NY Times article on wooing admitted students

Parents Forum
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<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/education/26admissions.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/education/26admissions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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At Decision Time, Colleges Lay on Charm</p>

<p>For a few weeks in April, the ordinary dynamics of college admissions are stood on their head. High school seniors who spent a year or more trying to attract the attention of college admissions officers — and who by early April have been offered admission to a fistf*ll of prestigious institutions — suddenly find themselves being recruited aggressively. The pursuers become the pursued.

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<p>When we were at an admitted student's day, one mom described the whole thing as "the dance." It is kind of whacko - they start by getting tons of mail as juniors & seniors basically begging them to apply, along with companion mailings to parents about economics...then they have that agonizing period waiting to see if they were accepted, then they are flooded again by calls, mail, email, etc. The schools do seem to conspire against each other by scheduling ALL their activities all at the same time. Anyone else visit 3 schools in 6 days???</p>

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<p>This is why I love April - after months of agonizing and trying to convince schools to admit you, it's now their turn to coddle and flatter you for a month. haha..</p>

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<p>yea.. schools do get pretty hardcore. One school told me to fax them over all the scholarship offers that other schools send me and that they would work to beat or meet them..</p>

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<p>I agree, it's fun. </p>

<p>We all just have to watch closely and make sure we know what we really would get out of the school.</p>

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<p>what school is that myheart?</p>

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<p>Indeed. </p>

<p>F'r instance:</p>

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<p>Pretty hardcore would be a soft way of describing it. I half expected it to end with "Behold the Blue Pill. The choice is yours, Neo."</p>

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<p>what school is that myheart?</p>

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<p>RIT's digital imaging dept makes a cool card for admittees. It shows the back of a car on a highway. The car has the license plate from the student's state, with the student's name on the plate, and the student's high school on a decal on the rear window, plus an RIT sticker. And the car is passing a highway sign showing the mileage from the student's hometown to RIT.</p>

<p>Pretty slick.</p>

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<p><em>whistles</em> Niiiice. Makes me wonder if I had applied to RIT (considered it, but too expensive) and gotten accepted, what they would do for my "state license plate" and high school decal. (Seeing as how I live in Romania.)</p>

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<p>I feel loved by my accepted colleges. ;)</p>

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<p>From Wash U in STL I got:</p>

<p>-A Tshirt
-A Wash U Cup
-A pen (cheap)
-A very nice pen (not so cheap)
-Candy
-A Wash U laptop bag</p>

<p>and in the mail a few days ago:</p>

<p>-a Wash U 256mb flash drive!</p>

<p>Oh, and they paid for a weekend at Wash U of course.... They're very nice.</p>

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<p>Man.. I didn't get anything but a lot of paper!</p>

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<p>Univ of Chicago (EA) sent me a cool calendar, lots of books on the place and a copy of the Chicago Chronicle every week since December.
They sent my school a personalised card and calendar...and considering that all this came in FedEx and that I live in India, thats a lot of cost.</p>

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<p>So it's typical for schools that accepted you to pay for your trip to visit them?</p>

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<p>No. They only pay for a small percentage (usually). Wash U pays for a lot of people to visit compared to other schools...</p>

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<p>Son was getting ready for a visit to a school for which he was accepted. As he was packing he asked me what clothes he should take. "What do you mean?" asked I. "Well, what kind of clothes do I need for the interview? Oh wait, there is no interview! I am the buyer this trip!" He packed his jeans and T-shirts and left his nice shirt and tie in the closet. :)</p>

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<p>Shennie, wonderful story! It's awesome having the "power" after the months of agony and "comparing" ourselves against others on the CC site or ppl at school if we're applyin' the same places.</p>

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<p>"No. They only pay for a small percentage (usually). Wash U pays for a lot of people to visit compared to other schools..."</p>

<p>Oh no... that's kind of hard for students who can't afford to just take a trip to the other edge of the country on a whim like that.</p>

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<p>The best I got from colleges was a bumper sticker from Brandeis, car window sticker, bookmark, and a certificate of admissions from Brown. (Plus the nifty folders that stuff comes in from those two schools) lol >_< </p>

<p>I should have applied to Washington U in STL just for all those stuff. Had I got in, maybe it would've been worth the application fee xD</p>