<p>From time to time we like to check in with our members to see how the college preparation process is going ... Tell us about the communications you're receiving from colleges. What do you like? What should they be doing more of? What should they stop doing? </p>
<p>We'll randomly choose a member who replies to this post to win a $25 Amazon gift card.</p>
<p>It went well for me since I was able to get a lot of my questions answered on this site. So I already decided where I’m going. The only thing I think colleges should cut down on is those emails you receive that say “thank you for your interest” when you didn’t even show any interest for those colleges and other funny emails like that. </p>
<p>I like when colleges acknowledge that they have received paperwork I turn in, but I don’t need the constant barrage of emails from colleges that are telling me “It’s not too late to apply!” in the middle of April -__-</p>
<p>Since colleges ask for graduation year on their mailing list questionnaires, it would be lovely to see that they pay attention to it. Mailings geared specifically toward sophomores and juniors should differ from those sent to seniors. </p>
<p>My older son was still getting e-mails from colleges in May. In one interesting case, a university that waitlisted my son who will start college next year includes him on community alerts about crimes on campus. </p>
<p>It went relatively alright for me, too. Colleges and Universities in California are pretty ridiculous about their acceptance/rejection responses upon application. My mentors who moved to Southern California from the Midwest and South thought how ridiculous the application process was for prospective college students. According to them, majority of the universities in their region are all on a rolling basis application process and respond very promptly with a decision. It would be awesome if California Universities could implement something like that as opposed to applying a full year in advance (i.e. I applied in Fall 2013 to transfer by Fall 2014) and then hearing back 3-6 months later. It’s nerve wrecking! But I do understand the volume of applicants they receive, so I cut admissions departments some slack. Anywho, the general college path communication is pretty clear to me because there are many resources to point any prospective student in the right direction. </p>
<p>I wish colleges would provide lists of their majors and the act and sat scores when they send you letters</p>
<p>It would be great to get more mailings from the specific department(s) that the student is interested in. If there were an e-mail or mail campaign with a survey or “check the box” return card to indicate areas of interest, then the specific departments could send more appropriately-targeted and useful information to the students interested on one or two specific areas. </p>
<p>That was nice about USC - once my son indicated an interest in Viterbi, he got mailings specifically from that college, opportunities to participate in ‘chat calls’ with Viterbi students, etc. No other school did that.</p>
<p>Also, there should be an easy way to indicate “no interest” and get off of a school’s mailing list. That would save a lot of money! And the school could even ask a simple “why are you not interested in us” question with about 5-10 possible answers (“I don’t think I can get in,” “You don’t have my major,” “Don’t want to go to school in the Midwest,” “Can’t afford it,” etc.) which might provide useful info to the school.</p>
<p>Just a few ideas.</p>
<p>Well, I’m a high schooler, so as of yet, I don’t have too many complaints about colleges. I do however think that they should be making more opportunities for local high schoolers, grades 9-12, to visit the campus for college fairs, expos specific to the college’s major, or community events. It would also be nice if colleges organized a day for high schoolers to sit in on classes to get a feel of what the college is all about in regards to the learning atmosphere. I’m a high school sophomore, and while I plan to go to college, I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like. It would be nice to have more experiences like that.</p>
<p>Colleges should do a better job of matching who they are likely to accept with the brochures they send out.
I have had parents comment that their child received brochures from Ivy’s and other top schools, when there was nothing in the PSAT, SAT or any other available scores that would indicate that the student had a chance in heck of even being waitlisted.</p>
<p>It seemed like a blatant attempt to pump up their numbers, and more importantly, it sets in motion the kids and parents starting to believe that the kid had a chance. “Oh look, took the PSAT, got a 170 and some Ivys are now encouraging us to apply!”</p>
<p>(yes, I know the top schools often accept people with low scores but that is usually in conjunction with some outstanding ECs or some other story or exception).</p>
<p>I wish that the colleges would send more informational things, instead of just spam. I mean, if they’re sending you an email, you’re going to notice them (the college), so why just spam us with useless information? </p>
<p>I hate it when 1. the same colleges spams me more than twice 2. their advice isn’t relevant to my intended major 3. They pretend the email is person by using my name</p>
<p>I like it when 1. Their ads focus on academic nitty gritty rather than pretty campus pictures 2. Talk about more offerings than just getting me to apply, eg. summer camps</p>
<p>I would like more information about summer programs and visiting options, but less repetitive “please apply” emails that continue to reappear even though I haven’t shown interest.</p>
<p>They should start sending letters/emails out to people who actually stand a chance of getting in rather than randomly sending stuff to every kid with a 150+ PSAT. Less generic-sounding mail would also be nice. </p>
<p>The flurry of mail coming from colleges that have taken your name from a mailing list or some such was kind of a pain because ultimately they never really told you anything. Also, the guides they sent out were occasionally very pretty (but often not) and altogether useless. </p>
<p>As everyone has said above, it’d be nice to have helpful and relevant information be the norm without sifting through numerous self-promotions. Sometimes they do well to send packets with information relevant to your interests/prospective major.</p>
<p>I’ll state that my daughter is currently a junior. She started getting both e-mails and hard-copy mail after the PSAT. Schools started targeted her after the PSAT scores were released. </p>
<p>First, there is too much literature sent w/o enough substance. She probably averages a piece of college mail daily. After reading two or three brochures from an individual school that paint a nice, bright, overall picture, she got it all. If she had interest she would go onto their website and check out the school. Maybe one brochure a month would be sufficient, and change them up. Perhaps target specific parts, majors, or points of interest of the school. The glossy, general brochure now gets recycled.</p>
<p>Look at the areas of interest that a kid may check on the standardized tests. I don’t think that information is looked at based on some of the mailings and e-mail.</p>
<p>I know it is hard but personalize the literature a little more if the kid expresses interest. Yale sent a nice letter, brochure, and information about how you can actually afford the school. She is not really interested in Yale, but the literature was probably the best she received.</p>
<p>E-mails…she gets a bunch almost daily. Some schools tell her that if she doesn’t reply, this will be her last e-mail, until the next one they send. Again, if a kid replies back, expresses interest by signing up on the school’s website, then keep up the communication. Otherwise, stop or cut back to every other week or less. </p>
<p>Ultimately, my daughter reads the information from the schools she is interested in the first couple of times, does not read information from schools she has no interest in, and throws all information into a file box for the summer when she culls her list and starts the application process.</p>
<p>My DS is getting such a wide variety of mail that it really is comical.</p>
<p>Everything from super exclusive schools to “at our college, you can have a dog on campus!” (with pictures of smiling students with the dogs). I am not kidding about that one. How about just a little bit of effort in targeting - the students certainly do fill out a lot of info.</p>
<p>My parents sometimes still get excited when I get mail from Harvard or Yale, but I know that I’m just one of many many many students on a mailing list. I usually throw out mail without looking at it (and delete emails too). Occasionally, if I get something from a school I like (or if the brochure is eye catching enough :D) I’ll read the material.</p>
<p>College mail is spam and wastes paper. I just throw it in the recycle bin immediately.</p>
<p>Also, I like giftcards.</p>
<p>Wish I got fewer emails from schools I’ve never corresponded or applied to</p>