<p>Hey!
I consistently get a lot of mail from Carleton, Kenyon and Bates- all schools that I visited and felt good about my interviews. Given my stats I put Carleton as a high match (Im applying ed) and the other two as low matches. To give you an idea of the mail that I mean, each sends me a postcard a week at least. At Kenyon, my interviewer sent me a thanksgiving card. At Carleton, they sent me a course listings book a little while after I turned in my application. Also, other schools that I visited that seem harder to get into have sent me litlle or no mail (Middlebury, Williams, Bowdoin, Dartmouth). The question is, do these mailings hint at my chances of acceptance or do all potential applicants receive so much mail?</p>
<p>They want more kids to apply so that they can reject more kids and boost their selectivity rating. They just want to improve their standing in the USWNR... the Thanksgiving card might have been genuine, but I really doubt it.</p>
<p>Yeah but after I applied to Carleton it went up, if anything.</p>
<p>I would still warn against taking it too seriously. I've gotten four applications to Princeton since July and I haven't sent them anything, or expressed any interest, and I'm nearly 100% certain that I have no shot of getting in. Schools want those higher spots on the USWNR and they get them by making you feel special and making you want to apply.</p>
<p>Since you're applying to these schools anyway, I would say that it doesn't really matter how much mail they send.</p>
<p>Aeggie is right that a lot of schools do use mailings as a way to get more people to apply to improve their ratings. Tons of my friends applied to WashU with no hope of getting in because of mailing trying to accomplish exactly that. The mailings your getting are different though. You already applied so you were likely put on a mailing list with other ED applicants. I would not read into the mailings too seriously, I had a friend who applied ED at Skidmore and she got mailing every week describing different things, saying wish you were here ect. She ended up not getting in. I am not saying they are a bad thing just that they are probably standard for most EDers. Good Luck, hopefully I will see you here next year!!!</p>
<p>I don't know about the other schools, but I know that Kenyon prides itself on its personal contact with its students and that includes contact BEFORE they are officially a student there. My daughter was sent personal letters from several heads of departments that she was interested after applying and visiting there. And she was accepted as a student in their regular admission for the class of 2006. It has been a wonderful 4 years there and we were just as happy with her choice there as she was. The student body and faculty are very close there. The letters you receive reflect that.</p>