<p>I checked my mailbox about thirty minutes ago and found a letter from Harvard in there. After staring at it for a second, my first reaction was "What in the world is wrong with these people?". I opened it and found a general college letter (congratulations on your achievements, we are interested in you, etc.). I do not play any sports, nor have I won any national awards (I've won one global-ish award in Latin II, but that's it), etc. However, I am an above average student, but not in the top 10. So, I was just wondering under what criteria do these schools send out letters?</p>
<p>I apologize in advance if I'm posting this in the wrong forum.</p>
<p>Yeah, if you checked on your PSAT to allow the Nat Merit Corp to send out your information, they did (to lots and lots of colleges).</p>
<p>College letters are kind of like spam emails though. Don't put too much thought into them. Colleges just want your application fee (and your application, which raises their application numbers and gives them a chance to reject you, lowering their acceptance rates).</p>
<p>Since you got a letter from Harvard, you must have had a score in the top range of scores they send out so congrats on that.</p>
<p>Naive little high schoolers.
They send these things to way more people than they could ever consider accepting. Even to people they know have zero chance of getting in just to lower their acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Wait until you start getting mailings from WashU on a daily basis.</p>
<p>haha i get those letters too. but they're all so complimentary "we want youuu... congratulations on your fantastic performance," etc etc... even if i have like 0% chance of getting in, it still feels nice to get them on occasion :)</p>
<p>No kidding. I think that Book Awards are for marketing purposes too. Harvard Book Award? I do agree that some people are quite naive to believe that they now have a better chance of getting into Harvard simply because they got their book award.</p>
<p>haha yeah I got the Harvard Book Award, it's lame I know. I'm glad I'm not a prestige whore :) I think people really should know their limits and be realistic about their chances, last but not least, stop feeding application $$ to those colleges that you won't even get in!! Hehe, just my thoughts..</p>
<p>Good idea for recycling. Shredding and using as garden mulch is a another possibility. You kids will be be getting a lot of material this summer. As meow360 implies, you may want to edit a bit what you show to your folks (i.e., the schools YOU like).</p>
<p>The letter means nothing. Look at it, consider it, throw it away. If you are not a top student you will have no chance. Sorry, but my sister thought she could get into UPenn, I kept telling her and my parents that she couldn't and it took a teacher to tell her that she had no chance and she came home crying. Sometimes you need to be harsh.</p>
<p>It piles up in stacks around my room, because I can't be bothered to sort through it. Some of the stuff comes from colleges I actually care about, some doesn't. They must have killed a whole forest in my name by now to make those glossy, color-printed booklets. I get between 4-5 letters a day.</p>
<p>Also, I got mail from pretty much every top 20 school except from Penn (all other Ivies included). So not getting mail doesn't automatically mean you have no chance at a place either for anyone who might read this and worry about not getting college spam.</p>