<p>Enjoy it while you can, Amy. Pretty soon you'll get more junk mail than you could ever want.</p>
<p>Son took ACT in 7th grade, participated in a Talent Search, and has taken an SAT II. He hasn't gotten any mail. His older brother didn't either until he took the PSAT. We are enjoying the lull and so is the mail delivery person.</p>
<p>I hope that all college mail will cease soon. There's been a slight decline in it already.</p>
<p>Because if I get in ED I don't feel like getting stuff from colleges I'm not even going to.</p>
<p>It dies down eventually, but a few die-hard schools kept trying to change her mind right up to and past the beginning of fall classes. "Its' not too late...."</p>
<p>hehehe...i can only imagine the most evil thing to do! what if someone stuffed as much mail as they could fit from a ton of different schools into one schools postage paid envelope and sent it back to the school? how wrong would that be?! LOL! :p</p>
<p>I have thrown away two trash bags filled, and given an other bag of stuff to my school b/c my mom told me to... oh yea and i have kept some interesting stuff, like yale and mit applications lol</p>
<p>D took the PSAT in the ninth, letters started coming regularly.Took the PLAN in the 10th and we've been inundated. Interestingly enough D does not get much from any Ivy except Yale (ten pieces), and lately Columbia (5 pieces, College not Fu Foundation), None from Brown, Cornell, Harvard,one piece from Dartmouth , one from Princeton. Biggest unsolicited sender to D would be Case or Fu, not Wash U. None from really top LAC's now that I think about it. I guess she needs to work on the verbal side, huh?</p>
<p>THumper, I'm convinced that my daughter's high school or even middle school may have sold her name to a database. Because, like your daughter, she's been getting stuff since the end of 9th grade. She has won a few in-school awards but nothing state wide or national that would get her on any list.</p>
<p>The kids at my sons' schools are told to fill out the test sheets in a way not to generate this junk mail, so we do not get as much as some people. I keep a lot of what we do get, because I like to look through it. When I lived in NY, I remember it bothered me how much mail we got from Binghamton, one of my son's choices, when we were getting dire notices about state cuts in SUNY funding. We got some useless all color brochures that gave little useful info--were just expensive reminders of the school.</p>
<p>actually we have had quite a lot of fun with the whole thing.
The best piece of mail my daughter got:a recruitment letter from the CalTech golf coach. (she never hit a golfball in her life)
The most mail: Colgate. Sends her something every single week. Truly.
our best solution to the mail:
halloween costume: ripped up all the catalogues, college board reports, and practice books, hot glued them all over a huge starched white shirt, and paraded as : Selective College Admissions Process.</p>
<p>The schools that send the most mail to me are Wash U (I think they gave up though), St. John's and Ursinus (I've gotten multiple phone calls from both), Stevens Institute of Technology, Brandeis, and a handful of women's colleges such as Mount Holyoke and a couple of others that I can't think of right now. </p>
<p>The worst for email are University of New Haven and St. Anselm's.</p>
<p>I've heard that the letters don't stop even when you are in college.</p>
<p>The College Board's left hand does not know what the College Board's right hand does.</p>
<p>Yesterday, S got a mass email urging him to sign up for the Dec. 20 SAT in order to apply to colleges. The email was based on the fact that he'd taken the PSAT last year and had done well. What the College Board failed to notice is that S took SAT and SAT-IIs last year and is now done (and almost done with college apps). At least no tree was felled for this purpose.</p>
<p>So what's best for the student (ignoring the mailperson, and the forests for the moment) --- should the student mark yes or no for outside contacts when registering for the PSAT? What are the benefits of receiving the mailings? Will the student get material from HYPS/AWS (for example) or only Wash U and We're Desperately Seeking U? Does an invitation to apply for TASP hinge on PSAT scores and making your contact information available via PSAT registration? Are there some gems amongst the rubble of mail?</p>
<p>Segueing into a TASP question: how does someone get invited to apply for TASP? Do you have to be nominated or does it hinge on test scores or what?</p>
<p>SV2--benefit for S2 was his scores evidently put him on a different mailing list than S1, so we got the mail (and application forms) from bottom rung to top rung, which was interesting--we also got mail about summer programs for high school juniors run by the colleges, programs that I didn't previously know about (probably because at that time, I had not yet discovered College Confidential), and he ended up at one and loved it. It was actually his first time away from home, because he never went to camp or anything, and it was very worthwhile for him, a big growing experience, plus it alleviated some of my fears of how he would do away from home.</p>
<p>Here's the TASP site. It says teachers nominate, although I thought you originally got invited based on PSAT scores. So, either I was wrong (very possible) or they've changed it. </p>
<p>I told my youngest to check 'yes" just because, like mstee's son, he might get some information on a program he's interested in doing, and to get him in the college mode just a teeny-tiny bit.</p>
<p>SV2:
Our experience led us to suggest that #2 sign up to get on the mailing lists. #1 did not - on purpose - so as not to get swamped with the mail. But, as a result, he also did not get on several scholarship lists. One example: We accidentally found out about a great scholarship honors program at our local State U. I asked if he could attend, and they told me "only those invited" were allowed, based on scores and GPA. When I shared his scores, and that he was #2, they were quite surprised (and apologetic), and recommended that he attend. Their only explaination, was that they "buy" lists from College Board, and that he must not have been on the list. There were also other merit scholarship applications he did not receive in the mail, that his schoolmates did receive. My guess was the same reason.</p>
<p>So...if your student might be eligible for some of these programs and scholarships, it might be worth the added mail.</p>
<p>Kjofkw's post remins me that we also got information about honors programs at some of the Cal State schools that I did not know about, some of which give full rides for those accepted (one includes a laptop computer as well). My son was not interested, but I like knowing about these options--I have three younger daughters still to go to college and funds are dwindling!</p>
<p>Annelise: That is too funny!</p>
<p>im one of the kids who has recieved pounds of college mail... i suggest throwing it all out.. anything they send you they have on their website</p>
<p>Thanks to all for describing some of the good information that comes - I suppose that means you actually need to read the materials.</p>
<p>I wonder about whether TASP has changed their method of seeking applicants, too. Something to put on the list of things to find out about.</p>