I know daughter’s letters were triggered by the PSAT because college board had her middle initial wrong and the letters are coming with the incorrect middle initial 
She has since made sure they have the correct middle initial.
i’ll just say something here as I don’t talk to parents at my kid’s school about this all.
I’m starting to think that school honors & opps are very very ** kid personality **dependent.
My very scattered but amiable S20 won yet again another honor/group thing that leads to a free trip to DC. (fun!). He won a thing last fall, too. He’s not even that interested in politics or government, yet the teachers all like him and keep nominating him. And the year before he won this national grant through a teacher.
S20 is so scattered. He’s smart, but not the very tippy top of his class. Yet, he’s genuinely nice, and good natured; and I think that’s why he wins these things that require teacher nominations. My older kids were more talented/driven; yet they never seemed to be nominated or won things.
It’s been eye-opening how personality makes such a difference. What have you all seen with your kids? Do you think personality counts more than actual achievements or academics?
@bgbg4us Regardless of why he was chosen, congratulations to your son!
@janiemiranda we have a separate e-mail set up for College Board so the vast majority of college emails go to that one. What I’m trying to figure out is if the emails we are receiving are from the PSAT or the SAT. I have a feeling that they are from the PSAT.
Every once in a while we receive a college email to my child’s primary email account. I assume that the college pulled data from a participant list of an activity in which my child is involved (Scouting, state/national competitions, etc.). Those emails tend to reference leaders, social life, etc but not academic achievements. 
Today’s junk mails include flyers/postcards from UMichigan, UChicago, and John Hopkins. Yesterday’s Harvard, Vanderbilt, Lynchburg, UChicago. At least the coffers of the post offices will benefit.
@bigmacbeth
Yes I don’t open DS’ mails, he doesn’t open these college letters himself! 
@bgbg4us
Congratulations on your DS’ achievement.
I think personality is important during school years, kind and nice kids might be overshadowed by the sports stars/academic high flyers, but most kids and teachers know the difference between “popular kids on campus and respected kids”, DS20 often mentions so and so are very respected by students, it is a high honor imho. Good personality is even more important in real life.
I always wonder what our postperson thinks about the type of mail she delivers to different households. Oh the stories she must be able to tell!
My daughter suddenly has butterflies about SAT scores. She was all confident and nonchalant when she took it!
I don’t think my daughter knows they come out tomorrow and I’m not going to mention it 
@bgbg4us: “What have you all seen with your kids? Do you think personality counts more than actual achievements or academics?”
I think personality, and the affinity from teachers one may engender because of it, matter, yes.
I have long believed that teacher-affinity is the basis for many good things which may happen for a student, and the inverse of that affinity also has its predictable outcomes: the student body may know who is the most pointy in terms of grades and campus presence, but fully recognize that the ‘pointy’ student may not be held most dear.
Sounds like your son brings a nice balance when he walks in the room, and maybe brightens it a bit?
We all like being near that person.
Congratulations.
@bgbg4us - congrats to your kid.
Yes of course…its not just honors/grants…in our kids school, even the grades are skewed (or at least that is the popular belief). What I hear is teachers go easy on mistakes for some students but others are punished. At the top of the school there is so much competition (in our school) these small preferences go a long way. But we are talking small percentages here…all these kids are super smart and seems like teachers kinda favor some of them more than others. its more to do with likability. Not surprising - its same in workforce - they are getting a taste of life ahead.
@WasIDremin we got the same packet from Harvard. The ivies have some of the biggest endowments, so if you can get in, they can be affordable.
@lkg4answers I assumed Harvard sent it to everyone who scored in say, the top 5% or so of the PSAT. Just like every other school. My D has gotten a packet from just about everyone at this point. Duke came the same day. Last week it was MIT, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, and Dartmouth. Doesn’t mean my kid has a shot at getting in.
@chb088 Hmm I don’t know if it’s that simple - for instance, my kid got Harvard and Columbia recently but didn’t get any of the other ones you mentioned above. Still doesn’t mean my kid has a shot at them either though!
Mine got a 750/710 on PSAT and did not get Harvard pack. Who knows?
So when you sign up for SAT (assume PSAT scores sent with same info), you put what classes you’ve taken and will take, and your GPA. I’m guessing it’s a combo of those? D20 has 4.0 uw and 4.5 w, with several APs already. Just guessing? The college mail has been ridiculous here. I still don’t think she’ll get in most of these places. Her SAT will probably not be high enough. And that’s okay! She throws most of it in the trash without looking at it sadly.
@VickiSoCal mine also took the ACT and did considerably better on it than on PSAT or SAT so who knows if it’s from that?
@VickiSoCal, D got 750/750 on PSAT, 35 ACT, 4.0uw, 4.something because of AP/Honors classes, but no H package. She isn’t interested in applying, and even if she did, it wouldn’t change anything.
Is anyone else getting hammered with emails from Questbridge? I feel like they should have a link to click on to say, “Thank you but I don’t qualify.”
@chb088 : “The college mail has been ridiculous here. I still don’t think she’ll get in most of these places.”
The mail here, for both colleges and summer programs, has been largely targeted toward my son’s potential fields of study.
The summer program mailings have been, hands down, the most surprising. With three kids out ro college relatively recently, I thought I’d known of most of the summer programs. Nope. Some are pretty exciting (likeTuft’ s summer language in France) but son’s time is greatly spoken for so he hasn’t responded to most.
Per the speculation about what information the colleges are working from, I’ll add: Until two weeks ago he had only taken subject tests and APs; no SAT or ACT returns for the colleges to look at.
That is interesting. Maybe they are targeting kids who took AP courses in 10th grade. Who knows?
My kid got the Harvard package but had pretty high scores on both PSAT and fall SAT so not sure which was the trigger for that packet. I’m not following the snail mail closely enough to say which others have come recently (usually dh brings the mail inside but I got it that day).