Demonstrated Interest

Applying to College
1

how do you demonstrate interest without visiting a school? how much weight will it carry in the admissions process?

2

Most schools ask you to write about why you want to go to that school–do your research and have specific, thoughtful reasons for applying and you’ll be fine. A lot of us never visited the schools we applied to/got into/ended up at. Schools understand not everyone is able.

3

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest-p1.html

4

Yeah, best way is just to write a well-researched “Why Us” essay. Sign up for mailing lists, request an interview, direct questions to the admissions office when appropriate etc.

5

I would suggest if you have one or two primary targets, that you try to do all of the things they offer (if possible). Discovery weekends, overnight stays, on campus interviews, meetings at / near your home…I think they all add up.

All of the expressed interest in the world won’t make up for scores / grades below the norm at a school, but I do believe it can make a difference if you’re on the borderline against others who have done less.

6

Demonstrated interest plays more of a role in smaller institutions. For example, if you are applying to the University of Washington, they mostly evaluate you solely on your test scores and GPA. But in smaller institutions like Dickinson, demonstrated interest plays a fair amount of role since they evaluate you more as a whole.

Here are some suggestions to express demonstrated interest:

  1. Sign up for the school’s mailing list
  2. Interview with an alum in your area or with an admissions counselor
  3. Visit the campus
  4. Attend an open house or another admissions event
  5. Communicate with your regional admissions officer
  6. If possible, email professors or department heads in certain fields of interest and ask articulate questions about their programs and your interest of them
  7. Attend a class if possible
  8. Whenever there is an college fair in your area, try to briefly stop by the college of interest’s table and say hello to the counselor. (This way she will remember your face and maybe even your name while she/he is reviewing your application)

Best of luck with your search!

7

I agree with suggestions above. Main ways to communicate interest is to ask about doing local interview (often with an alumni but sometimes you can do it with a admissions rep if he/she is traveling in your area), contact your regional admissions officer (but make sure any question you ask is not answered on the website), put our name on the mailing list, stop by the college’s booth at college fair, some colleges have online chats with admissions officers and you can do those, if the admissions officer visits your HS make a point to go to the presentation, attend any local events sponsored by admissions. Another good thing to do to help get a feel for the school is to see if you can find the college newspaper online and look at it.

8

Be sure to open all the emails you get from the school!

9

In a web browser, so that hidden images in HTML email will be loaded (these are sometimes put in HTML email so that the sender can track who reads the emails).

Also, visit the school’s admissions portal regularly to see if you are admitted yet.