<p>About how many are sent out? What kind of PSAT/SAT score is this based on? I'm assuming all this mail is just to get students to apply and doesn't really mean anything in terms of admissions.</p>
<ol>
<li> Yes.</li>
<li> I have no idea how many are sent.</li>
<li> My daughter’s PSAT was 228. As of the beginning of August, we weighed the materials sent to her. They weighed 24 lbs. and included an application from Harvard and a paperback book from Yale. Then we recycled them.</li>
<li> I think your assumption is correct.</li>
</ol>
<p>The more people that apply, the more people they get to reject. :D</p>
<p>@Schokolade Did your daughter take the PSAT jr year?</p>
<p>Getting mail from top colleges means close to nothing.</p>
<p>^ Yes, dylan, and she is a senior now. We found that the college materials have arrived in waves. She’s started getting more each day now that application season has started.</p>
<p>Cool^. I’m taking the PSAT as a Sophomore first because it’s free to sophomores. I don’t think I’ll hit 220 though…even though I’m fairly intelligent.</p>
<p>I sent my first AP test score last year to USC, will I get mail? Made a 5.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It depends on the college. Some will bombard you with mail when you show even the slightest interest; others couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>The top colleges try to send mail to anyone who might have a chance of being a successful applicant. The more good applicants those colleges get, the more chances they get of crafting interesting, diverse, well rounded, active student bodies that include many students who otherwise might not have applied except for receiving a mailing.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of such mailings are sent out, so getting a mailing doesn’t mean that you’re likely to be accepted. According to Harvard’s admissions, most members of their student body got at least one mailing from Harvard during or before their senior year.</p>
<p>Most high school seniors – including most who take the PSAT and SAT, however, don’t get mailings from the top colleges, so there is some selection involved. However, there are many more students who qualify for admission to top colleges than there are spaces for such students.</p>
<p>There are several benefits that the elite schools get with these mailings. Yes, they may increase the number of applicants, thereby driving down yield (and increasing their USNWR ranking). Also, admissions offices are becoming profit centers; with 30,000 applications (Duke, Harvard) @ $50-100 a pop, and a low cost of labor (using many low-paid former students as readers, etc.), each school may net well over $1 million annually.</p>