Hi all,
Recently I’ve been hearing a lot about Demonstrated Interest. I know many of the Ivies don’t seem to care but smaller schools do… For example my friend told me UPenn, still an ivy, places high value on Demonstrated Interest (myth?). What about schools like Yale, Brown, Claremont McKenna, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Rice, USC, Wash U in St. Louis, and UW? What are some of the best ways to show this interest? Thanks in Advance!
Most top schools DO take demonstrated interest into consideration. Check each school’s CDS on their website.
If you can afford it visit campus. If you live within a 100 mile radius and you don’t visit, that can hurt. If you cannot visit attend a college fair or school visit and register. Ask questions that show that you have read the viewbook and website. If the school sends you emails open them. Schools can tell if an email was never opened or deleted without opening it. If the is a “Why (school name)” write the essay specific to that school.
Agreed. You can check which schools count demonstrated interest by googling the common data set for each school you are interested in.
Visiting is a great way to demonstrate interest. Of course so is an ED application. If you can’t visit other ideas would be to: get on school’s email list, ask for a local alumni interview, if a school representative gives a presentation at your HS or anywhere nearby or if a representative from the college attend a nearby college fair you can go and sign in so they know you were there.
Check out their college data page. USC doesn’t but most of them do