<p>In October my S (Jr in HS) and I attended a very large and crowded college fair. Rather than fill out the request for info. cards at the fair, we brought them home and mailed them a couple of days later. Of the 28 that we mailed we only have heard back from two schools. I find this peculiar. Now I'm not really worried about a lack of information and I know that it's all available on-line. However what I like about getting the snail mail it it allows me to engage my S in dialogue about the school rather than having him just surf the web and researching only the female/male ratios!!!! Anyway I just think it's weird to have so few responses after 6 weeks.
One funny story from the college fair. There was someone representing a very large university who basically refused to engage anyone in dialogue. He just sat at his table and passed out the general brochure saying over and over "Any questions check the web page, Any questions check the web page, if you need more info check the web page" It was hilarious to watch.
Needless to say "if you have any questions check the web page" has become sort of a mantra in our household</p>
<p>I don’t know either. D went online and requested material from one college, D never received anything from such college. The only thing is her stats are well above the 75th percentile of admitted students, so I was wondering if such college thinks D used them as a safety.</p>
<p>Don’t worry. Colleges right now are very busy with applications, they will not start sending out until Feb, by June the mailbox will be filled, so will your email. They also are going to wait until their SAT/ACT scores are in to see if they are a “match” . For now go to the college sites on CC and the stat profile to use for info with your children. Chances threads really will open their eyes. I will assume that your kids no where they want to go, so surf this site with them to get more info. We found this site more informative than any rochure or college visit. People here have either applied or attended and they have more 1st hand knowledge.</p>
<p>swpdad: You will be surprised (and your mailman will grow to hate you) when the flood of viewbooks (solicitated and unsolicitated) start coming to your door !! Be patient and get a big recycling box. </p>
<p>FWIW: make address labels at home and take them with you to the college fairs. Just stick them on the cards and walk away.</p>
<p>Swpdad, every time I see the title of your thread I think, “No! It’s Professor Plum, with the candlestick, in the library!” Sorry, can’t help it. :)</p>
<p>The suggestion about address labels is a terrific one, and yes, the flood of look books will soon exponentially exceed the current flow of holiday catalogs. Tip your postal carrier well this December.</p>
<p>Swpdad,</p>
<pre><code>You will also start to resent the colleges that can’t get the clue…it’s almost december and s has never chimed into their web site or asked for more material, but we receive info from them at least 2x a week snail and email. If your child is competitive everyone is right the box will be filled from no names to Ivies.
</code></pre>
<p>For us they came in waves…now they are focused on seniors, but after the new year, kapow…</p>
<p>My sophomore S is getting mail! A whole burst of it just last week, as well as a slew of emails. He hasn’t taken any APs yet; the only thing we can figure is a math competition he was in where he had to give his name/address to register. He didn’t do that well in it either.</p>
<p>cgm is right–now they are concentrating on seniors. They won’t have appropriate materials, with correct dates, tuition rates, etc. ready to mail until January.</p>
<p>Harriett: You are right!! It must be the Professor, since the postman always rings twice!!</p>
<p>I was thinking we were going to get a juicy paternity question story…oh well.</p>
<p>Dealing with mail:</p>
<p>I got three milk crate size boxes and set up a system:<br>
One box is for colleges D is somewhat interested in.<br>
Second box is for colleges I’m somewhat interested in but she isn’t 
(yet!).<br>
Third box is for files: schools she is planning to apply to get a file folder, and as each piece of mail is received it goes into the file. When she talks with someone at the school, she writes the name of the person she’s talking with, the date, and notes on the conversation. Notes from visits go in the file as well, and copies of the sent applications. Also notes about test scores and recommendations having been sent, etc.<br>
The front few file folders are for test scores/transcript, brag sheet, fact sheet with school address, phone numbers, councelor contact info, common app, drafts of essays, summer programs and so on.</p>
<p>Mailings that neither one of us wants gets recycled pretty quickly, and file folders can be added or removed as needed. </p>
<p>Some system of dealing with the mail becomes necessary pretty quickly. I’m not the most organized person, but this process is overwhelming enough without having to dig through piles of view books or try and remember who you talked to at XU. A filing system also allows you to keep the college search process out of sight and mind part of the time, but to effectively think about it when you and your child have a few minutes.</p>
<p>Aw shucks. If I had known, I would have saved the TON of college mail we received UNSOLICITED. Just wait. You will rue the day that you mentioned that you weren’t getting enough college mail. My son (who is now a grad student) still gets mail for undergraduate school. It’s virtually impossible to get OFF of these mailing lists once you are on them.</p>
<p>My first 3 kids, who are well into and/or out of college, still get mail from the Army & Marine Corp. If that job thing doesn’t work out, I guess…</p>
<p>And DH has been getting mail recently from a company that wants to lend him money for college. It’s addressed “to the parents of” DH. 
</p>
<p>RR,</p>
<p>Yes we can tell you’re not an organized person <g>. It’s clear you’re a Mom with an D and not a Dad with as S.</g></p>
<p>Thanks for the advice!!</p>
<p>OK, make fun of me now, but you’ll be sorry when you are trapped under a pile of glossy pictures of coeds sprawled on quads reading the Iliad.</p>
<p>RR,</p>
<p>I do appreciate the input and I’m aware that we will need a system for managing the onslaught of information. Glad to hear about the pics of the coeds on the mall because maybe my S will actually look at the stuff then.
Also I wasn’t making fun of you BUT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>></p>
<p>I bet your spice rack is alphabetized with all of the labels perfectly facing
out!!!</p>
<p>swpdad–that’s what you DO with the bottles in a spice rack.<br>
In your office, do you file things alphabetically, or randomly? :)</p>
<p>File??? <g></g></p>