Average SATs PREDICT the quality of the education received. SATs, of course, are not a direct result of the quality of education received at a college. For example, average SAT is an excellent predictor of the first year retention rate and graduation rate. There are also compelling intuitive reasons to believe that better students raise the level and quality of instruction and attract better faculty. Then better faculty raise the reputation of the school and attract better students. There is a reciprocal relationship between the quality of students and the quality of instruction.
The fact that peer assessment ratings are predictable from objective measures suggests that respondents do know something about the colleges they rate, at least collectively.
The best email I got so far was from Northeastern. It was very short and had in bold
“To help me get to know you a little better, tell me a little about you:
Why Northeastern? What prompted you to inquire about our BS in Undecided program?
What’s the best way to connect with you? (Phone, email, sms, etc.)
What’s the best day/time of day to contact you?”
Now it definitely helped that I already knew and planned to look at the school, but it was still effective.
Also any school that notices that I am into computer science and sends me specific information about computer science (not engineering, mathematics, or science) gets brownie points.
Finally, “5 tips to x” only works if you are online media. I am not going to download your PDF list.
Prospective students should focus on the factual information contained in print communication and on the web site. Efforts by the admissions office to develop a relationship with you are designed to manipulate your subjective feelings during the admissions process and have little to do with the kind of attention you might receive as an enrolled student. Same is true of the campus visit. It is all marketing.
Instead, pay attention to the facts. Does the school offer the major you seek? How selective is the college or university (SATs and ACTs)? What is the school’s graduation rate?
The school’s selectivity is associated with other positive indicators such as:
Higher graduation rates
Higher retention after freshman year
Better student/faculty ratio
More money spent on instructional expenses per student (e.g. faculty salaries)
Intuitively, it would seem that better paid faculty would provide better education.
Instructional expenditures per student are, in turn, associated with better student/faculty ratio and higher graduation and retention rates.
Selectivity seems to be a key indicator.
Regarding selectivity and graduation rate statistics, these are numbers for freshman who start in the fall. Be sure the school doesn’t defer admission for many less qualified students until spring semester. This practice may also be deception and manipulation. Beware also of schools that report lower graduation rates than you’d expect based on selectivity of admissions.
Less words. Personalized mails. Huge posters of the school (I got sent one, and I still keep it).
CMU sent booklets on information about how to apply etc. It was really overwhelming to thumb through it to find words in 12pt font and no pictures. It was supposed to be informative but the format was particularly annoying and made me more uninterested.
Personalize the mail with something specific to me. In many mailing sign ups, you can list the majors you’re interested in pursuing in at that college. It would greatly help me to get sent information about those majors (which one college did in the mail).
UChicago sent me a huge poster of their school. However, it was paper not poster. Poster is a plus.
Send mail not postcards. Big mail packages with a booklet (lots of pictures) are much better…For ex. Smith sent me a package with a book of published work by Smith students and alumnae. University of Illinois Urbana sent an activity booklet with clean and cool graphics and crafts to play with. ND sent a puzzle pack (honestly the best idea)
Time-it’s best if I don’t get sent a piece of mail from the same college every few days. Not only is this a waste of money but once I’ve read the same things over and over, I get bored and never bother to read the ones that arrive later.
Personally, I love college mail (as opposed to emails) because it seems more personal (it takes a while to assemble all the mail for a mass mailing while emails take a few minutes). Also, I never get mail, so it feels so great to be bomboared by mailings but if it gets repetitive, it bothers me. I like it when it’s every two weeks, so the college can remind me “hey I’m here” and I’ll take more consideration into reading their brochures etc.
For ex. I went to a alumni meeting over coffee, and I was sent a personalized “thank you” postcard from one of the alumni using the school’s postcard. It was really nice to see a handwritten note and know the alumni care about your decisions.
Social media doesn’t work because I’m afraid that they might see my accounts. I have nothing to hide, but it’s the same feeling I get if my parents were check my accounts daily. Sometimes I do check the instagram profiles to see what’s the personality of the school (some schools post more sports over people over nature etc).
I don’t read anything I get in the mail. I have a computer and can figure out what I want to know, so tell me something I don’t know. Like how much merit aid there is. I’m OOS and far from every “name” school, so money makes a big difference, I have no favorite schools though I know I will go to one of them. And some of the big names carry no weight out here- it’s like "Oh, Stanford, that’s nice. You paid WHAT to go there?!?!?! Most all of my friends are the kids of Drs and lawyers, business ppl etc b/c I go to a little private school but they are not impressed by all that. So I would really like to know what the cost will really be.
Honestly, I would prefer it if the information colleges sent me had
oh, I don’t know,
actual information.
It’s usually “Take our quiz to find the best school for you!” and no matter what you put the quiz tells you it’s their college. It could have a picture of the campus, an invitation to a $500+ summer program or campus tour, but no INFORMATION on the college. What’s the cost? How are scholarships done? What kind of housing do you have? What’s the freshman profile look like? Do you send this to everyone or did you send it to me because I’m black/bilingual/other reason? Take that information that I google for big name colleges, and just go ahead and throw it on that essentially useless rectangle you’re killing trees to mail me.
Honestly giving me an application waiver. All of the schools that have emailed these to me I have spent at least a few min. giving the school a second or first look. Because it’s free so why not check it out and see if I would be interested? It also shows that the school thinks I would be at least a somewhat acceptable applicant.
But no one should equate a free application with free TUITION! A lot of students in my orbit apply to colleges because the application is cost-free and also because simply receiving it makes them feel wanted (which they probably are). But before taking the time to fill it out … even if the work is minimal … be sure to see if the school itself is affordable and if whatever costs you might pay to go there are warranted.
A lot of the colleges (although certainly not all) that send out unsolicited free applications are less-selective private colleges with not-so-hot need-based financial aid and with merit scholarships that may sound enticing at first glance but actually don’t make much of a dent in the total cost.
While a merit grant of, say, $20,000 per year is nothing to sneeze at, you still could be stuck with a bill for another $30K per year or more … a bigger tariff than you’d pay to go to your public flagship university that may have much higher admission standards and a great honors program and will be a more challenging, suitable environment. So never fill out an application mainly because it’s free. You’ll be wasting your own time … and a lot of other people’s time as well … if the application is to a college that you will ultimately never attend.
After my daughter attended the info session at her school, an AD/recruiting director sent her an email saying she was identified as a strong candidate by the person that gave the info session and they would like to meet her for one of those hotel interview type things. Got our attention, she is meeting them this week.
Does this topic thread also want to know what detracts from a school?
We just received a card from Wheaton College in Massachusetts–on our list as a very real candidate until now. The card was so poorly done that my cat could have designed it. Community colleges produce better literature.
A big white rectangle of cardboard. The paper has a bad feel to it.
Printed on the cardboard is a stick figure–you know the kind you see advertising bathroom gender designations. The stick figure wears a mortar board. The stick figure stands between two red lines, apparently signifying a road going off into the distance. The figure isn’t walking up a road, but standing. A weird stylized red sun commands the distance–weird because it’s not remotely attractive. And the figure looks like it is standing, staring, at the sunset. The rays of said sad sun array around the mortar-boarded head.