<p>Haha I was pretty excited today, I got letters from Tulane and R.I.T! The Tulane one seemed to show more interest and looked relatively personalized, while the Rochester Tech one was more generic. It's kind of weird though, I live nowhere either of the schools and never showed them any interest or anything, but whatever I guess. This is like the scholastic version of a first BJ for me, not the full thing, but was still an "omfg I'm not in middle school anymore" feeling, you know? </p>
<p>(I'm only a sophomore, excuse my warrantless excitement for this lol)</p>
<p>all of them are generic.
I’ve had 100’s of them since soph year. They mean nothing, unless it’s from a school you want to go to, then you fly through the air lolz.</p>
<p>One thing I don’t understand is though, why do they bother doing this? Surely no one will choose a college based on some unsolicited brochure mailed to them? I already have a list of 4-5 colleges I’m going to apply to. I’m not going to DROP EFFING EVERYTHING because a stock photo in an info pack spammed at me looked good.</p>
<p>Nice! I got my first one a few days ago from University of Rochester.
I’ve been getting a TON of emails.
It’s really annoying, but funny at the same time.</p>
<p>“Hey Mom!!! X college thinks that I have standout EC’s!!!” xD</p>
<p>Maybe not necessarily choose a college, but it definitely gets their name out there and now you’ve at least heard of the school/gotten some basic information. VERY few sophs have their finalized list all completed. I had Richmond on my list until the last minute, solely because they sent me a really nice viewbook that got me interested in doing more research.</p>
<p>Just wait and see if you’re still so excited when you get your 5000th piece of college mail from University of Tulsa wishing you happy birthday.</p>
<p>No, but what the e-mails are supposed to do is intrigue you to do more research into the college. Then, you decide based on that research. The real gold mines are viewbooks, as someone else mentioned. There’s lots of useful information in those, along with pictures of the campus so you get a visual introduction as well.</p>
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<p>You’re foreclosing yourself already? You don’t know what kind of person you’re going to be in two years, so therefore you don’t know what kind of college you’re going to want to go to. Why don’t you, instead, focus on high school for the moment? See what interests come your way; see what subjects fascinate you; see how your philosophies and opinions take shape. Then, when you have a decent idea of yourself, decide what college(s) you want.</p>
<p>Wait til you start getting offers to apply to colleges. They’re kind of like… you’ll have NO application fee, NO essay, EASY questions, streamlined questions, and a decision within TWO days with automatic consideration for scholarships and stuff!!!</p>
<p>^^ I obviously don’t have a 100% un-changing rock solid list of 4-5 schools, but the ones I’ve picked are all places I can see myself at and/or REALLY REALLY want to go there. I’m also not an idiot applying to 4-5 ivies or something, they’re good state schools (GA tech, for example) that fit me academically and socially (especially with big-time athletics, D-1 teams are a must for me lol)</p>
<p>I would always at least open and skim everything colleges sent me (half the mailbox full some days), even if I wasn’t interested in the school. Give them the benefit of the doubt. I was less generous with emails.</p>
<p>I applied to a couple schools that advertised free, easy applications (I can get fee waivers, but not an unlimited amount). I didn’t apply to them solely because of this, but because it made me look into them.</p>
<p>An acceptance, a lot of research, and a large scholarship later, one of them is looking pretty good, up there with colleges I chose without any prompting. </p>
<p>Some schools got me interested via mail, but I decided against after research or a visit.</p>
<p>
This is very good advice. One year before I was applying to the several out of state universities that have already made it possible for me to attend, I thought I was going to graduate early, take an AA to a local state university, and leave with a BSW. My plans radically shifted in six months. Before that, for several years I was convinced that I was going to be a priest or monk. Almost everyone I know has changed their minds as to what they want to do, where they want to go, who they want to be. I try to communicate this to freshmen I meet who have their plans set (“I’m going to Duke, then Yale Law because everyone in my family went to an Ivy League Law School and Harvard Law is anti-Semitic.” “…”), but few accept it. The thing is, though, whether you listen or not, life will happen.</p>
<p>But I’m glad you’re getting interested in your future. Good luck.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten stuff from RIT, University of Evansville, and Montana State University. Not particularly looking at any of those schools, but it’s nice to know that I didn’t completely bomb my PSATs, haha. Plus I know I’ll be getting more. I know I did better than one of my friends, and she’s had loads of e-mails from colleges like U of Miami and Michigan.</p>
<p>Haha quomodo has it right. I was excited at first too, then by the two-hundredth “Congratulations on such a high ACT score” I got really tired of opening the lid to our trashcan in the kitchen.</p>
<p>P.S. - BillyMc same thing happened to me. I applied to Tulane because their free app and my need for another Match school that I like made me look into it, and now it’s pretty high up on my list (still a sort of safety now that I got in, but I would totally love to go there if I didn’t get into any of my more favored schools).</p>
The specific one I referenced was Loyola New Orleans, but the same thing happened with me with Tulane (haven’t gotten decision yet, under review now). Don’t want to get ahead of myself, but based on their average stats, I should get in. Neither of those are my very top schools, but both are realistic and exciting. I thought it was funny that this happened to me with two schools literally right next to each other (sharing a border).</p>
<p>How cute!(: I remember my first letter in the mail from a college. It was from John Hopkins University. lol. </p>
<p>Believe me, they get really !@#$ing annoying really fast. After a while, it gets to the point where you can’t check your mail without finding at least one letter from a college. They’re all generic. I’ve gotten some from Ivies, JHU, Stanford, etc… it’s not like I’m even close to a match for those schools.</p>
