mailed thank you from parents. That's all we did last year and all that is needed in my opinion.</p>
<p>The thank you note following the interview should adequately convey a sense of the applicant's continued interest in the school. The subsequent application itself will send another indication that you remain interested in the school. Beyond that, I'm not really sure that it would give an applicant an edge by making contact with the school simply for the sake of showing a high interest level in that school.</p>
<p>There will probably be valid reasons to contact the school without having to contrive them just to show the love. As a practical matter, understand that you're not gaining (or giving up) an edge by virtue of your contacts with the Admissions Committee (or neglecting to contact them). </p>
<p>If making overtures to express your enthusiasm for a school keeps you from losing your grip -- if you are losing sleep thinking the other applicants are ingratiating themselves with love letters, etc., while you're not -- then go ahead and relent. Everyone fears that they will get a "rejection" letter in March and only then realize that they didn't give their best shot. Not showing the love to the Admissions Committee shouldn't be among the "mistakes" that haunt you later, but I recognize that we're all irrational creatures by nature and, paradoxically, sometimes giving in to our urges and phobias -- particularly harmless ones -- is the stuff that keeps us sane. </p>
<p>Make additional (but not obsessive) contacts if you just can't resist; but rest assured that it's the application, recommendations and interview that will determine the fate of the applicant, just as advertised.</p>
<p>Definitely handwritten. If coaches want to keep in touch with you, then they may e-mail and it would be appropriate to maintain that contact via e-mail.</p>
<p>Interesting. We did the thank yous. At one school we got a hand written thank you from the interviewer (before ours could have arrived) and we got a phone call from a parent - wanting to know if we had any other questions, giving us her name, phone and email in case we did. But nothing from the lacrosse coach which we met with as well. </p>
<p>It will be interesting to see what other schools do.</p>
<p>I'm with Momof2Sons. If there is any significant news to report sport wise, by all means let your son pass that info along to coach. For that matter, if he has any other questions about the school (non-primary sport) he should most definitely write the program director/coach. It shows an interest in the school beyond the obvious recruited sport and always helps.</p>
<p>Other than that, just enjoy your year with your son. That time is precious and won't be around in much supply next year if all works out.</p>
<p>My son already wrote thank-you notes and did not hold back showing his enthusiasm! Like Linda, we received two thank you notes from interviewers (2 separate schools) the day after we sent son's notes, so they crossed in the mail.</p>
<p>Interesting to note that when D toured/interviewed at Andover, Exeter, SPS, Deerfield, Loomis, Choate, Governor Dummer and Taft, she did not receive even ONE note from the schools! This could be a symptom of processing extensive numbers of candidates.</p>
<p>(At Choate they forgot about us in the waiting room and we sat there patiently for 45 minutes before asking "how much longer"! Good thing we asked or we'd still be sitting there! There were about 20 kids waiting.) Don't get me wrong, Choate was impressive in every other way, including the interview itself, but I try to view these incidents as hints from the Almighty that the school may not be right for my kid!</p>
<p>Writing a Thank you note after one's interview within days is imperative. An email to the tour guide is also recommended. For schools to be remiss in return is negligent. We had a school where the grammar was so poor it became comical and when the acceptance letter came they got his gender wrong! Now I'm the last one to adhere to the King's language but I do expect letters from schools to be grammatically impeccable.</p>
<p>To get back to the initial question of just how much communication can be troublesome. During the interview my S had mentioned a few topics where the result was still pending, such as Student Council elections. He used that excuse a month later to send an "email" to the Admission's officer to let him know of the outcome. Of course, good news helps. One could do the same thing with regards to sports, music recitals, plays, art shows, community service projects. Anyway, it was something to kind of pop-up and say, hey I'm still here and I really like your school! After that, you go to CC and stress out like everyone else trying to interpret every bump, word, mumble that is mentioned or heard from or about the pending school(s) until March 10th. No I'm kidding, its not that bad, actually yes it is but you'll survive. We did get Christmas cards from all the schools but that just incited more questions!</p>
<p>During one of my sons interviews, the lacrosse/soccer coach was unable to meet my son. He will now be at an Open House that isn't too far from us. Is it appropriate to go to an open house if we have already interviewed?</p>