My kids took their first SATs in December. As you all likely know, that opened the floodgates to college solicitation…
We have decided, for fun, to keep ALL of it and see how much we get… Now, I have twins, so we get duplicates of almost everything… we have a box we are throwing it all in and have placed bets on how much mail we get before they go into senior year in the fall… Since mid December we have 137 pieces.
My guess is 637 pieces before school starts. All 4 of up put $10 in… winner takes all.
There will be the schools that send weekly mailings- see how high the pile from a single school gets! I think there must be an inverse relationship for the student’s interest in a school and the amount of mail received. And, as parents, who knows which boxes they checked when taking those ACT/SAT’s.
disclaimer- my experience for son is years old but it seems snail mail must still be popular with colleges. I still remember the single school color postcard with the instate flagship name and simple message with words like “we got your scores and they’re good”. Just a low key reminder to think of it.
And then the phone calls start. I always felt sorry for the students making unsolicited calls on behalf of schools my kids had no interest in attending.
It only starts to slow down during Senior year after all the schools deadlines for applying have past. The emails, mailings and phone calls all begin to stop.
McGill in Montreal has instituted a paper free admissions policy. No viewbook or brochures. Admitted students even have to download and print their pdf acceptance letter.
For us, Colgate won the most mail award. Johns Hopkins, UChicago, and Columbia were also in the running. My son had his name in two databases, one with his full name and one with the shortened version so he actually received two of many of the mailings from some colleges. Including two t shirts from UChicago, both a size too small.
My S, our oldest, kept all of the brochures alphabetically organized, up until he submitted all of his applications. He ended up with 3 filing cabinet drawers full of brochures and letters - for the schools he did not apply to, and one drawer for the schools he applied to. I used to tease him about how he was not like other teenagers because he could not stand to have a paper out of place, a book off its shelf, or mail piling up, but he also could not manage to pick his dirty laundry up off the floor and into the hamper.
But it was not just mail he kept there - he also filed the brochures/pamphlets he picked up on the numerous student visits. Like @magtf1 , we brought all of this stuff to the high school guidance dept (removing mailing labels) - and there were a few colleges that our HS did not have (especially those we picked up on visits). The HS guidance office had a policy that students and families who were interested could bring home any of the duplicate copies, but they should only look at the single copies in the office.
During the first week in May, after acceptances, seniors were encouraged to bring in all their unwanted brochures, and they were spread out alphabetically in the school library tables. In mid-May, Sophomores and Juniors were then encouraged to come pick up brochures as they were beginning the process, first at a college planning evening info session, and then for about a week during and after school, at which time, the guidance dept filed it back in their office again.
My youngest measured hers in feet. It continued after she started college, transfer here. Then again once she graduated, check out our grad school. You’ll need more than one box.
Read the brochures. Recycle the ones that say they: 1. Are green 2. Have a huge high unheard of percentage of students who study abroad 3. Have a “unique” honor code. 4. Let you design your own major.
Post the names of the schools that don’t claim at least one of these things here.
Please folks…do NOT take your college mailings to your HS guidance office u less you have asked them first! That’s like taking old National Geographics to the library. They will graciously say thank you…then toss them in the recycling.
HS guidance offices GET info from colleges. They don’t need your boxes of marketing materials and probably have no place to store them.
Please…any extras? Take to recycling at the landfill.
