<p>I've heard that it is beneficial to contact admissions officers prior to applying to or even visiting a college, because you can get your questions answered and you can demonstrate interest in the college. Is this true, and if so, what kind of questions would it be appropriate to ask them?</p>
<p>Demonstrated interest may help at some colleges but most of your high ranked colleges, and public universities in general, do not consider it. Moreover, even for those that do, contacting someone in the admissions office itself might not mean much because admissions decisions may actually be made by others, such as committees within the particular colleges of a university.</p>
<p>Ask questions to find out stuff for yourself. I seriously doubt that it will really demonstrate interest enough to make an impact on your admission evaluation. Find out more about the school for your own personal benefit in satisfying curiosities; doing so to try to increase admission chances will be ineffective.</p>
<p>For some schools like Kenyon, demonstrating interest in the school is a very, very important part of the admissions process. It will depend on the school, mostly.</p>
<p>First see if the college tracks interest. Look on their Common Data Set (google ABC College Common Data Set") and there is a table that shows what is important in admissions. If demonstrating interest is, you can: </p>
<p>Sign up information on the school website</p>
<p>Click on links in any email from the college sent to you</p>
<p>Go to a college fair and talk to someone from the college</p>
<p>If they visit your school, talk to them,</p>
<p>If they have an information session nearby, go to it,</p>
<p>Go on a tour at the school</p>
<p>Do an interview at the school/with an alumni if offered</p>
<p>Once you apply, check in to the student portal from time to time</p>
<p>and, if you can’t do that, send a question to an admissions officer.</p>
<p>^ This. The bulk (if indeed, not 100%) of info needed to inform your admissions process is found on the school webpages. Asking about items that clearly are laid out in those pages is annoying and won’t get you “in” with the staff (many of whom are just students).</p>
<p>To go along with some of the other responses, most of the questions you may have can be answered by digging through the school webpage. Talking to admissions officers won’t guarantee you a spot considering someone else may make the final decision. You’d probably be better off talking to admissions tutors, who know the ins and outs of the admissions process better than anybody. A great resource is College Zoom, you may want to check it out. Tons of free advice in there, and cheap tutoring offered if you’re interested in their services.</p>