My son won't read college viewbooks

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Since the beginning of the year, when the college marketing letters, brochures, postcards and viewbooks started bombarding our mailbox, my rising senior senior has pretty much refused to read any of them.</p>

<p>He's basically deemed me as his gatekeeper for all this stuff. I end up reading only the materials from the schools he has an interest in, keep those, and throw the rest out. I must toss about 2/3 of everything we get from all schools out. Maybe more.</p>

<p>My son views all these materials -- some of which must cost a fortune to design and produce -- with great skepticism. The first batch in late winter was probably as savvy as a Publisher's Clearing House letter and that turned all of us off immediately. And that probably tainted his view.</p>

<p>He may casually glance at the viewbooks from the schools he may apply to, but they end up getting passed on to me for storage anyway.</p>

<p>Maybe this is a healthy attitude toward the song and dance schools give in their brochures and mailers. He seems to prefer getting his information from The Fiske Guide, The Insider's Guide To Colleges, the grapevine, his dean, and message boards online (like this one).</p>

<p>I do wonder if other parents find their kids avoiding these viewbooks as skeptically as my son.</p>

2

<p>I wonder why you are doing his filing for him. If he doesn’t want the stuff, recycle it. Don’t be his gatekeeper. It looks like he has plenty of sources of info so he’s not drifting aimlessly. Leave it to him, with whatever requirements (like cost) you put into place.</p>

3

<p>I think he doesn’t like looking at mail in general. Maybe it’s a generational “I’m too busy to do that” kind of thing. Or there’s always e-mail and texting.</p>

4

<p>My D2 wouldn’t look at them, either. I kept the ones for the schools she was interested in. They can come in handy when the kid is wrestling with the “Why College X” essays. But it sounds like he is doing his research – and maybe from more reliable resources than the glossy marketing the colleges are doing. Good for him, I say.</p>

5

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<p>We have recycling every two weeks, so it wasn’t as much of a problem.</p>