Demonstrated Interest?

Applying to College
1

I see the phrase “demonstrated interest” used on CC a lot, but I would like to know what are all the ways one can show demonstrated interest. So far, I know of visiting colleges, looking at their websites, signing up for the mailing lists, and emailing/calling with specific questions. Also, which of the following schools use demonstrated interest as an unofficial criterion in the admission process?

  • UCs
  • Ivies
  • Santa Clara
  • USC
  • Wash U
  • Claremont Colleges
  • U-Dub
  • Johns Hopkins
  • U of SF
  • Stanford
  • Cal Poly SLO
2

Look at each campus’ common data set, section C7, or the admissions tab in its entry on http://www.collegedata.com , to see if “level of applicant’s interest” is considered.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest.html discusses ways to show a high “level of applicant’s interest”.

3

Just for future reference: yes, signing up for mailing list and contacting the college for questions is considered demonstrated interest by some colleges, but please do not spam colleges. Schedule a one-time meet-up with the college’s admissions office to discuss any questions.

This is just a general PSA too, not directed towards the OP.

4

Most of the UC’s and Cal States do not consider demonstrated interest and if they do it really low on their priorities.
If you are interested in any of these schools and plan to apply, visiting is the best possible way to show your demonstrated interest.

5

I think the fact that you are putting very very different schools into categories like “UCs” or “Ivies” or even “Claremont Colleges” tells that you haven’t done enough reading about the individual schools. You have over 30 colleges on your list. Look over their websites and narrow it down to a dozen or so. After that, you can look into ways to establish “demonstrated interest.”

6

Here is an example for Case Western, who says demonstrated interest is “Important”.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/case-western-reserve-university/1686674-how-to-show-interest-in-cwru-p1.html

Look at your college’s of interest “Common Data Set” and search for “Level of applicant’s interest”…

At schools like Harvard they don’t take it into account because of course your are interested.
At large state schools they don’t have time to track all that.
But for private schools they want to admit people who will attend and the more you show interest, the more likely you are to attend.