<p>I was touched that Smith asked us for an opinion of our daughter applicant. Does anyone else think this is thoughtful ? Does any other school do this?</p>
<p>Mr. B, I wasn't touched but I was impressed. I thought about the essay for weeks, distilling it in my mind before writing a single word. LOL, but if D had been as early and focused on her essays, she might not be at Smith. The resulting piece was strong enough that one of the pros who owns CC suggested that I attach it as a supplemental to D's other apps.</p>
<p>I started with definition by exclusion: I didn't want to repeat material that came out in other parts of her app and I didn't want it to be a parental brag sheet. TheD, who had been wary of TheDad writing about her, acknowledged that it did not step on any of her toes the way she thought it might. I used it to highlight personal and intellectual qualities and quirks that I thought were keys to her...stuff that certainly she wouldn't write about herself but that her teachers were unlikely to know and thus not be able to cite in their recs.</p>
<p>It's a great idea from several perspectives. </p>
<p>It gives the college an oppotunity to learn more about the kid behind the transcript/paper trail. That can be for the benefit of all -- the student, who is somewhat more likely to be evaluated more thoughtfully, the school, which gets a better picture of the individual applicant, and the parents, who get to give their daughters a little additional support.</p>
<p>My husband and I made this a joint project, and did get a lot of satisfaction out of the final product, which went back and forth between us for edits, and even attached a photo montage -- captioned shots of D enjoying aspects of the Smith campus. (She had been there for a month one summer in high school, as well as for the application interview.) </p>
<p>Subsequently, I learned from an "insider" that the parent letter idea is used by the admissions office to get parents to "buy in" to the idea of sending their D to Smith -- potentially increasing yield. Who doesn't get "warm fuzzies" when asked their opinion -- especially when given an opportunity to wax eloquent over their pride and joy? I include myself and my H in this group! </p>
<p>Anyhow, no harm done - a great psychological strategy that had positive benefits all around. D appreciated seeing our thoughts about her in written form. A copy of our letter is filed away with D's other high school memorabilia, so it was not a wasted exercise. While we fell for this hook, line and sinker, we have no regrets!</p>
<p>We are big fans of the school and have much appreciated the truly personal interactions we, as well as our D, have had with administrators and profs throughout our Smith experience.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Subsequently, I learned from an "insider" that the parent letter idea is used by the admissions office to get parents to "buy in" to the idea of sending their D to Smith -- potentially increasing yield. Who doesn't get "warm fuzzies" when asked their opinion -- especially when given an opportunity to wax eloquent over their pride and joy? I include myself and my H in this group!
[/quote]
I can't imagine an adcom making selection decisions by ranking parent's essays. Good parents are supposed to be biased in favor of their children. On the other hand, Smith's approach of getting parents to "buy in" to Smith is nothing short of brilliant marketing.</p>
<p>I agree..very good marketing, but I still found it nice to write something to Smith besides checks</p>
<p>mother was absolutely thrilled when we got that letter last year. I told her that she didn't HAVE to do it, she knew that my teachers and GC (also our friend) wrote very good recs. Enough said, I told her. But she was so excited to write it, just to give her a reason to procrasinate at work. :-P</p>
<p>I must be the one grump in the crowd. I thought it was a pain in the patootie and declined do it. My D offered to write it for me but I didn't take her up on that kind offer.</p>
<p>my mom loved it and cried when she wrote it. i only wonder if it hurts the applicants whose parents don't speak english or aren't well-educated or just don't write well (or those who for whatever reason decide not to write it).</p>
<p>Do we think or know if it is read?</p>
<p>I KNOW it is read, because I did a little consulting with the admissions office about homeschoolers. I, however, didn't write one, as I wrote the "counselor" report, and thought that would be two trips to the well.</p>
<p>You have to remember, the admissions office has received official marching orders from the President to de-emphasize all test scores. They did this after a three-year study by faculty and the office of institutional research that found: 1) no association between test scores and student success while at Smith; and 2) that they worked against Smith's commitment to economic diversity. So they are looking at everything else much more closely.</p>
<p>Mr. B, I am confident that the parent letters are read and considered as part of evaluating the "total picture" of an applicant. The Smith admissions process is pretty thoughtful, from what I know. </p>
<p>My point was that the parent letters serve more than that one purpose. </p>
<p>I would wonder how much of an actual difference in admissions decisions parent letters are likely to make. Perhaps with a borderline candidate, a parent letter could help a kid over the bubble, particularly if it addressed background reasons for some weakness in the applicant's package. In the case of a strong candidate, the letter would have to be pretty damaging to make a difference. With a weak candidate, there would be a limit to how much weight a parent letter would carry -- unless it gave some compelling background reasons for the weaknesses. So my guess is that they are likely to affect admissions decisions only for those applicants in the middle. </p>
<p>But it still felt good to be able to submit something for D's file that was from us -- kind of like us giving our blessing to her application. It made us feel that when Smith decided on her, they knew a bit better better who they were getting.</p>
<p>I loved doing the letter. The only other school my D applied to that asked for one was Beloit.</p>
<p>Appropos of the SAT comment by Mini: I talked to a couple recently whose daughter graduated from Smith about 15 years ago. She had a weak SAT score (about 1000, prior to recentering.) She attended Smith and after a somewhat aimless HS career, became turbo-charged academically-- eventually went to Grad School at MIT. These parents felt Smith had made a critical difference in their D's whole life by nurturing her passions.</p>
<p>I, too, felt touched that Smith asked, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing my daughter's letter. Mt. Holyoke asked for one too.</p>
<p>I thought the opportunity was wonderful and felt respected. I wish more colleges would offer this opportunity. Thank you for your kind responses.</p>