Hmmm I can’t access that whole article due to not being a subscriber but just before it fades out I can see something about BU knowing when students rsvp’d online. Our experience of BU doesn’t back that up (or at least that it means anything to them) - continued invites to events already rsvp’d as accepted, etc.
if the article is available non-paywall anywhere, I’d be interested in seeing it though.
“To determine ‘demonstrated interest,’ some schools are tracking how quickly prospective students open email and whether they click links”
“Schools use this information to help determine what they call “demonstrated interest,” or how much consideration an applicant is giving their school. Demonstrated interest is becoming increasingly important as colleges face a rising number of applications and want to protect or improve their yields—the percentage of accepted applicants who enroll.”
What many parents and students do NOT realize is that many colleges pay attention to many different ways of measuring a students demonstrated interest when making enrollment decisions, which may include how fast students open emails from the college AND whether they click on provided links.
So parents, tell your kid to treat an email from any college they apply to as they would homework- It HAS to be opened and read- and the sooner the better!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-data-colleges-collect-on-applicants-11548507602?mod=hp_lead_pos10
Students fight back? https://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/12/students-use-data-analytics-algorithms-to-crack-top-colleges-admissions-codes.html I wouldn’t put much stock in this or that (see above).
I think it would take colleges some time to figure out correlation of student’s interest and “how often they go to school’s website,” “do they open the link,” “how long they stay on the website”…because they will need quite a bit of historical data to validate their predictions.
Now the article is out, more students are just going to randomly click on a school’s website to show interest.
Yep…which is basically like showing NO interest at all.
Some schools are pretty open that they track. IIRC, RPI was one that once emailed shortly after a link in an email they sent was clicked on and let my d19 know they noticed she was interested in the topic, etc.
After that, (if she didn’t get to it) I made sure to click open any emails and links for any college she was interested in, just in case they were tracking.
Also, be sure to display images in any email known to be from the college, since tracking may be done by use of 1x1 pixel images that the email refers to by HTTP (i.e. viewing the image connects to a server that records the connection for tracking purposes, even though the 1x1 pixel image is not visible to human readers).
Wow. This is truly depressing. So if, say, a student wanted to maintain a mentally healthy approach to the college search process and only review emails once a week, that student will be seen as less interested??? Seems like the system continues to reward its own insanity! What’s next, extra points for posting “chance me” requests on CC?
I’ve always wondered if adcoms lurk here on CC. Given the stats etc. posted in chance me threads it could be possible to match a poster with their application…not to make anyone paranoid. 
Interesting insights from the Axios newsletter this morning:
Many colleges, “in an effort to sort through a growing number of applications, are quietly tracking prospective students’ online interaction with the schools,” The Wall Street Journal’s Douglas Belkin writes (subscription):
Some universities “are tracking how quickly prospective students open email and whether they click links.”
“Enrollment officers at institutions including Seton Hall University, Quinnipiac University and Dickinson College know down to the second when prospective students opened an email from the school [and] how long they spent reading it.”
Why it matters: “Many students have no idea they are being tracked, or to what extent.”
One quick insight on tracking the newsletter part…as a person who oversees this as one part of my job…if you use any of the big newsletter clients - constant contact, mailchimp, icontact - you can absolutely (and easily) see when the person opens an email and what time, how many clicks (and what to), etc. To make you even more paranoid, its very easy to sort the emails to see what person is the top clicker on any given mailer and if they forwarded…we have what we call super fans…that is, folks who click at least 5 links per mailing and then forward as well. we see their email address, location, name. Anyway…
For the most part I think demonstrated interest is just another piece in the absurd game applying to college has become. I’m glad some schools are dropping it.
@SouthernHope , if you’re sending an email to a prospective student, why would they forward it? Why would you assume a “superfan” clicks on all the links in an email rather than the real Superfan having already proactively found them all on the website? I guess I’m just not really understanding how this does or doesn’t demonstrate anything of substance.
I think others are right that this will just become a case of gaming the system, the more people know about this.
A student might forward an email from a school of interest to their parent.
@socaldad2002 has your student considered updating her email address with the College Board to be her gmail account?
What I didn’t see mentioned here is that I don’t think people in admissions offices are doing this data crunching. From our experience, it looks like they are paying marketing companies to send out materials and gather data on responses. We received what seemed like a very personal email from a school of interest and thought it was promising. Two days later we received an email from a school that we have never heard of with the exact same wording. :-?
Sign up for whatever you wish. Click on whatever you wish. “Demonstrated” interest that advances your chances is not opening emails. You get in or not based on your application. Think about it.
You could do all this rote clicking and still not know the college well enough to nail your app. As far as I’m concerned, every supp question is a test of your interest and smarts. You know what it takes or you don’t- and demonstrate there. Don’t make this random and don’t assume clicks are “it.” Do the harder work of knowing more about how you fit them.
I agree that conventional marketing tracks (or can.) If you never open advertising emails from that store, you may get dropped. If you live within driving distance of a college, be sure to visit.
Remember, the CDS is not policed by anyone. Whether or not they say DI is important, they still want to see, in your app and supp, how you match what they look for, that you know them, what they value, what they offer, etc. That’s more vital than opening emails and lingering.
I think visiting the colleges is the single most important sign of interest a prospective student can make. This isn’t always practical. The next most important is getting on the colleges’ target or mailing lists – where you make contact or ask for information, as suggested above by sgopal2. (So much is now available on websites, but you may have specific questions about particular programs.)
Our #1 never visited several of the schools he was admitted to b/c he was (he said) too busy. He first visited the one he ended up attending when he visited for “admitted students day.” Our #2 visited all but two of the art schools she applied to, but had made contact with several by attending national portfolio days and speaking to college reps there (as well as bringing some art from her portfolio).
We were not able to visit the school my D is currently attending, but she was interested, and knew they considered interest so figuring how else to demonstrate interest was important. The biggie for my D in this school’s case was the “why us” supplemental question (which was officially optional) but not all schools have those, so I wouldn’t completely discount seemingly smaller things like visiting the web site, taking “virtual tours”, emailing or calling to have info sent, etc. in those instances.
Also check to see if schools offer interviews with local alums in cases where an in person visit isn’t possible. Not only does this demonstrate interest, but it can be genuinely helpful. My D’s interest in the school she ultimately chose increased dramatically after a terrific alumni interview and I think it inspired her to write a much more specific and heartfelt supplement answer.
Applying ED is the strongest expression of interest that an applicant can make. But that is not always practical either (e.g. need to compare FA offers).
IMO, for the colleges that have it, nailing the “Why Us” essay is the single best way of demonstrating interest. A campus visit can help with that.