I am SO relieved that all my applications are submitted and the colleges (for the most part) have stopped sending me mail. But over the past three years I have gotten some pretty amusing and sometime outrageous advertisments.
Some of the highlights have been:
Northeastern sent me a HUGE envelope with several cards, photographs, postcards, and letters with much of it written in a hideous “handwriting font”. It must’ve costed $3+ in total to send it to me.
University of Chicago (I think) sent me a 150+ page booklet printed in full color on high end paper filled with information. It probably cost a lot too.
Princeton tried to make me feel special and tried to flatter me with what felt like hundreds of emails. When I unsubscribed, they tried to make me feel really guilty and pretended like they were personally hurt. Lol like they care about me.
SMU has literally sent me 3 emails a day for the past year and they all are basically the same.
University of the Pacific for the past 3 months has been sending me emails with the subject: “immediate response requested” and it is really annoying.
University of Kentucky had me laughing on the floor when they sent me an email saying: “I must say that your achievements have turned quite a few heads here in the Office of Undergraduate Admission at the University of Kentucky!”
What outrageous advertisments have you guys received from schools?
emails cost them nothing to send. Some schools send real swag - sunglasses, t-shirts, lip balm. The best thing either of my kids got was a calendar with all the due dates for applications and scores, all the ACT/SAT dates, the school football and basketball games, 12 beautiful pictures of the school. She had it on her wall for her entire senior year.
We got boxes full of postcards and letters and brochures with their names on the marquee like they were a star at the school.
High Point U has sent no less than 6 inspirational books “written” by their President Nido Qubein, as well as a DVD of an biography about him that aired on The Biography Channel, a CD of Christmas music. It was sweet at first but has moved into the weirdly cultish realm.
I made it a point to save every mailer from colleges from D’s Jr & Sr year. I now have HUGE box of brochures. Some like Kenyon or Chicago were obviously very expensive to produce.
The fanciest mailings we receive on a regular basis are from U. Chicago, Kenyon, Notre Dame, and Williams. It has got to cost them a fortune! But I guess it pays off.
Just for the record, the UChicago mailings may look nice, but they may not be expensive to produce because unlike most schools, UChicago probably prints them itself. UChicago has the largest Academic Press in America, and does the printing for over 100 other universities.