<p>My daughter is a Sophomore in HS and she is really a great student. Now we are starting to have an onslaught of mail every single day from colleges, summer programs, and all sorts of things. Some seem really important, (and are) some I feel is just a bunch of junk. She has excellent grades and high SAT scores. Lots of times she gets many applications from certain summer enrichment programs that only "high achievers" can get into. Only trouble is, these few days of programs cost 2 to 3K a shot. Then I'm left to wonder, just who gets in these things, the academically gifted or the the one's who have the money to afford it?</p>
<p>Sifting through all this stuff, we find extremely important things like Governor's school information and audition dates (she was nominated for art this year) and I am left in fear that with all that's coming in, I might toss something really important.</p>
<p>Any advice about what is real and what is just places trying to take our money? We've got mail for financial assistance (she does not go to college for over 2 years from now), Who's who in American students (sounded good for my oldest daughter, but now I'm wondering if it's just a racket), and on and on and on. </p>
<p>However, we HAVE received some really good info on colleges of engineering (Case and Drexyl) and I kept those.</p>
<p>My oldest daughter was a fair student and got wheel barrels full of this stuff. I shudder to think what we'll go through with this daughter that is very highly successful in school.</p>
<p>The mail is just going to keep coming until after Jan 1 of your daughter's senior year. At first, it is hard to tell the wheat from the chaff. The Who's Who, National Honor Roll, etc are mailed to just about everyone and not an honor. NYLC and others of its ilk can offer interesting programs, but are pretty much open to whomever can pay the tuition. Any offers to search for scholarships (for a fee) should be shredded and burned immediately. Just go through everything that comes now and you'll soon be able to sort through the pile quickly.</p>
<p>I've got a tangential question: If you do not receive any promotional mailings from a college after sending it your score report, should you read anything into it? Or do they lack the manpower to respond in this way?</p>
<p>You should take most of the early college information mailings with a grain of salt. Whether you are contacted or not is largely a result of two things: if you fit certain criteria on their marketing profile and whether your son/daughter checked off the box saying that they wanted to receive information from the colleges. CC is filled with stories about posters who received a ton of mail from a given institution and were later rejected as well as others who were never contacted by a school yet were admitted with large scholarships. </p>
<p>Certain schools are notorious for sending out huge numbers of mailings that really mean little other than the fact they are trying to raise their admission figures. Still, you want to sift carefully through the stuff. My friend, for example, who is Hispanic, received an invitation for her son to apply to RSI. Something like that is worth looking at, if your child has that particular interest.</p>
<p>At first it was novelty for my son to get the mailings. It quickly became old hat. Yet, I must say the mailings can have an impact. Two cases in point for my own son were Wash U and U Chicago. He received considerable mail from both starting in 10th grade. The first turned him off and the second motivated him to attend a summer program there and apply for undergrad admission because it seemed to match who he was. </p>
<p>I've emptied the plastic tub out several times but still have a bushel sitting in the corner of my family room. I keep threatening to toss the stuff, but son (who has at least some artistic leanings) has informed me he intends to make a collage out of all the brochures, books, and letters. Better than just wasting all that paper!</p>
<p>Regarding sending back score reports and hearing from the schools.... With us, it varied from one school to the next. Some followed up immediately, some we never heard from, and some we heard from months (even years!) later. Don't hesitate to investigate a school further, visit, and apply whether or not they've gotten back with you if you feel it's a good match for academic or personal reasons.</p>
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I am left in fear that with all that's coming in, I might toss something really important.
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<p>I laugh at the concept, not at you. I was at boarding school and as the admission cycle began each season jumbo rolling trash bins were moved into place in the post office...........college mail went from student mail box to dumpster. All of it for almost 100% of the residents. No big opportunities were missed that I am aware of. You are putting way too much credence into the mail and the reasons for the mail. Lighten up and get a trash can with wheels.......get with the program and don't haul the stuff into the house.....stop and drop before you kit the carpet.</p>