<p>If you sign up for info, your email will be in their system.
If you go to a college fair, they will have a postcard for you to scan and they will have your info in the system.
If you they visit your HS, the rep will have your name.
If you sign up for a regional info session, you will sign up and they will have your name.
etc
etc</p>
Case scans all the documents you send in and notes they have into one big electronic file that counselors can access on their computers. So alumni interviews etc will all be in that one file.
This is excellent advice–for Case in particular, but for many other schools, as well. With the increase in numbers of applications nationally, colleges and universities are more concerned about yield than ever.
As a general rule, except at the very top it is a good idea to show interest, in multiple ways.
I got a 26 on my ACT (bad test taker’s anxiety) and I know this isn’t exactly a shining star at Case but it is my top choice in school and I have shown a lot of interest in the school. Do you think this increases my chances or should I just plan for the worst when RD comes out in March?
I keep reading that people should open the emails sent to them from Case. Can anyone enlighten me on why? Other than the obvious reason that there may be some important info included about your application.
Seeing that advise repeatedly makes me think there’s an Easter egg in it or something!
Because they can “see” if you have opened them…If they are choosing between the person who has had an interview and has opened up/read a bunch of their emails vs. one who hasn’t, they are going with the person who has shown the interest. Case, like many other colleges, wants the people who are offered admission to enroll. They increase those chances by taking your interest into account…They don’t want the “well if I don’t get into MIT I guess I’ll go there” people.
How can they see if an email has been open/read if your settings are to NOT send read receipts? Short of allowing read receipts to be sent, I’m unaware of how anyone sending emails can know this.
Should read receipts be turned ON then just for application season for this reason?
I really don’t know, but if you google “how can someone know if you read their email” you can see some techniques. Also I am sure that it isn’t just CWRU doing this!
@jumbletumbles The way that companies or schools ‘used to’ know if you opened an email is that they would include a link to an image of some sort (may even be 1-pixel by 1-pixel that you can’t see) that is unique to YOU. So, every email in effect was unique…contained a uniquely identifiable image. When you open that email, that link is ‘triggered’ to display the image in your email. The fact that that image is ‘served up’ from the companies/school’s server can be logged, and attributed to YOU. They know that you must have opened the email, because their server is being asked to show you an image. I say that this is the way they ‘used to’ do it only because there is probably some other technology that is used today, but it would work similarly.
Keep in mind, that in the above case if you have your email set to NOT display images, then opening the email would not work. Also, keep in mind spammers use the same tactic to verify that an email address is valid, so if you open spam, there is a chance that the spammers now know they have an active email address that they share with their friend spammers.
I am posting this on a couple different CWRU threads since we just became aware that showing interest is very important in the admissions decision. Was somewhat confident of son’s chances EA, but now very nervous!
S16 applied EA, but was unaware Case may base much of the admissions decision on “demonstrated interest”. Other than applying EA (which to me shows alot of interest) - he has not contacted the school directly. We live 2000 miles away with a limited budget, so visiting prior to acceptance has not been possible.
Any suggestions this late in the game since EA decisions are due out mid December?
@4kids2graduate this is obviously too late to help as far as CWRU EA goes, however may be useful for RD. Are you using common data set info to help you through understanding different schools & their requirements & general info? If not, I highly recommend looking at section C7 for any & all schools your son is applying to. Scrolling down to that section, CWRU has indicated “Level of Applicant’s Interest” is “Important” in their selection criteria.
There are many ways to show interest if finances are constrained for long distance travel as previously posted above by others. If CWRU is truly a top pick, my personal opinion would be that it wouldn’t necessarily hurt for him to reach out to your child’s regional admissions counselor and make contact now, explaining the financial issue for travel & just reinforce his interest- maybe asking even now if an alumni interview might be advantageous. Might not help, but I can’t see it hurting. Well, unless your son isn’t very good with phone conversations, of course! Lol. Then perhaps an email. If he gets deferred, he might be able to get an interview request in for RD as well.
Good Luck!