What’s up CC, I’m trying to build name recognition and get my name out there to college admissions officers/reps. What could I email said rep about? What could I email them about? Hope this doesn’t sound stupid. Thanks!
I wouldn’t contact them unless you have a good reason to, and “build name recognition” isn’t a good reason.
Only contact the admissions office if you have a genuine question. They don’t want to be harangued by questions that could easily be answered on their website. There isn’t a thing like “name recognition”- what I believe you’re referencing is demonstrated interest, which some schools (particularly smaller schools) take into account. You can demonstrate interest by signing up for the mailing list, visiting, touring, interviewing, following them on social media, AND asking questions when a real question that cannot be answered by their website comes up 
You can find out if demonstrated interest is even taken into account by looking at the Common Data Set for the school. It tells you what factors play a part (and how big a part) in the admission decision. To find it just google "Common Data Set " .
Cool, thanks ppl
They’ll notice if you follow them on social media? @yonceonhismouth
@unicornbae some colleges will take that into account in “Demonstrated Interest”- not all, but some. Its a good idea to do so.
Only schools that really desire top students to apply (i.e. have to work for them) really put energy into this. Schools that have no difficulty obtaining tons of great applicants simply don’t wish to spend time engaging in this fashion.
You know at the college fair and there’s that lady at the one table that no one stops by? I’m sure if you, as a top student, strike up a conversation with her and show real interest in applying, she’d be VERY happy to start a communication with you. Besides this scenario, it’s all HS college mythology.
No one else wants to know you. Really.
For schools where the Common Data Set indicates that “Deminstrated Interest” is considered, it is most important to get on the schools mailing list and visit the school to show interest. I know a few top students who were rejected from Lehigh and Tulane because they did not visit the school or show interest. In fact, Lehigh has a place on the app that asks if you ever visited the school. If you haven’t and if you live within driving distance then your chance for acceptance will be diminished greatly. If the school is too far a distance (I.e., a plane ride away) colleges will understand if a student has not visited. However, then it is important for the prospective applicant to attend a function given in the geographic region they live in. For example, frequently out of state schools will host “open houses” or “greet and meet” functions in a hotel conference center in different regions of the country. So if a student is interested in a school he or she can attend and show interest that way instead of actually visiting the school. Also if a far away school sends an admissions rep to your high school then you should attend, meet with the rep to show interest.
IF the school offers interviews, email the address given on the website or fill out the form to request an interview: it will be offered on campus if you’re nearby or via an admissions rep or alumni interview if you’re further away. That is the ONLY contact you need to be making now (assuming you’re not a recruitable athlete).
If the school is having any kind of presentation in your area, RSVP and show up.
Anything beyond those two things and standard social media presence is a bad idea. Name recognition will come from a good interview followed up with a solid application.
Minor exception: Immediately after my son submitted his applications, he emailed one admissions rep and one alumni with whom he’d had especially good interviews to let them know that he had applied and thanking them again for their time. In one case, he specifically mentioned the music supplement. He and the rep had spoken about some unusual classical music thing so he made a point of including that in his performance.
FYI: none of this applies to the Ivies – they don’t want you to try to cozy up to their admissions officers. Communication w/their admissions offices is for info only – the only demonstrated interest the application. Plus, you don’t request interviews at any of those 8 schools, either. They’ll contact you if they can offer you an interview.
How do you get in contact with an alumni?
They can smell “fake questions” a mile away. You need to put together a solid application and recommendations. If the school offers the opportunity to interview, try to do that if you think you would interview well. But don’t go sucking up with questions that are easily found on the website or waste their time.
@unicornbae - For schools that offer alumni interviews, you simply sign up for an interview on the school’s website. The college then provides alumni in the admissions program with a list of area students who have requested interviews and they’ll contact you. Some schools, like some Ivies, only offer interviews to a few students and then only after you’ve submitted your application. You can’t request them, they’re offered.
In either case, if there aren’t alumni doing interviews in your area, you won’t be penalized.
@T26E4, even if you are correct in your assertion that the Ivies do not care about demonstrated interest, that does not say one thing about the many, many wonderful and super-competitive colleges who are non-Ivy. who in fact do care a great deal about how much interest you show.
Bottom line: if you are a match for the Ivies and you think you will have no trouble getting into one or more of them, just send your scores to them and don’t worry about “demonstrating interest.” However, if you are interested in the many really great, ultra competitive schools who are outside of the Ivy League, you sure as heck better demonstrate interest because they just do not want to be a safety school and have Ivy League rejects attending and being downers and ultimately transferring.
Need proof? Just go to the threads of gradeschool such as Wash U, Tufts, Tulane, Lehigh, Emory, Rice, etc. around November 15 and April 1 and you will see all of the posters who are shocked, disappointed, and angry at being rejected, often because they did not convince the admissions officers that they were serious about attending.
You should not be contacting admissions officers. You’re more likely than not just going to create a worse impression than a good one.
If you’re an athlete, look to contact the coaches in the most professional manner possible.
No matter whether you sign up for the mailing list, follow them on FB, show up at a road show, or send an email, the most important “interest” is by doing a bang up job on the app and supps, being the sort of kid they want. This means knowing what that is. It’s where many kids fall. That applies to Ivies and the other “super competitives.” They want to know you cared enough and are savvy enough to have some sense of them and your match. That’s how you show you’re serious, not just applying frivolously. Not just thinking, hey, great school rep, I can be successful if I go there.
Don’t just send your scores. You’ve got to know how holistic this is and what matters. There is no shortcut in just being on a mailing list or any magic in telling them they’re your dream school.
You can contact them with a genuine question- relevant, not answered on their web site. But that’s all it is: contact. No extra points for it.
@NJDad68 Thanks for pointing that important fact out. I realize that my blanket assertion about 8 specific schools is shouldn’t be seen as a pronouncement across the board on many very very good schools.
As already stated, whether a specific school cares about demonstrated interest can be determined by looking at the common data set for that school. And there are plenty of better ways of showing it than making up questions to email about.
I couldn’t agree more. Can anyone really believe that schools that get thousands, if not tens of thousands of applications a year want students emailing?