<p>It’s certainly been an eyeopening experience for DD to learn that there are hundreds of schools in places she would never have considered. </p>
<p>Usually the mail annoys her. I always stack it up on the kitchen table where she sits so she’s forced to look at it if she wants to eat dinner 
But yesterday there was no college mail and she commented on it. I think she enjoys being “wanted.”</p>
<p>I agree with Blossom. Not every high school student has a parent who logs into “college confidential” every day to see what’s doing. The experience of attending an elite college would be a much less rich - for all students - if these schools did not make an effort to attract bright students from plain ole towns in the plain ole midwest, and elsewhere. I live in a sparsely populated northern state. I’ll tell you my son was pretty thrilled to get a mailing from Caltech admissions department.</p>
<p>Lol, I saw Love Story on a plane just last week, hence the reference!</p>
<p>This question comes up every so often on this forum. The mailings don’t really mean anything other than that your son checked a box on the SAT’s or ACT. Schools send out a gazillion mailings to anyone who scored above a certain number, I believe. It’s automatic, a marketing blitz, basically, and not tailored to individuals.</p>
<p>My oldest got a lot of these mailings so I told my other two not to check the box (or check it: like the other poster, I can’t remember which) and they got zero mailings. They went on websites of schools they were interested in and requested information.</p>
<p>It sure made my dump runs easier.</p>
<p>Then again, the marketing may actually interest some students in schools they may never have considered or even heard of.</p>
<p>My son also gets a lot of mail from all kinds of schools-some elites, some quirky little LACs. He ignores most but lately prestige schools have been sending mail. I think it will encourage him to dream big and go for some reaches.</p>
<p>A friend and I have been talking lately about this subject. Not about why they do it, but more about why they do it in some locations and not others. What I mean is, we read on CC about students with good stats getting TONS of mail - some claim a dozen pieces daily! My DS is getting <em>some</em> mail, but definitely not TONS - and he has a very good ACT score. OK, U of Chicago we get weekly! But our mailbox has not seen near the traffic as I would have expected.</p>
<p>So, do the universities have some sort of graph that tells them students from State X are wanting to get out and see the world, students from State Y will never leave their home state? Or is it - students from State X come from a very good education system and will do well academically, where students from State Y come from a poor education system and will never make it in the big time?</p>
<p>Inquiring minds want to know! haha And it really doesn’t matter to him, he never looks at it anyway!</p>
<p>
Or kids like my kid. Who was sort of a slacker in high school. He got A’s at the stuff that came easy to him, and B’s when it didn’t. Didn’t have a clue what he wanted to do with his life. It was actually the process of looking at colleges that made him figure out what he wanted to do with his life. His “Why Chicago” essay was all about how he thought his parents were crazy for suggesting that he apply, but then all of the things he liked about the place when he looked at it more closely. He agonized until the last day (April 30) over whether he should go to Chicago or Tufts. Schools don’t know which kids will take them up on the offer, which ones are ready to take the leap, so they cast a wide net. I’ve been amazed to see my somewhat slackerish kid turn in to someone I think may really make a difference in the world. </p>
<p>I think it’s probably pretty hit or miss whether you get targeted early and often. We didn’t get materials from Harvard until very late in the game for my older son and they ultimately accepted him even though it was far from his first choice and he went elsewhere.</p>
<p>The mailings mean nothing, except that your kid is probably in the ballpark of accepted scores. But I do think they serve the purpose of making some kids aware that they are in the running even if realistically odds are long.</p>
<p>I have enjoyed reading the responses but feel like the thread took a bit of a left turn for a time, so I think I should I clarify my original post a bit. I am not upset that he gets mailings from “elite” colleges. I don’t think it is wrong that they send out mailings to kids like mine. The only reason I mentioned income was I thought that colleges may target families with high incomes and I wanted you to know that we were not one of those. </p>
<p>What I found curious was that colleges, where my son seemed unlikely to get accepted, would send so many mailings. From the postings I have learned that he may have a chance at some of these schools. I have also learned that the U of Chicago (our #1 mailer) sends out mass quantities of info. Also, many colleges seem to cast a very wide net to land a wide variety of students. There is also a thought that some colleges want to encourage a large number of applicants to lower their acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Like many on here, I just wanted to know what others experiences had been.</p>
<p>We know that it is just mass marketing, but my kid still gets a little hop in his step when he gets a letter from one of the big ones. It means nothing more than his SAT score touched some threshold, but it is fun for twenty minutes or so.</p>
<p>midwestdadof2–colleges want a “mix” of kids. It’s more likely that you are getting the mailings because he is at an “urban” high school vs his ACT scores. Also, why has he taken the ACT so often already? I would suggest with his higher math/reading scores that he take the SAT as well. Pretty much every college we’ve talked to over the years has said the same thing, take the ACT or SAT at least twice but not more than 3 times :D. Yes, many schools do superscore the ACT, if not for admissions, often for merit awards. You are just beginning the deluge of mail. The ad-comms pick what they want to see–kids from certain zip codes or kids with an ACT of XX or higher, etc. and then everyone that meets that gets a mailing.</p>
<p>Also, why has he taken the ACT so often already?</p>
<p>The first time he took it he had no idea what the test was like (he didn’t open the booklet provided by his school). He got a low score on the first section (English) since he only answered about half the questions. After that he wanted to take it again since he knew what he was doing and his score improved. A 32 seemed to be a number that got you more merit aid so I asked him if he wanted to take it again and shoot for that and he said yes so he took it a 3rd time.</p>
<p>We really haven’t considered the SAT since most schools near Ohio seem to favor the ACT. Now I will get some negative feedback, he wants to stay fairly close to home and my wife would like him fairly close by as well.</p>
<p>midwestdad, my son got deluged junior and senior year too. It became a joke, actually, as he knew he had no chance of being admitted to some of the schools that were mailing to him. It IS all about marketing and building a buzz, which can in turn lead to higher application numbers and lower acceptance rates, as you correctly observed. I don’t like giving kids false hopes that lead them to “dream big” (as Minnymom puts it) when the facts are not on their side. They face enough pressure to figure it all out as it is.</p>
<p>Not a problem here. He prefers to dream small.</p>
<p>If you’re an Ohioan, and what the kid really wants most out of life is to teach, send him to Miami and make sure he graduates debt-free. He’d be a strong candidate for merit down there, they have a great education department dating back to the days of William Holmes McGuffey, and the overall experience is quasi-LAC at in-state prices. </p>
<p>Ohio and Michigan also have a nice cluster of LACs where your son would likely track for some scholarship help.</p>
<p>I am very familiar with Miami. It is 30 minutes from my house and I went there. Right now he would get 4-8K per year from Miami. Not to veer off track but his heart is set on participating in a varsity sport and he wouldn’t fit in well with Miami’s D1 sports.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’ll also get pretty familiar with places like Kenyon, Oberlin, Denison, and Wooster, then. Heading other directions, I’ve heard a lot of good things about Rhodes, but it’s about seven hours away from you. Centre College in Kentucky is not on the CC hot list but also has a solid reputation and might be an interesting choice for non-D1 athletics and a lower net cost. There are some schools heading west (Chicago area) that aren’t much farther from you than the Ohio LACs. And I really, really love Grinnell – even though it’s in nowheresville Iowa. </p>
<p>I’m also . . . ummmmmm . . . very familiar with Miami. 
Go RedHawks!</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I still say Go Redskins! I always heard that the actual Miami tribe had no dispute with the name.</p>
<p>midwestdadof2–look further west into Indiana, Wisconsin, MN and Iowa. His stats would give him pretty significant merit awards and many, many LAC’s in those states. What sport and how good is he?</p>
<p>Well, I’m SomeOldGuy, so the name change occurred after my time, but I’m not going to reopen that discussion here. I don’t care what we call 'em as long as they start playing better.</p>
<p>SteveMA (cross country and track) He really loves it. 10th grade track 4:45 (1600); 11th grade cross country 5K best on legit course 16:45</p>