So I know that in general some people claim that taking tours of schools help with the admission process/your chances at getting into the school. I’m guessing that this could help but that it’s not always the case. My question is mainly focused on if college tours that request information from you matter. An example of this would be Georgetown. I took a tour there, and even when booking the tour they asked for my information such as my name and the intended school in which I would apply. Then, when I arrived on campus, they had a list of names for the tours. They found my name and gave me a paper to fill out which I then had to give back to them. I visited other schools such as Harvard and Yale, and those schools did not really ask me for anything (Harvard even said that booking a tour was mostly to help with logistics; they did not really care if you came or not). Georgetown was the only tour that I went on where they were really organized with names and everything ready. For tours like the one at Georgetown, would it influence my chances at getting in? By this, I mean that would they see on file that I made an effort to tour the school? Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to explain how much Georgetown seemed to care compared to Harvard or any other school I visited lol. Thanks!
It might factor into “demonstrated interest” though i doubt it’ll make that much of a difference. You should check Georgetown’s common data set and see how much emphasis they place on demonstrated interest in heir admissions decision.
^ Yes, definitely check the CDS (section C7) for schools you are interested in so you know whether applicant interest is considered in admissions.
For both Georgetown and Harvard the school’s report that “Level of applicant’s interest” is NOT Considered.
Georgetown may simply be more interested in being able to target visiting students with follow-up marketing/mailings.
It really depends on the college. HYPSM do not really care since they assume that almost everybody they admit will accept. However, most colleges are concerned about protecting their yield, which lets them also reduce their admit rate and appear more selective.
Demonstrating interest by making the effort to visit the college and attend a tour gives the college comfort that you are more likely to accept their offer than someone who hasn’t demonstrated interest and may be using them strictly as a safety school. A student who has demonstrated strong interest will be selected over one who hasn’t all things being equal, and with colleges that are very focused on yield protection (as a means of building reputation) may result in an admission over substantially more qualified candidates who are perceived to be using the college merely as a safety.
In summary, for colleges outside of HYPSM that you are serious about (or safeties that you want to get as close to locking in as possible), it is, generally, worth the effort.
^agree with that. The general idea is that the less selective a private college is, the more interest matters. Visiting is a good way for a college to tell if you are interested. Short story, but D was accepted to U Rochester, which she visited and interviewed for. Kids with very similar or higher stats were rejected or WLed because they applied at the last second, as a desperate attempt. I never think it’s a bad idea to take a tour if possible. My D would have been unable to decide and would live at home forever rather than take a chance on a school she hadn’t visited:-)
To be more specific, google “Common Data Set” and the name of the college you are interested in.
Look in section C7 (or search for “Relative importance of each of the following academic and nonacademic factors in first-time, first-year, degree-seeking (freshman)admission decisions.” and then look for “Level of applicant’s interest”
https://oads.georgetown.edu/commondataset
Ivy’s assume you will want to attend so don’t take that into account.
Public Large Universities don’t have the resources to keep track of everyone’s interest.
But Private schools often do.
All of the above posts assume that HYPSM etc. honestly declare whether demonstrated interest is a factor in admissions. Is it not possible that these (and other) highly-selective universities state (in the CDS, etc.) that they don’t factor it in, but in reality do?
It’s easy for adcoms to track demonstrated interest via electronic registration. Wouldn’t you, in their position, prefer that an applicant attend a tour/information session of their own volition, as opposed to an applicant that is pursuing demonstrated interest because they think that it will “look good”?
By stating that they don’t care about demonstrated interest, they identify the applicants that are truly motivated (as opposed to those that simply pay the application fee and submit test scores) and that know, based on experience, that the university is a great “fit.”
^ Couldn’t agree more. I would strongly question the veracity of the colleges when it comes to sharing the importance of Demonstrated Interest in their admissions decisions. There are a number of games that are played by admissions departments to manipulate the statistics that influence rankings and perceptions of desirability. These practices have been documented in studies (in the past Tufts and Princeton, among others, have been noted as being particularly manipulative) and no college would willingly admit to such behavior.
Interesting question, @whatisyourquest . I think there are definitely some tippy top schools that do consider interest,even if they don’t publicly acknowledge it. D’s female friend, while a good “average” excellent student, was WLed at Cornell. So she didn’t get in and it isn’t noteworthy, right? What made this interesting though is that there were quite a few other kids with MUCH better stats and much more interesting and involved ECs than this girl, who were either deferred then denied, or outright denied. NO one can figure out why this girl was WLed, when the other “better” candidates weren’t. The factor which differentiated her is that she visited and interviewed. The other students either didn’t visit, didn’t arrange interviews, or didn’t do either of those things. So who can say definitively that top colleges don’t consider interest?