<p>We haven't gotten any phone calls (yet). And we haven't gotten a flood of mailings (probably because my son put "no" on the PSAT form). The mailings we have received seem to fall into distinct categories - the ones that got his name from math or science competitions are reasonably appropriate. The ones that got his name from Nat'l Merit semis or AP exams are less so. And then there is a wild miscellaneous grab-bag of places that seem to just know he is a high school senior. That includes the military recruiters. I also think colleges might pass around emails or addresses they get from students who request more info. I signed up for info from a few schools using my email address rather than my son's. I now get stuff at my email address from other schools that we never expressed an interest in.</p>
<p>Wisconsin called me. I didn't have the heart to tell him I wasn't interested and that I just sent out a letter saying I will not attend.</p>
<p>I also think colleges might pass around emails or addresses they get from students who request more info.>></p>
<p>Texas, This makes some sense. My daughter has requested information from several mid-western LAC's, and that's where the phone calls also came from. Most of her mailings also seem to be from smaller LAC's, which is mainly what we have been visiting.</p>
<p>It does sound like alot of earlier calling by colleges to junior prospects. I know that we only did it for students who had indicated some form of interest, ie. filling out an inquiry card, sending your PSAT/SAT's to us. We did not have on-line requests years ago, so that may be a new way of tracking contacts from a student & following up on them.</p>
<p>But usually most telephoning, whether from adcoms or current students was saved for the applicant group. I don't know how much telephone contact the college does currently for prospective students.</p>
<p>However, like the student responder said earlier, if you are not really interested, please say so, & then they can note it accordingly and hopefully not bother you in the future!</p>
<p>Wow, this is scary, I've recieved tons of mail from colleges (WU in STL and TAMU were the worst) but the only phone call I've ever gotten was from Washington and Lee AFTER I sent in the first part of my application, and that was from a specific organization in the school (Hillel).</p>
<p>I would probably have been real annoyed had colleges started calling me, the mail alone was horrible, why would I ever want to go to the Univesity of Oklahoma? or Kansas? I never indicated interest in any schools outside of the East Coast.</p>
<p>That said, college mail does serve a purpose. I discovered Washington and Lee University through college mail (they sent me mail pretty early on, which was the right choice for them since later on, I just threw out anything from colleges I wasn't interested in already). I ended up researching the school and, after a visit, falling in love with it and it's where I'm going next year. Without the mailings, I would never have discovered my dream school as my search would be confined to those colleges well-known in my school.</p>
<p>I received a call earlier this evening from Case Western Reserve. The guy calling was a work study student in the admissions office telling me that they had received my application and were considering me for one of their top scholarships (I believe full tuition). He was a senior there who was in the process of applying to graduate schools in biomedical engineering, and was actually there on a full tuition scholarship. He has similar high school stats to me, so we had a little bit to talk about. I didn't find the call intrusive at all - in fact, I sort of appreciated the attention and, that 5 days after I submitted my app online, that had already seen it and were considering me for scholarships. It was also fairly informative.</p>
<p>I recall D getting calls from the women colleges...Wellesley, Smith, Bryn Mawr, and Scripps. She applied to 3 of the 4.</p>
<p>Also, if you're doing a good deal of your info gathering by computer, don't dismiss the potential for data mining by colleges. We noticed that once son started to visit college websites, we began receiving pop-up ads asking if we needed money for college. That's no coincidence. Once a "spider" is on your machine, it will college data about your surfing and report back to it's originator about your habits. I wouldn't be surprised if the College Board site had a way to see what colleges you were looking up and alerting not only them but their "students who are interested in X, are also interested in X" schools.</p>
<p>I've had at least 5 or so calls from colleges. When I first started getting mail + email after the PSAT, I was all excited and replied to almost everything. All the attention soon got annoying, but I think my sophomore year responses encouraged the schools to call me during the junior + senior year. I had next to no interest in all of the schools that called, but at first I was really polite and asked a few questions and everything. After a few painful 15 minute phone calls, I started cutting them off pretty quickly. I remember Cornell College (in Iowa) and TCU calling a couple times each.</p>
<p>On the other hand, college football coaches rarely ever called me, when I was dying to hear from them. I guess that's the way it works out.</p>
<p>Then there are the emails and calls and hard mail that continue to come after your child is already attending college. Geez. think of all those trees.....</p>
<p>My son has got a number of phone calls Grace college, Wabash, Hastings to name a few. A couple of times when he was not home I tlaked with the students calling. They were all getiing paid work study to make the calls !!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Also, if you're doing a good deal of your info gathering by computer, don't dismiss the potential for data mining by colleges. We noticed that once son started to visit college websites, we began receiving pop-up ads asking if we needed money for college. >></p>
<p>Well, heck, between my daughter's web research and MY web research, we're probably being tracked by satelite! :)</p>
<p>Last year, which was my senior year of high school, I recieved calls almost every other day from Ohio colleges such as OSU and Northern Ohio University, as well as Xavier College, I think. I lived in Western Kentucky so it could just be a matter of geography. </p>
<p>And to Susantm, I got TONS of mail, including a few postcards, from U Chicago, and although I had missed the deadline to apply by the time applying to it became feasible, I'm not really sure how easy it would have been for me to get in. So even though it MIGHT be good news to get a lot of brochures and postcards from colleges, it might also just be a sort of mass-recruitment ploy so that there's a greater chance that that college will recieve stellar students' applications.</p>
<p>My state universities stalked me...and the Cornell College in Iowa, I received approx. 6 calls from them...the kids calling couldn't pronounce my name. I felt sorry for them.</p>
<p>The only call i've gotten was from harvard. I really didn't think they called people, but I guess they do.</p>
<p>I've only received two calls...
One was from Boston University, had only been on their website and was only considering them (was not on my definate apply list until a visit)
Second was from Case Western... I was e-mailing one of their admissions officers and we had sort of gotten into full contact and she phoned me (but I was in the shower at the time) and my mom told her I would call her back and then she called again... However I did not give my phone number in any of the e-mails...</p>
<p>Carolyn, the calls will swell in numbers after your D is actually admitted to colleges next year. With yield being so important to the schools, the calls will be incessant! For the RD schools, you only have to endure it for a month or so. But with the Rolling and EA acceptances, the calling begins almost immediately. What aways amazed me was that so many of the calls were made during the daytime. Don't they realize that students go to school? </p>
<p>My freshman S is already getting college mail, which seems kind of early to me, with NYU and WashU sending the most. Those mailings are definitely targeting younger students, "counseling" them on which choices to make during their HS years.</p>
<p>How do they get the names of freshmen in high school??!!</p>
<p>I suspect ethnicity can also play a role. My friend's kid and my D had very similar SATs, but my friend is a URM. Her kid gets 10/1 more mail.</p>
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<p>"the calls will swell in numbers after your D is actually admitted to colleges next year."</p>
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<p>I don't know... it might depend on the school. My son was admitted to 2 colleges ED. It's only been 3 weeks, but one of them sends him something every few days. There was a handwritten note from his interviewer, a Christmas card, a journal, a postcard, info about one of the programs. (I've started telling my son "Another love note has arrived from XXX"). The other college hasn't sent a thing. Neither one of them has called. They both have very high yield.</p>