<p>I am in frigging love with this college.
I am sending regular e-mails to show interest ( not the mundane e-mails but I try to come with something interesting every time I shoot an e-mail).
But I am not sure that's going to help very much.
I am also planning to make an Ambigram and schedule an interview and that's pretty much it.
Being an international student, a visit to a college is certainly not possible for me.
What's more that I can do to show my strong interest in the college?</p>
<p>I am a freshman. Every once in awhile I called the admissions representative for my area. I usually had some concern, or as we got to know each other, something more personal. For instance, I had a lot of experience working in my high school’s admissions office, and used that as a topic. Understand, however, this form of communication is completely representative of my personality. At the time I was doing all of this naturally. Now I realize I was being subconsciously manipulative. As an international student, it may not be possible for you, owing to time zones, to phone in. I would only suggest doing this if you feel completely comfortable. The major benefit of doing this is that oral communication showcases your personality/character. Of course, this can also be a drawback. Best of luck with your college search.</p>
<p>Sometimes less is more. Our Swattie never scheduled an interview. Many other successful applicants did not either. In fact, I am unaware of evidence that greater contact with admissions staff raises ones chances of getting in. (Some applicants who contacted staff got in, and others who contacted staff did not, but the former are more likely to advertise the fact.) My own experience is with graduate admissions, but when an applicant gets beyond the second e-mail or second phone call, red flags start to go up. Will this person be high maintenance? Now, I will be unfailingly polite to the applicant, and he or she may think that every contact is raising the chances of admission, but that need not be the case.</p>
<p>It’s different for grad and undergrad. Some schools - especially LACs - factor in interest. The common data set will tell you which ones. Besides emails indicating you know the school’s special programs and how they may benefit you or how you could participate. You can email a professor in your possible major. Most of all you can request a skype interview.
Many schools especially the large ones, those that receive tens of thousands of applications, public universities that admit mostly on stats, don’t consider interest.</p>
<p>All I can say is that we were strongly advised by an Alumni interviewer to organize an interview and if at all possible on campus. We were fortunate that we were able to do this. Was this the reason he was admitted…clearly not the only one, but we believe it certainly helped. He started Freshman Orientation today.</p>
<p>During our visit to Swarthmore last year one of the admissions counselors stated very clearly that Swarthmore does not use “interest” as a factor in decision making. She said that this was because they did not find that “interest” (e.g. visits to the college, emails, phone calls, etc.) determined whether an accepted applicant chose to enroll or not. I would differentiate this from an interview (either by phone or in person), however, where an applicant can present him/herself in a way that strengthens the application. The admissions counselor did say that “interest” was highly important when an applicant is placed on the waiting list. Hearing from a wait lister could be a major factor in determining whether he/she was offered a position as Swarthmore does not rank order their wait list.</p>
<p>I think they are more interested in FIT, instead of just INTEREST, because interest alone does not really show how you might do well there, or how you might contribute in the future.</p>