Overwhelmed with college mail

<p>I was telling my daughter about this thread, and we had a good laugh at the Wash U entries...we had never received anything from them, although University of Evansville is relentless. Well, you know that saying abou "he who laughs..."? We stopped at the Post Office to get our mail (one of the "joys" of rural life is the daily trip to the Post Office), and there it was...our first mailing from Wash U! We feel like we've joined the club after all!</p>

<p>College mail is interesting, an I've had the chance to go through it twice now. I went through the first batch during High School. What is interesting about that is I had a lower GPA (3.2 if I recall) with no honors or AP courses, a low SAT score and no SAT II, in fact all i had going good for me was some good EC's. That year I got a ton of mail from Humboldt and Arcadia. These two school flooded me with stuff. However despite that i still ended up going to a CC for two years...</p>

<p>Fast foward two years when the time came for me to transfer from the CC. Without much doubt the mail did start pouring in again. This time however a major thing had changed. My GPA was (and still is I suspose) holding steady at a 3.9, plus I had honors and Phi Theata Kappa (honor society) going for me. First big change is I have gotten a whole lot more mail from schools, I can typically except 2-5 letters a day. Second big change I've noticed is I'm getting mail from much more recognized schools. Oddly enough Cornell (New York) has sent me insane amounts of stuff. Since somebody else said it, the other Cornell also sends me a ton of stuff, which is really confusing. Harvard, Yale, and Stanford have also sent me things. As another poster has said also, I have finally given into Tulane, as they have been practically begging me to apply. It's just interesting how when my GPA got better schools all of the sudden were a lot more interested in me, and hence the increase in mail.</p>

<p>We found a way to short-circuit a lot of the mail. Have d. go to college after 10th grade. </p>

<p>We still get mailings from CTY. And I think we are permanently on Reed's mailing list, despite 3 requests to get off.</p>

<p>I'm surprised no one has mentioned University of Richmond. My god, they massacred us.</p>

<p>I get a letter from Reed and Texas A&M everyday. I actually didn't know much about WashU before the flood of college mail, so maybe mass advertising helps a little sometimes? I've never gotten any mail from the college I'm going to go to, and it made me nervous because I thought they were uninterested in me or something. from the ivy league schools, i've never gotten anything from princeton or dartmouth.</p>

<p>But it's funny - my daughter has contacted a few colleges to get information, and beyond getting one item, she never hears from them again! Contrast that to those who have no idea how they got on a mailing list and don't want the information they get.</p>

<p>I don't get mail anymore from anywhere. Why is this?</p>

<p>I get mail from NYU every day. It's really annoying. They are definitely college that most often frequents my mailbox.</p>

<p>NYU even sends ME stuff. Monthly newsletters with obvious college admissions information...though I guess not obvious to some. Kind of irritating! They should set up a DNMCS (Do Not Mail College Stuff) service. I suppose the kids who check off on the PSAT that they want info dont realize JUST HOW MUCH WILL COME!</p>

<p>Well, no college mail for my sophomore and junior high PSAT scorers again today and yesterday. [In the bowling alley zip code, in the vast wastelands of the middle of the country...]</p>

<p>We used the tons of useless mail to stoke a nice fire in our fireplace last winter. Now I have to actually BUY kindling for the fireplace. DRATS!</p>

<p>I replied to the ones I liked and then filed what schools sent me. Its very helpful because you could be filing applications which although should be done online are nice to look at in print. For me having extra applications and pamphlets on financial let my parents and I take turns on the computer because they could do part of the financial aid of the computer to prepare for what they were going to put in the computer. This just meant they bugged me less.</p>

<p>Ha, I have computer paper boxes filled of college info- most of which I got at college fairs. I guess eventually i'll have to sort through it all, and recycle it after I pick which ones I applying to.</p>

<p>Washington U. sent me the same pamphlets over and over.</p>

<p>However, Providence College sent me the most stuff.</p>

<p>Just was reading an interesting comment in the Fiske book titled Getting into the right college - they talk about how colleges use the info. from the SATs. Basically, many do look at zip code and compare that to the psychographic databases that specify income levels. Some also cross search for certain types of majors (i.e., we need more art majors, so everyone who lists art as a possible major and is above this range of scores, gets a letter). And, stated GPA on the psat also plays a roll. I found this all interesting. I've been trying to figure out how my daughter is getting mail from colleges that are very good fits for her in terms of size and programs so this explains it a bit. It really is often target marketing.</p>

<p>yeah, i get a lot of annoying, useless mail from NYU. they send me giant course catalogues from the school of continuing education (riiiight... ), newsletters for my parents, random flyers about "come to our open house!" and "don't miss our january 15 deadline!"</p>

<p>wash u is also very enthusiastic in sending mail. often, they include two copies of the same material, one with my name misspelled and another with my actual name. i find that amusing.</p>

<p>i threw out one box of college mail. it weighed 11.5 lbs. i have five more boxes still hanging around, and in the spring, i'll probably weigh them all again.</p>

<p>futureadcom,</p>

<p>yeah, i got bombarded by mail from richmond. </p>

<p>tell me about it. they even get fancy and send multiple CDs.</p>

<p>i actually like getting mail from swarthmore, though.</p>

<p>We attended one of the NYU open houses and enjoyed it very much.</p>

<p>S has been sent tons of mail from Wash U, NYU, and Texas A and M. He has applied to none of these, although he did attend a summer invitational overnight at A and M.</p>

<p>University of Evansville loves me, it seems. I've gotten letters from them starting sophmore year (now a senior), and I'm still getting about once every two weeks on average.</p>

<p>However, my father gets a majority of my letters, because I put his email address on my SAT I, and now he gets all of them. I'm the reason he used up all of his blocked addresses feature on Yahoo!</p>