<p>First son: Saved all college mail and threw out a box that weighed 2 tons.</p>
<p>Second son: Throwing it out as it comes along.</p>
<p>Throwing it all out as we speak! S saved it all, including all the catalogs, maps, CDs etc. from schools he visited. Sophomore daughter is first starting to get inundated with college mail this week, which was exciting for her. First to show up was U. Chicago. With son, the tie for the most mail was between them and WUSTL. </p>
<p>This is pure marketing, not any kind of indication that the school feels your child is a realistic candidate for them. Part of the mission of these schools is to "advertise" for as many incoming applications as they can possibly get. The more applications they get, the more selective they can appear to be, a vital component of the USNews and other rankings. You'll rarely hear of an application being discouraged, no matter how unlikely the chances for a given student. We did have some targeted and personalized mail that came my son's way, but you can easily tell the difference. Letters signed by hand from a regional rep, that referenced a specific contact S had made with the school were examples of these. </p>
<p>One thing I have learned however, is the importance to some schools, including some of the highly selective ones, of demonstrated interest. If you do get mail from a school that you think you may be interested in, it doesn't hurt, even at this stage to request additiional materials such as a catalog or CD, or email the regional rep with a question about upcoming information sessions in your town. Some schools do keep track of these things.</p>
<p>Based on whom you're getting mail from, I'd say it means your daughter hit a very high cutoff on her PSAT scores. Congratulations! (My D, who was commended, got half the mail that my son, who was NMF, got--one point difference in their actual scores, one year apart.)</p>
<p>Dmd77, wow, I never thought PSAT scores could make such a difference! Did your S or D actually apply to any of the schools which solicited them? Also, do you think NM status (semi or finalist) opens up the door to merit scholarships?</p>
<p>Yes, maybe some of the stronger schools do a mailing based on scores, but there is really a limited amount you can read into this. A good friend's daughter who is NOT a strong student at all got mail from plenty of the elite schools, nevertheless. She probably did get less of it, though, that is true. Hopefully, parents and students have educated themselves and can discriminate between a reach versus a match school. Still, I do think that some of these mailings can be misleading and give unrealistic expectations to people who are not savvy to this. The colleges will defend this practice by saying that they look at kids holistically - they can't possibly know who will have an amazing hook, for example. That's fair. But parents should not read anything much into these mailings that they don't know already.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For my husband and me, a letter from
St. Michael's Cemetery, offering "graves, niches and cremation" and a $1,000 savings certificate!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>mac hopefully you'll only get waitlisted!!</p>
<p>LOL Andi.</p>
<p>Is it better to get waitlisted or deferred? Certainly an early admissions would be the worst. :)</p>
<p>Dabost: no, my kids were not interested in any schools in the south, Texas, or midwest, which were the ones offering scholarships. (My son was offered a full ride at UTexas Dallas, plus housing in the honors dorm and $1000/quarter, for example.) My D did get offered $8K/year at Lewis and Clark on the basis of her SAT scores (not PSAT), but she did apply there (and EA safety is a wonderful thing) and they did not mail her anything in advance of that.</p>
<p>Each school has its own way of compiling a "prospect list" of kids to send mailings to depending on their recruiting goals - they use factors such as PSAT/SAT scores, but they also use factors like zip codes from wealthier areas, part of the country, type of high school, race, reported GPA, major listed, even gender, etc. to build their mailing lists. </p>
<p>Highly selective schools like Swarthmore, Williams, Middlebury typically DO NOT send mailings to kids who scored in the 1600s, the 1700's or even the 1900s on the PSATs (there are exceptions - they may send mailings to kids in certain racial categories who scored lower for example if they're hoping to build diversity) but they don't necessarily send to all kids who score above a certain number either because their lists are as targeted as any other with factors such as those listed above. </p>
<p>As Roshke notes, getting a mailing from a college and getting into the college are two completely different things. But, since many schools do place some weight on demonstrated interest, if any school you receive a mailing from is a possibility, it is a good idea to send back the reply form and keep in touch with them. The mailings will keep coming long after your child has sent in applications and been accepted to other schools. :)</p>