<p>This summer my son received an awful lot of emails from the colleges he didn't end up at, wanting him to fill out a questionnaire about why he isn't going there. This is both state publics and privates. It says they are anonymous but then a couple times, when he didn't fill out the form right away, a new email was sent asking/reminding him to do so. (So how can it be anonymous if they know you didn't send it in???)</p>
<p>Anyway, how many of you fill these things out? Is it a big faux pas not to? He's already done about 3 of them, and there's another one 'waiting' to be done. Should I press this issue?</p>
<p>I don't think that there is any obligation to fill it out. I wanted to a couple of schools to know that they were out of the running because they simply did not offer enough aid to make it possible for our son to attend (which included his first choice school).</p>
<p>My d filled them out - I think it is important for them to know why students are choosing another school over theirs.
My d also received a nice letter from one letting my d know that if she decides that her chosen school is not right for her they would help her out with the transfer process. Then they sent a note at the winter break reiterating...it was a nice touch I thought.</p>
<p>UMiami, Yale & UVA were the most persistent with the emails to my son - who kept putting those surveys off. Yale's especially since it wasn't online and the kid seems to hate actually "writing" anything... I encouraged him to get them done. I'd hate for a school to hold this against an upcoming senior from his HS.</p>
<p>jerzeygirl,
I hadn't thought of it affecting other kids from his high school.<br>
Did the schools mention that the survey would be anonymous? I found it kind of weird that they still knew he hadn't filled it out if it was truly anonymous.</p>
<p>I think the schools all say the surveys are anonymous but like you, I noticed they knew he hadn't filled it out & wondered whether he'd wind up on some list (that could affect those behind him). Who knows?</p>
<p>the emails are for the benefit of the enrollment management companies that colleges hire to send out all the mailings trying to get kids to apply. they want your info in order to do a better job of targeting potential applicants.</p>
<p>They wouldn't tell you why they rejected you, and so you are under no obligation to tell why you rejected them.</p>
<p>(Of course, you could make it up! Or you could just tell them that it was a very difficult year, and that there were simply too many highly qualified applicants for his services.;))</p>
<p>I'm not really being fair because I think it did explain that there are some kinds of safeguards in place to ensure your responses are confidential...</p>
<p>mini, I think your post is hilarious though. </p>
<p>How do you think colleges would respond if applicants collectively started a "why didn't you accept us?" survey? :)</p>
<p>I don't like them snooping about other college's financial aid offers. S felt obligated to answer all these questions until I told him he didn't have to. The one exception was Vassar; even had he not preferred Williams their financial aid offer differed by a factor of 3. Sad had it been first choice, but as it was, sad for Vassar, losing a boy.</p>
<p>If you respond to a survey sent to you via email, trust me, they know which email filled it out. I use these surveys at work. If you respond to a website they just know the ISP # of the computer, but not an email address. If you want to be annoymous, print it out and mail it in. That, of course, doesn't stop the followup messages.</p>
<p>In regards to whether it was annonymous, I filled mine out the first time I got it----and then received ALL the subsequent emails saying that if I had, thank you, but if I hadn't, would I please? Somewhat annoying seeing as how I had filled it out ASAP, but for Brown, it is, in fact, annonymous and so I would assume the rest of the schools would be following a similar tactic---deluging everyone, whether they had filled it out or not, with "Will You Please Please Please Fill It Out" emails.</p>
<p>I did most of them. I think it's polite to let colleges know why you turned them down so that they can improve and learn more about their applicants.</p>
<p>Many surveys that are anonymous simply don't connect your answers with your name or information. Your name isn't hidden; it just isn't used in connection with the answers provided. There are also programs, though, that can automatically send follow-up emails to email addresses they don't have logged as having responded to the survey already. In that case, you may get a follow-up email without anyone ever coming across your name. I had automatic "thank you" emails for filling our surveys as well as "reminder" emails--both from schools I had responded to and those I hadn't yet.</p>
<p>My son is filling out all of them as a courtesy to these wonderful schools that accepted him and, in many cases, offered him merit money. There was never anything <em>wrong</em> with any of the schools he didn't choose. We actually mourned the loss of each of them. He just simply could only go to one and tried to pick the best fit. The schools probably all received a higher yield than they can fit in their dorms, so they might not be in mourning at the loss of him. But these were all jewels and my son felt and feels honored to have been accepted to them. Most have said they'll keep his app on file for 2 years and would happily admit him at any time. To me, filling out a form is a small thing to do as a thank you. Admissions reps, I think, do go to bat for the kids who get accepted. Maybe I'm naive--some people think it's all just some kind of heartless business-- but we felt we made connections with real people who cared about kids and we feel grateful to them.</p>
<p>DD filled out all of the "no-thank you" surveys as well. She felt that for those who offered poor FA they had the right to know why they weren't in the running.</p>
<p>The really annoying mail was from UPitt--DD hardly showed any interest, their FA package was one of the worst, and she sent their rejection notice back before any of the others. But their FA office persistently sent emails and snail mail "reminders" that she hadn't sent her Stafford loan acceptance paperwork back, even months after she rejected them. Hopefully by now they got the message.</p>
<p>DD also received a very nice letter from the Dean of Admissions at my alma mater telling her if she ever changes her mind, they're keeping her acceptance on file for 4 years and all she has to do is call if she wants to transfer. That was a very nice touch. Theirs was the only other acceptance letter she kept.</p>
<p>Some schools pay for the</a> College Board's ASQ service and others (like UVa) do it themselves. The survey is anonymous, but the program used to send the survey will send reminders to those who don't reply and matches answers to certain characteristics about students (gender, location, indended major, etc.).</p>
<p>We aren't interested in knowing what Timmy Jones says, but we're interested in knowing what a male, architecture major, from out of state says (for example).</p>