<p>Ha! To which I would say If it were up to me, I would only have my child apply to schools (and pay the application fee) to those colleges that we KNEW would accept him based on their posted average applicant stats. And for many families the financial aid is really what makes or breaks the deal.</p>
<p>It's a two way street. The colleges (not just Emory) court many applicants through advertising to up their selectivity, but complain if their yield is low. Kids would apply to fewer schools, if they could be guaranteed admission at their top choice. A student that doesn't have any safety schools could end up at home.</p>
Well, at least they're upfront about it, I guess..... My d's GC strongly recommended that we visit Emory, as she considers it a tip factor in admission decisions. Unfortunately, we live 950 miles away and had already expended our time/travel budget by the time d decided to add it to her list. We requested the video, which gave my d several things to mention in her "Why Emory" essay. She looked up the dates that the regional rep would be in our area, but he never WAS in our area. </p>
<p>She was nominated for the Emory Scholars program, and that requires an additional essay - maybe the combination nomination/early application date/extra essay constitute a form of "demonstrated interest"? She was admitted and named a semi-finalist but didn't make it to the finalist round. We don't think the lack of a visit had anything to do with that decision, btw.</p>
<p>About 2 weeks before the semi-finalist selections were announced, she received an email from someone in Emory's music dept. about music opportunities there. (She's not a prospective music major - just another flutist in the crowd.) She announced this rather casually several days after it arrived, thinking it was just a piece of college advertising. It seemed personalized to me, not necessarily something every band kid would get, so I begged her to reply right away. She did, reluctantly - she's highly uncomfortable with emailing profs at this point (not very mature in that area, I suppose.) Don't know if the email was a means of gauging interest or more of a recruiting thing.</p>
<p>Who knows? I'd like to think adcoms at institutions like Emory are fair enough to balance distance and expense with the whole demonstrated interest thing.</p>
<p>She would love to go if we could put the money together! That's unlikely, though. She heard from UVA last week that she's been admitted as an Echols Scholar and was ecstatic about that. Once all results are in, we'll sit down and talk - but right now it looks like UVA.</p>
<p>what if I requested additional info on their debate program and athletics program? does this count as demonstrated interest towards the school as a WHOLE?</p>
<p>IMO, UVA is a great alternative. Congratulations on Echols Scholars, a terrific achievement! (How the heck do you prnounce that, anyway?) </p>
<p>I am hoping S falls hard for Emory when he visits for Scholars weekend. He's really looking forward to the visit, and as far as I can tell from my research, it is like a Belgium Chocolate boutique for him - offers a lot of substance in every area of interest, including the all-important ECs.</p>
<p>"We pay close attention to the contact an applicant has had with the Office of Admission during the application process. It is important that applicants have done their research on Emory, whether through ordering a Video Visit, talking with a rep at a college fair, attending an information session in your city or at your school, or visiting our campus."</p>