<p>Anecdotally, WUSTL, Emory, Tufts & U of Rochester cite the importance of demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>I would imagine many of the LACs also could be included in the demonstrating interest group.</p>
<p>I don't have a problem with Xiggi's disagreement with me on the NACAC study, and I actually agree with him now about the NACAC test methodology. :) </p>
<p>However, the findings about demonstrated interest do tend to collaborate with the extensive research I have done on admissions factors and enrollment management techniques being used by colleges. Demonstrated interest, as measured by several factors, is tracked by the vast majority of schools these days, and used to varying degrees in admissions decisions at many, especially those that have lower yields or are in hot competition with other peer institutions for top students. I think the inclusion of it on the CDC report is a very interesting signal - thanks Papachicken for calling this to our attention. </p>
<p>I have some issues with how CDC data is gathered and reported, based mainly on some of the discussions I've read in the CDC listserv. Some schools really seem to push the limits in terms of how they interpret the definitions of each CDC category. Unfortunately, the CDC's are currently the only way we have to get any sort of sense of how admissions decisions are made at most schools. I am, however, very careful when trying to interpret admissions chances and factors weighted in admissions solely from the CDC --- there's quite a bit of wiggle room in the reported numbers at many schools methinks.</p>
<p>...scanned the latest of available CDS' of some, but not all, colleges & universities. Found one error in my OP, transposition of Bowdoin & Colorado College, fixed below.</p>
<p>Amherst -- not considered
Bates -- VERY IMPORTANT
Bowdoin -- Considered
Brandeis -- Considered
Brown -- VERY IMPORTANT
Carleton -- not considered
CMU -- not considered
Colby -- Considered
Colorado Coll -- IMPORTANT
Cornell -- not considered
Dartmouth -- not considered
Dickinson -- Considered
Emory -- Considered
Ga Tech -- not considered
Grinnell -- not considered
GWU -- Considered
Hamilton -- Considered
Haverford -- Considered
Holy Cross -- Considered
Kenyon -- IMPORTANT
Lehigh -- Considered
Macalester -- not considered
Middlebury -- Considered
NYU -- not considered
Oberlin -- Considered
Ohio State -- not considered
Penn State -- not considered
RPI -- Considered
Skidmore -- not considered
Stanford -- not considered
Swarthmore -- Considered
U Colorado -- Considered
U Richmond -- not considered
U Vermont -- Considered
U Wash -- not considered
UC Berkeley -- not considered
UGa -- Considered
UNC -- not considered
UVa -- not considered
Vanderbilt -- not considered
Williams -- not considered</p>
<p>Bates -- VERY IMPORTANT
Brown -- VERY IMPORTANT
Colorado Coll -- IMPORTANT
Kenyon -- IMPORTANT
Bowdoin -- Considered
Brandeis -- Considered
Colby -- Considered
Dickinson -- Considered
Emory -- Considered
GWU -- Considered
Hamilton -- Considered
Haverford -- Considered
Holy Cross -- Considered
Lehigh -- Considered
Middlebury -- Considered
Oberlin -- Considered
RPI -- Considered
Swarthmore -- Considered
U Colorado -- Considered
U Vermont -- Considered
UGa -- Considered
Amherst -- not considered
Carleton -- not considered
CMU -- not considered
Cornell -- not considered
Dartmouth -- not considered
Ga Tech -- not considered
Grinnell -- not considered
Macalester -- not considered
NYU -- not considered
Ohio State -- not considered
Penn State -- not considered
Skidmore -- not considered
Stanford -- not considered
U Richmond -- not considered
U Wash -- not considered
UC Berkeley -- not considered
UNC -- not considered
UVa -- not considered
Vanderbilt -- not considered
Williams -- not considered</p>
<p>Odd, because Brown won't even let students sign in when they visit! </p>
<p>Columbia, on the other hand, (not on the list,) asks on the application for all contacts with the school as Emory does.</p>
<p>Funny you should mention Brown. We visited Brown for d # 1 just before Xmas. It was literally the last info session before Xmas (maybe 12/23 afternoon). There was no sign in sheet, so I assumed that it was because it was so close to the Holiday and everyone was in a rush to get out and didn't want to bother inputing info from the sign in sheet. This was the only school that had no sign in sheet and I always attributed that to the Holiday rush. I guess they are really special!!
My d also designated Brown as one of her 2 top choices- as she was Commended Student/National Merit. There was absolutely no acknowledgement from Brown for this designation. At least from UVA she received a tepid letter saying Thanks for choosing us- but look at other schools too. I will admit though, the rejection letter from Brown was very nice. Much nicer than the rejection letter from UVA.</p>
<p>We never visited UVa and got NO communication from them during the admission process, in spite of sending in supplementary materials. Nothing from the major department. Zilch. We planned to visit if S was admitted. Then my son got a bland acceptance letter (no packet). When he declined, he got an equally bland "sorry you didn't choose us, but please fill out the survey" letter. I guess UVa really doesn't care all that much about whether you vist, nor about the impression they give.</p>
<p>We visited Brown three times and one of my kids slept over through their visiting program. Apparently they didn't care!</p>
<p>UVA is notorious for its snooty attitude. A number of my friends' kids who visited there with some initial enthusiasm, soon were turned off and looked elsewhere happily.</p>
<p>OrangeBlossom,
I guess I didn't know UVa's "other" reputation. The snooty, uncaring attitude was really a turn-off, and S didn't even want to visit after his acceptance. But maybe we are in the minority, because clearly lots of other people are eager to attend.</p>
<p>Our family got mixed messages about UVA. My d fell head over heels with the school.-Two visits-applied ED and that was what she wanted. I kinda picked up on the snooty vibe thing. Not from the kids, but from administration. UVA comes to NYC to do an admission session. Of course we went twice- when she was in 11th grade and 12th grade. One of the years, the admission guy comes. No slides- no film- no pictures of the campus ( oh excuse me- The Grounds). He did bring an alum- Tiki Barber (football player)
to answer questions with a panel of former students. Now we had been to the campus, so I knew what it was like. But I am sure there were plenty of kids who travelled an hour or two from all parts of NYC-NJ-WestChester etc. who would have appreciated seeing a short film about "the grounds" and what UVA had to offer.<br>
I think my initial take was- are they so "full of themselves" that they don't have the courtesy to share basic info with this audience and produce a film??<br>
I probably shouldn't admit it, but when my d was rejected by UVA, I wasn't too upset. She did just fine without them.</p>
<p>We're in-state in Virginia. My son was accepted. He finished his application the day it was due. We never visited. We never sent anything extra in. Had it not been for the USC film thing, he probably would have gone to UNC, not UVA.</p>
<p>I called Brown admissions out of curiosity, & received what I thought was a great answer to what they look for regarding level of interest.</p>
<p>First, noting the Brown application was not the Common App, the admissions officer noted that the "Why Brown" essay was very important to them. And this is where an applicant demonstrates their level of interest...by researching Brown & figuring out how they fit. In fact when I asked if "level of interest" could also be demonstrated by visiting, the admissions officer noted that they don't even keep track of who visits (as mentioned in posts above), and that wouldn't be fair anyway because the practice would favor those that could afford to visit.</p>
<p>So, I have been thinking all along about the tactical demonstrations of "level of interest", like visits & contacts, not fulling grasping that for some colleges, like Brown, interest can be (perhaps more appropriately) expressed as part of the application.</p>
<p>I have two thoughts on this thread.</p>
<p>First, UVa: we visited and were turned off by virtually every person we came into contact with -- admissions officer, tour guide, coach, students. I found the prevailing attitude of superiority unbelievable and unwarranted. We left feeling that you could not pay us enough money to send our child to UVa.</p>
<p>Second, Brown: an interesting response from the adcom, thank you Papa Chicken, for doing the follow up on that. I really like Brown's response, but then again so far I like just about everything about Brown. I don't think that interest can be accurately gauged by visits, phone calls, emails, and letters. True interest comes first from understanding what a college is uniquely about and then from understanding how you can both contribute to and benefit from what makes a school unique. Looking back, I think that my daughter did this investigative and introspective work and is now looking forward to being a freshman at Brown come fall.</p>
<p>I can tell you definitely that both WUSTL and Case Western consider demonstrated interest. </p>
<p>Our son started getting contact from WUSTL last year, and looked into it. He replied to a few emails, and we visited last month, where he also had an interview. They do not attempt to hide the fact that demonstrated interest is a significant factor in their decision making process.</p>
<p>We also attended a local presentation by the Case Western admissions office on Tuesday night. (Very informative and well done, by the way). They have just recently adopted the demonstrated interest criterion for admission.</p>
<p>I think interviews and interest are going to become increasingly a part of the scene at many universities, particularly since test prep and retaking has become an art form, and there is little to differentiate many applicants from each other.</p>