I recently emailed the regional admissions counselor at my absolute dream school, introducing myself and asking if reaching out them was ok. However, I forgot to actually introduce myself (name (except in signature), high school, and town)- does this warrant a follow up email or should I let it go?
I would recommend that you not send another email.
In general, I would not email an admissions representative unless you have a specific question that cannot be answered by reading the website closely. Admissions officers are happy to help with a legitimate question but they are swamped and are not looking for additional things to read or for people to email just to say they are interested in the school.
And as a bit of unsolicited advice, I’d also recommend that you give up the idea of a dream school and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents’ budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be excited to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in.
Thanks for your response. Unfortunately, I didn’t see this in time and took the advice of some other people. I also appreciate your extra advice and want to confirm that this school is not my end-all-be-all, but I don’t want to sabotage any chance of getting in before the admissions team even reviews my application.
Thanks!
If only more kids would read the colleges’ websites with the gusto they read the media, rankings, or private counseling company blogs.
OP, leave it be.
Thanks for the responses. I just want to mention that I do have a personal question that I want answered, but I wanted to make sure that I could ask the counselor my question before I actually brought it up.
Unless there’s a way for the AO to identify you (your name embedded within your email address might be an example), I’d let it go and be grateful you could drop it unnoticed.
If you had a legit question that could not be answered by simple research, then it would have been fine to send a brief email asking that question. But the nonspecific time wasting email “introducing” yourself and asking if you can ask a question does not show you in a good light and risks annoying the AO rather than endearing you to him/her. You’re wasting his/her time.
Contacting them is no special enhancer.
Again, not interested in using this to boost my application. I have a genuine question that is pretty specific to me. Thanks for that though.
Want to try your question here?
Make sure that you go on to the college website and formally sign up to receive info. Then they can put a name to an email.