email from Ivy"You may be competitive for admission..."

Applying to College
1

<p>on the good news side, our senior d received what seemed almost like a recruiting email from the executive director of admissions for an Ivy League school...this out of the blue, as we had not contacted them previously, addressed to d personally..stating "Dear d, Your academic achievements thus far suggest that you may be competitive for admission to ______ University. What you could experience here could take place nowhere else in the world. I invite you to consider __<strong><em>University in the city of _</em></strong>." and so forth, glowing description of facilities, location, programs...then at the end "We strongly encourage students to apply online by visiting (website)."
?????</p>

<p>we've certainly received these from lesser schools, but not from an Ivy..it seemed legit....could it be? do they want her for geo diversity ( we live in CA), or as a female interested in science? this has me very perplexed! her stats don't seem in Ivy range to me, am I missing something?</p>

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<p>I get plenty of mail from places I don't have any hopes of getting into like Harvard, MIt and Caltech. I think they just want to decrease admission rates and get your application money.</p>

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<p>Sorry...these emails go out to thousands of people based on PSAT scores. I'm sure your daughter is great, and it's certainly not a bad thing to be contacted by Ivies, but this particular email is not a big deal. It is not recruitment or an indication of likely acceptance. It's simply targeted advertising.</p>

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<p>I assume you got the letter from Columbia?</p>

5

<p>"I invite you to consider __<strong><em>University in the city of _</em></strong>."</p>

<p>I think only Columbia refers to itself like that. If your daughter's hot stuff in science, I guarantee the school of engineering and applied science would love to talk to her, the M/F ratio isn't so hot.</p>

<p>but yeah, those things are based on College Board scores.</p>

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<p>Lately they are admitting 10% of applicants. They wring their hands and moan about having to choose from all those equally qualified applicants. They tell us that 80% of the applicant pool are academically qualified to succeed at the university. So why do they feel the need to solicit additional applications? Aren't they only making their already difficult task even more difficult? I find it really annoying! Especially when they solicit applications from candidates that you know are auto-rejects.</p>

<p>I really think they should be sending out emails that say, "Based on a cursory review of your excellent-but-not-quite-good-enough qualifications we recommend that you save your time and money and NOT apply to this university."</p>

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<p><strong><em>sigh</em></strong>
I knew something wasn't quite right with it, but one could hope...I was almost ready to book a flight to visit</p>

<p>this is why I love CC! :D</p>

<p>thanks
(are you sure it isn't real???!!!yes she loves science, but not engineering..marine bio/environmental...:confused:)</p>

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<p>Something about your D must have seemed in the range for the Ivy. Despite what people say here, Ivies don't deliberately send such communications to students who have no chance of admissions there. At the same time, due to the 1:10 odds of getting in at Harvard, at least, , getting a solicitation e-mail or letter does NOT guarantee admission. </p>

<p>According to the Harvard dean of admissions, 90% of students who apply to Harvard have the academic background to be successful Harvard students if there were space for them. Consequently, odds are that your D is like that. </p>

<p>If she decides to apply, then she should do the best application that she can. There are plenty of tips about this on CC. At the same time, since no matter how outstanding she is, the odds of admission are long, she should make sure that she also does careful applications to match and safety schools that she would love to attend.</p>

<p>Both of my sons got letters from Harvard inviting them to apply. My younger S also got a phone call. I am sure that Harvard sent the letters based on their board scores, which were within the range of students who are accepted there. What Harvard didn't know was that both boys seriously underperformed in h.s. to the point of having lots of Cs on their report cards, and having a reputation with some teachers as being students who were always on the verge of failing. Fortunately, my sons and I knew that they would be wasting their time and $ to apply to Harvard.</p>

<p>That's probably not the case with your D, so if she's interested in the Ivy that contacted her, she should go for it while also putting lots of effort and thought into more realistic options.</p>

<p>By the way, in general, Ivies -- particularly HPY -- don't care about demonstrated interest, so if she decides to apply, no reason to spend $ to fly out there unless she ends up being admitted.</p>

<p>I'm an alum interviewer for Harvard, so I have an informed view of what admissions is like there.</p>

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<p>Why did you feel compelled to not give the name of the college...?</p>

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<p>What you have to consider is that they haven't actually given your daughter individual attention, like others have said they're advertising because they want more people to apply (partly so they have more potential students to choose from but also for application money and lower admit rates). I mean, it's still sort of a good thing - it means that they might be interested in your daughter based only on her interests and test scores, but they don't really know enough about her to be able to tell right now, and also the group of people that elite colleges advertise to tends to be notably larger than the group of people who would be accepted.</p>

<p>So no, they haven't put your daughter on a list of people to be admitted or a list of people who will later have some kind of advantage in their admissions. She'll still have to apply just like everyone else. But at least they're expressing potential interest. If you think she has a decent chance then go for it (the application I mean, I wouldn't spend money on a flight).</p>

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<p>I also got many of 'em..Dartmouth, Northwestern. but i know that they are just advertising..hah</p>

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<p>"Something about your D must have seemed in the range for the Ivy. Despite what people say here, Ivies don't deliberately send such communications to students who have no chance of admissions there."</p>

<p>I believe that Ivies don't DELIBERATELY send such communications to students who have NO CHANCE for admission. But I do believe that they solicit applications from students who are "in the range" of applications, only to boost their applications statistics, and then later claim, "no foul," when the student is REJECTED, because "the odds of getting into Harvard are 1:10".</p>

<p>My question is, if the difference between SOME CHANCE and REJECTED is only 5 % ( you know the p<.05 thing) what's the point? I guess you could argue an education at HAAARVARD for my kid is worth it, but is it really?</p>

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<p>Yes .</p>

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<p>Daniel,
Why is it worth it, are you applying there?</p>

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<p>Daniel,
I'm still not sure why you said, "yes," but I'll explain (as a mom) why I question your logic. If one of my children wants to apply to a specific school because of their interest, passion, & proclivities, then of course, I would support him/her and assist, if asked, in ways to maximize the chances of acceptance.</p>

<p>The OP that started this thread presented a different scenario, namely one in which an Ivy insitutution solicited an application from an individual student. In this case, as a parent, I applaud the OP for gathering more facts. There were several replies including a poster who identifies herself as "an alum interviewer for Harvard." </p>

<p>My comments addressed the alum interviewers statements.... The college application process can be capricious and illogical, not to mention time-consuming and costly. Forums like CC allow individuals to compare info and perspectives on the college admissions process, including applications to the elite universities, thus keeping these institutions "on their toes" and accountable for their statements.</p>

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<p>Probably a bottom tier Ivy, with Columbia as one example -however no doubt its occuring to improve (i.e lower) their acceptance rate</p>

<p>Columbia for example will do what it can to look good relative to the other bottom fish like Brown, even if that involves inviting applications from people who have virtually no chance to actually be accepted. </p>

<p>Is this cruel? Probably</p>

<p>However, the free market has both benefits and detriments, and people need to accept that</p>

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<p>I got books/letters from:</p>

<p>Harvard
Yale
Columbia
Dartmouth
Northwestern
WUStL (duh)</p>

<p>Those things don't mean anything....btw Ohio State called me up on sunday. That was weird.</p>

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<p>I like Northstarmom's answer! :) as she has credentials in this area, but yes, there are many who have differing experiences and have served to deflate our bubble considerably...
so yes its an uber reach, but if we visited and she loved it, going ED seems to help, as long as one remains totally realistic
my brother is an alum of this school's law school...does having a god-parent alum help??!! lol</p>

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<p>Agreed. After the PSAT's I received unsolicited mail from Harvard, MIT and Georgetown. Congratulations on being in the top 50,000 of students nationwide.....</p>

<p>Apparently, schools can mine the College Board databases. For a tidy fee I hope. They do ask on the PSAT and SAT if we want to receive information from colleges and universities.</p>

<p>All colleges prospect for applicants. Everybody wants their statistics to go up so the send mail by the boat load. I feel sorry for the postal employees. For the last two years since I first took the PSAT’s as a sophomore (my school likes us to try it early), I have been inundated with mail. Like another poster mentioned the emails keep on coming as well. I have also received 8 – 10 phone calls as well.</p>

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<p>I got something from Brown.</p>