I’m an 11th grade highschool junior in the state of Maryland and I have recently recieved an email from the Dean of Undergrad Admissions at Northwestern University saying that “Based on information we’ve received from the College Board and ACT, we’ve recently identified you as someone who might be a good fit for Northwestern”. What does this mean?
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I’m going to opine that it means absolutely nothing. One of my kids got letters like that almost weekly from Wash U St. Louis. There wasn’t any chance this kid would have been accepted there…but they would have been delighted to take her application money.
This is marketing to gain applications. That’s it. My opinion.
Adding…we quipped that the kid should have applied to Wash U and should have included all the junk mail…with a cover letter saying “as is evidenced by your letters, I am the “perfect” student for your school.”
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It means they got a list of names of students who scored above some threshold specified by NU. And you’re one of them.
But as @thumper1 said, it’s just marketing. I’m pretty sure the Dean himself/herself doesn’t know this email was sent to you. It was just sent by the marketing team in his/her name.
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It means absolutely nothing. In the days of snail mail, 11th graders with decent PSAT scores had their mailboxes fill with literally hundreds of flyers, saying, APPLY HERE! Nowadays, it’s emails. Do not let this email factor into your application planning.
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Genius! If she had done that and I were the AO, there is no question that I would have strenuously advocated for her immediate admission!
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Do colleges still accept snail mail applications? If so, that’s a totally genius application idea.
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I doubt it…but this was for admission in 2006…so would have been submitted fall 2005…and most schools still had their own applications.
My kid thought it was not a good idea…but I thought….why not? We had at least 50 mailings from Wash U. I’m not kidding.
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First of many similar emails you will receive. It’s all marketing.
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Your mail box will be full every day for some time and your mailman will wonder why you suddenly became famous 
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Luckily, much of this comes electronically now…and can just be deleted, and eventually blocked. It was impossible to get off the snail mail mailing lists…impossible.
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We still get snail mail from some admissions consultants even though DS graduated in 2017.
A little relevant humor:
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Standard marketing material, designed to get students to apply who wouldn’t otherwise. Drive up application numbers and admit fewer students.
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Agree that it means nothing. My son got a letter saying, “Have you considered Harvard?” I think their admission rate is 3.5% so that one was funny.
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That’s why they’re 3.5%. They made someone believe and that person added to the applicant count and lowered their admit rate.
OP probably scored solidly on the test - so that’s a good thing for general purposes!!!
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They most certainly do. Salesforce
Actually, I guarantee some students are reading this now and suddenly Harvard will be inundated with snail mail apps!
I love this! Now families, gather all your solicitations from U. of Chicago, Harvard, and any other colleges that have been spamming you. I would love to see how many acceptances a student can get by using this strategy.
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And I’ll take credit for suggesting that strategy…which we didn’t use!
In our neck of the woods it’s University of Chicago. Like weekly… Lol Love that idea but kinda chancey but I still like it 
Williams sent us a pencil. We are ahead of the game since we got some free stuff.