Do students cold mail schools ahead of application process?

Parent Cafe
21

You can definitely sign up to be on their mailing list which is normal and expected and also is a sign of interest.

22

“What sort of information is not readily available? The school websites are very complete these days.”

There are many questions that aren’t easily found on a schools website that a student may want answered prior to applying. Several of these were ones my daughter who works in an admissions office has heard. Others are ones we asked while in the process either for my kids or for kids at the school where I volunteer .

  1. I’m transgender. Will the school allow me to live with a student of my declared gender

  2. My state requires me to take an ACT without writing. You require an ACT with writing. If I submit my one without writing in addition to my one with will you consider it.

  3. Can students in your ( lockstep) nursing program study abroad. Your website seems to say both yes and no.

  4. One portion of your website says you only admit students to [a certain program or major] who apply after sophomore year. Another portion says you admit many students on a pre approved basis from the start. Which is it ( this happened at more than one school! The answer was, 'oh we recently made a change and forgot to change both places on our website)

  5. I have a severe food allergy. Who can I talk to about whether anything is done in food services to protect students like me.

23

@maya54
Thank you. Such a thoughtful response.

Do you think these questions helped or hurt the potential applicants in any way, (beyond naturally, you know, getting their questions answered)?

24

Asking a legitimate question will certainly not hurt an applicant in any way. One can certainly contact the admissions office anonymously to ask the question if one is concerned.

To that end, I will also say that unless the kid has attended a college fair (or similar venue) and the rep handed the kid a card and said “Contact me with any questions you have,” questions should be directed to the general admissions office phone number/email, not the rep, even if a college published its entire employee directory.

25

IMO, it is perfectly acceptable for students or PARENTS to send emails to college staff and faculty for any legitimate concern. It is repeated many times on this site “Do not apply to a school that is not a good fit for your career interests, personal needs, financial situation, and personality!” Navigating through the application/admission process with my daughter this past year has proven to me that college websites can be very confusing, out of date, and vague. They try to make them fancy and eye catching, at the expense of functionality. We have had many questions where we needed answers in order to make an application or acceptance decision. We found many answers here on CC, and we found many others by making direct contacts (probably 10 emails in total). We were, for the most part, very impressed with the responses we received and they were very helpful. One of the most helpful non impressive response was from a Department Chair at one school who she asked “I have been doing research on my intending major of XXX. I have found that there might not be many job opportunities with this major. Can you tell me anything about job placement of your recent graduates in this field?”. The Department Chair responded with something along the lines of…“Well, I think a couple are in grad school”. This from a VERY small university who could very easily keep some sort of records on their job placement rate. On the other hand, my daughter got a very pleasant, helpful, and detailed response from a Department Chair of a graduate program that she may want to apply to in four years - and she told her that she probably wasn’t even going to get her undergrad degree there! You can bet that school is on her list for grad school if she sticks with her intended major.

These emails were not sent to try to impress or show interest in the school, but were just legitimate concerns about academics, job opportunities, career planning, and appropriate “fit”. I don’t see anything wrong at all with asking questions - after all, we are paying them to educate our children and our children will be spending four years of their lives (or more) in college, so both parents and students should be well informed.

And finally, my daughter got waitlisted at a very highly ranked private university - we were shocked she was not outright denied. The only reason I can think of that would have gotten her on the waitlist was the interest that she showed in the school by visits, camps, local seminars, interviews etc. There was a place on the common app for the school which wanted a list (with dates) of all these events - and she had about six to list. So some schools do take note of these things.

Just my 2 cents.

26

Certainly, call with questions you need to have answered to make an informed decision about applying to a college.

But as I said earlier, a cold call or email to admissions is not likely to start an admissions file in your name. Neither is an email to a professor. Yes. These will help to clarify your questions about a school…but they will not likely be tick marks tracking interest.

And that is what the OP asked about.

From the OP:

27

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

Yesterday, I regretted even asking the question, but today I am glad I did.

It seems that yes, before making the time and financial commitment required to apply to a college, it is not unreasonable to send a communication to a member of the admissions team seeking information not otherwise clear or available, while also potentially demonstrating an obvious authentic interest in the offerings of the school. Thanks again for the opinions.

28

Emailing a professor may not open an admissions file but it certainly can help in the process at ALL schools. Demonstrated interest can matter a lot especially if done correctly. I am in general agreement with what Leastcomplicated said above and I have seen a number of examples of it.

29

@thumper1 You’re right, my bad. I did read the original post, but I didn’t remember the exact details of what was asked when I commented. I hate when people do that
X_X

30

Other thoughts…and these are Important ones.

  1. If your kiddo is interested in religious organizations...look for those on the college website.
  2. If your kiddo has questions about LBGT issues, see if the school has any organizations related...and contact them.

You may find that your questions can be more directly answered this way than by the admissions office staff.

31

Schools are required to provide for food allergies. I think that question can wait. Once admitted you can meet with food services. You certainly need to make sure they avoid cross-contamination and hidden ingredients. The chef or director of food services or both will most likely be really helpful.

32

My D’s experience with contacting AO’s with legitimate questions was mixed and very off-putting to her. College websites often state “feel free to contact us anytime! We love to hear from you and we will respond!” Most of the time, they didn’t. She emailed a very selelctive LAC that asked students to “tell us what books you read this summer!” No response. She emailed a a moderately selective LAC, specific question, no response. Other attempts to email with legitimate questions were met with silence, even though these colleges in fact either accepted or waitlisted her. The one rep she found to be very responsive was at William and Mary. He was great, but in the end she didn’t apply there. She certainly wouldn’t recommend emailing reps.