i applied to mostly small selective LACs and i’ve heard that a lot of especially small schools consider an applicants demonstrated interest. i haven’t had a chance to visit or interview at all of the schools i applied to, so should i try anything like emailing my region’s admissions officer? does this actually make a difference? since i’ve already submitted my apps i’m not sure what i would even say - just introducing myself? i feel like this would just seem kind of disingenuous or tacky lol. any input is appreciated!! thanks
sorry - i put this in the wrong thread!
I actually was in a similar situation. I live really far away from my favorite colleges, and so I never visited. However, I emailed my regional AO asking real questions about the school. This worked for me and Yale! It def personifies you and makes you more 3D - do it.
thanks so much @h0kulani do you have any suggestions/examples of questions?
Questions you genuinely have about the school. I wouldn’t waste admission’s officers time with questions that can easily be answered through the school website.
thanks! @shawnspencer i am actually watching psych right now haha
Psych is a great show! I’m getting caught up in preparation for the movie that just came out
Yes, either questions you genuinely have about the school and/or new information about yourself. My nephew updated schools when he was written up in a local paper for wrestling. It gave him a reason to get in touch with them. Also, for the schools he couldn’t visit for financial reasons (which were most of them), he wrote an email explaining why he did not visit.
Don’t overthink or try to game this. They don’t want pointless emails to “demonstrate interest”.
So why do they care? A small LAC has its own personality and types of students it tends to enroll. Swarthmore is not the same as Middlebury. Both are different from Wesleyan. At a large school its possible for just about everyone to find their niche, this is less possible as a small college. So they care about finding students that have looked into the school enough to figure out what makes it special and whether it is a fit for them. That is not the same as firing off emails with questions you thought would be good to ask that someone gave you on the internet, and it will show.
thanks everyone definitely makes sense i was just worried that i hadn’t been showing enough obvious interest in schools that i do really like
@h0kulani - I’m delighted that you got into Yale, but I can assure you that it is not because you emailed them. According to their Common Data Set, Yale does NOT take demonstrated interest into account.
LACs, on the other hand, do care about demonstrated interest.
@sadied89 - You would do well to write an email to introduce yourself and say that you regret not being able to visit because of the distance, etc., and ask one or two specific and thoughtful questions whose answers are not easily found on the website. For example, my daughter asked questions about how many students studied the humanities and social sciences vs. STEM subjects (if this information wasn’t available) or something having to do with the Latinx community, or something about their about study abroad programs or asking for clarification about subtle difference among things that weren’t clear from looking at the website. Don’t ask them if they have your major (it’s on the website) or whether or not they received your SAT scores (they’ll let you know if they haven’t).
thank you so much!
Colleges do not expect someone who lives 1000 miles away and applying for financial aid to visit. They would expect someone who lives an hour away to visit. Not all schools will offer an interview to all candidates, however, if an interview is made available to you, you should take it. If you are placed on the waitlist, I would definitely recommend sending an “update letter” to your regional admissions officer expressing your continued interest and letting them know what’s been happening since you applied. After all, it will be your regional AO that calls you to offer you the spot off the waitlist and they only want to offer a spot to people who they think will say yes (to protect their admit rate). If the school is your first choice school then let them know that. As mikemac pointed out, every school has it’s own personality. Find out the personality of that school and SHOW them through your update why you would be a good fit. A hint to the school’s personality will be in their motto, and you can read up on current events/issues in the school paper.
thanks so much. this is really helpful. this might sound dumb but i don’t want to visit some of my schools before i know my decision because they are high reaches and i don’t want to waste time/money if ill probably be rejected… and id probably become too attached lol. but i’m signing up for off-campus interviews for the ones that offer it.