<p>Sometimes, I get letters from high-ranking universities, such as WashU. I read them, read the e-mails, am excited, and then look at admission statistics and get intimidated. Do letters actually mean something, like you just might have a chance, or do the top universities just send them to tons of students?</p>
<p>Tons of students........</p>
<p>Yeah I must've gotten at least 10 letters from WashU this year.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, to clarify 'tons of students' I guess I mean a good deal of students indiscriminantly or without much selectivity.</p>
<p>EDIT: Oh, so you mean you think they just send 'em no matter what, or just to some?</p>
<p>I like to think there is at least an ounce of selectivity. Like maybe they wouldn't send them to someone with a D average (if they even know this information), but I'm not all too certain.</p>
<p>Standard testing..........how would they know a student's GPA?</p>
<p>maybe the school tells em. plus we put it on the survey form for like the psat etc</p>
<p>Yeah, that's true, a lot of colleges do get info from certain standardized tests etc.</p>
<p>letters mean nothing, from what i know</p>
<p>maybe everyone gets it....</p>
<p>as far as i know, if you give your email on the PSAT, and you get above a certain score, they'll start sending. Like, in tenth grade, i got a 181, and got a bunch of letters from like grinnel, and lafayette, last year, i got a 226 and sure enough, i started getting emails from caltech, brown, stanford, etc.</p>
<p>stanford and son?</p>
<p>um...what?</p>
<p>The OP mentioned Washington University (?in St. Louis?) specifically: that institution is notorious for blanketing the country with marketing letters. </p>
<p>At the time I was applying for college my father was covering part of the back yard in wood chip mulch and wanted to lay down a layer of slick paper (such as magazine paper) between the mulch and the soil underneath. As a joke he reserved one large area of the yard to be covered only in WUSTL junk fliers, and to our surprise we nearly covered it.</p>
<p>A great story.........I have always wondered what people do with all the junk mail that WUSTL sends out. Maybe that is part of what kitty litter is made from.</p>
<p>I also got one from Yale. Then I decided that I have about as much chance as most people, low.</p>
<p>I like the letters though, although a lot of people trash them, it's nice to know a college sent it to you and tries to get you to apply and they're interested in you, i mean, even if it's generic, at least the Dean of Admissions signs the paper and it makes me feel a little good about my achievements . . i mean i try to not be biased and give every college a chance by actually reading the letter and looking at their brochure, maybe their site, etc</p>
<p>like for example, heres what i got today from ohio state univ</p>
<p>Dear Sarah:</p>
<p>You have earned the attention of a lot of colleges, and we know you'll be getting stacks of mail and and overload of e-mails from schools. We'll get right to the point: if you already know us, you know Ohio State is a great university. If you don't know much about us, let's start with just two reasons why Ohio State should be on your short list:</p>
<p>Then it goes on with the reasons and </p>
<p>a final paragraph with the last 2 sentences:
We won't bury you in mail--but we will show you why so many smart students fall in love with Ohio State. </p>
<p>We look forward to hearing from you!</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>signature here,
this time it was the assistant vice prez for undergrad admissions .. </p>
<p>i mean, a letter like that definently makes me feel better, even if it might be generic and is sent to a "ton of students"</p>
<p>oh yeah and i got another one today from carleton college and they said based on what your psat scores and your high school record, we believe you will be nominated for National Achievement/National Merit </p>
<p>so thats probably how they find out about you</p>
<p>do 'ya think? At my school the college mail went from mailbox to trash can.....never opened.</p>
<p>I love Nanette whatever her last name is from UWSTL. She is one of the best spammers I have ever heard of. My inbox is stacked with the same letter from them about some application checklist. lol</p>