<p>The fact that there appears to be zero info about the company itself on the website (except a mailing address) is sufficient grounds for binning it, but that's not all. They "list" 3000 colleges, but scrupulously refrain from saying what relationships they have, if any, with any of them. The "news coverage" tab contains no news about the company, as far as I can tell, but plenty of articles about how tough college admissions is, which is not exactly news. The "study" about how much you increase your chances by "expressing interest" looks utterly bogus; no methodology is described and the notion that it is even possible to measure that an "expression of interest" can increase your chances of admission by 127% at any particular school is laughable. If these guys had any serious bona fides, they would be all over the site.</p>
<p>Palmer-</p>
<p>Can you name specific colleges that said they would actually take into account "tokens" they receive from this company?</p>
<p>Just for fun, let's do a little more digging. The "study" on the CAPS website says that at Amherst, your chances of admission go up by 117% if you express interest, and that this is based on an analysis of the 2008 Common Data Set. But the latest CDS I can find on Amherst's website is for 2007, and it states that the level of an applicant's interest is "not considered" in admissions. Either things changed an awful lot between 2007 and 2008 or something is wrong here. </p>
<p>I also note that the only discussion of "interest" in the CDS is a statement of whether it is "very important," "important," "considered" or "not considered" in admissions. Yet the CAPS people were able to translate this into a change in the likelihood of admission ranging from -67% (!) to +127% with many more than two scores in between! These guys must be geniuses!</p>
<p>I don't understand why you would choose to send 1 token to a school.</p>
<p>I get the concept behind sending 3 and a birdie...but why would I choose to tell a school that they are anything but my top choice? (If they aren't my top choice, I'd rather just say nothing, I think...)</p>
<p>kmj-c09: I happen to agree with you. I can see the wisdom in sending three plus a birdie, three or even potentially just two, but I've advised my student not to send one token until I can really understand its impact.</p>
<p>johnshade: I think you are looking for a certainty in an industry that has none. Colleges are free to do what they want, and what goes on behind closed doors is not necessarily unfair, but perhaps not as transparent as some on CC would like it to be. If you don't believe me, look at the thread of postings on students who applied to colleges and didn't get in, but friends with less credentials did.</p>
<p>The ED vs. RD rate certainly DOES NOT translate into exactly how expressing interest impacts admission. However, you shouldn't ignore that expressing interest in a binding way is a huge factor in ED and colleges know that. This component of ED is true regardless of whether the college says they use preference in decisions or not. If a student applies ED, they know they're the students top choice, period, and will pay their money and show up if admitted. That's the quid pro quo that applicants offer colleges and why, on an overall basis, the admit rate for early decision typically is higher, and not by just a little bit. However, I would agree that no one should assume that by using CAPS their chances will increase as much as by ED or even at the rates listed. You can look at another page on their site which shows how many of the top colleges do consider interest (the analysis on that page doesn't seem to be connected to the page with the acceptance rates, which is unfortunate).</p>
<p>The colleges don't like to talk about how they use preference because its somewhat taboo. I will ask the reps I spoke with if I can use their name, but I'm pretty sure they won't. You have to remember that admissions reps need to fill classes, not just accept students, so they somehow have to predict who will show. Now, this is less so the case at colleges with high yields (i.e.: Harvard), where they are pretty confident that if they mail an acceptance letter, a deposit will come back on a very high percentage of them. I honestly believe that almost all private college use some level of prediction of who will attend in their decisions, and that colleges are hesitant to discuss how they do and in some cases, whether they do so. Here is a perfect example: Tulane claims not to use preference in the CDS, however asks what other colleges you are applying to on their application. They know all their competitor colleges (and can get it from lots of data sources) so I can only assume they are going to predict where you will go and what their shot is at getting you in the door. I only hope (since its optional) that they use it for their yield modeling and not for decision making, but remember its on the same page as the application. And they are not alone; other colleges ask as well.</p>
<p>Palmer, I really can't help but to believe that you're somehow affiliated with this site. You joined TODAY and your only posts are long-winded responses to this thread. I don't think a third-party site like this could have any impact on admissions at all.</p>
<p>As a professional I read cc, but I, like many of my colleagues, usually never have the time to post. I spend most of my day working with my students, getting transcripts out the door, and yes, communicating with companies like CAPS to determine what is useful and what is probably a scam that will harm them. If affiliated means that I have spoken with this company, than I guess I am. But so would tons of other counselors. If you don't like the longwindedness (although I would personally consider them thorough), then you should be glad you're not one of my students.</p>
<p>As for third party sites that impact admissions, consider this: ACT, College Board, Common Application, NCAA Clearinghouse, Facebook (which we are hearing a lot about now), cappex, and a variety of other sites and lists.</p>
<p>CAPS is by no means perfect, and I think it remains to be seen what impact it will have as its a new service, but the risk seems relatively low. If you disagree, then its your choice not to use it.</p>
<p>I'm not looking for certainty at all, just questioning the bona fides of a site that on its face has none. I seriously doubt that most colleges will care two pins about getting "tokens" from some outfit that doesn't even list its coprorate or institutional affiliations on its webpage, while having a high-faluting, generic name like "The Partnership of the College Application Processing Service." Who are the "partners"? What "applications" do they "process"? Why would some silly "tokens" have more weight (or even as much weight) as a college counselor's letter saying that XYZ college is a kid's first choice (or among his very few top choices?</p>