<p>It’s well-known that the College Board sells its data to schools, which then send these letters to tens of thousands of potential applicants. The letters are sent based on standardized test scores only and do not mean that you: 1. are really a reasonable candidate for admission, and 2. that you will be admitted. Admissions offices have become profit centers as a result of this, in part, and though money is not the only motive, it’s a nice benefit. Yield goes down as well, and school “selectivity” and reputation are enhanced. It’s the student who suffers most because of false expectations. See the article in the NYT Education Life section a couple of Sundays ago (to paraphrase, do these schools really need 30,000 applications to find 2,000 new students?).</p>