You can find whether level of applicants interest is part of the admissions decision, or not, in section C7 of each school’s common data set.
It is easy for colleges to track whether emails are opened, links are clicked, virtual sessions attended, portals are opened…not sure how AOs can track social media follows because that is often not connected to a student’s name.
Demonstrated interest came up on Jeff Selingo’s webinar last night - U Chicago guest noted that there are two types of demonstrated interest:
-the “check the box” type (attend an online info session, come for a campus visit, click on an email, etc.) vs.
-the more substantial type (a conversation with an admissions officer, the way you show your interest through the essay portions of your application, etc.)
Of course the “check the box” type isn’t tracked by many of the most selective schools, but I got the feeling that if you’d checked the boxes already (you click on emails, did an info session, etc.) that there are diminishing returns to checking the boxes over and over again (diminishing both in terms of what you’re getting out of it, as many here have noted; also diminishing in terms of how much a school cares that you did 4 virtual sessions instead of 3).
Chicago guest didn’t outright say this, but I came away feeling as if my son (who is applying to all schools that track interest) would be fine if, for each school, he did one virtual info session, did an interview, and opened emails. Of course, if a school offers something specific to your indicated interest/major, it likely makes sense to do one of those.
S21 has 10 schools on his list (though one is a maybe in terms of definite interest…he’s gone back and forth on it; I put it back on the list for affordability).
*Visited 8 of the 10 at Colleges That Change Lives Fair (some of them two years in a row); the other 2 aren’t CTCL schools
*1 general virtual info session at all 10 schools
*A skype interview at 9 of the 10 schools (10th will let him know if they want him to)
*In person campus visits at 2 schools
*Opens emails
*Following on twitter
*Did multiple virtual sessions at a few schools (or if there was a parent session, I did it). Mostly he did either 1 or 2 sessions. His most is 4 (3 were sessions based on interests), and that’s at a reach school.
*Had email exchange with a professor or a student at 4 schools
He feels he’s pretty done with this part of the puzzle…focusing on school semester and finishing touches on essays now. (S21 is also applying to a mostly matchy list - only 2 reaches, and the reaches are not dream schools that he is fantasizing over getting into, so he may feel he’s “good” on demonstrated interest at a lower threshold than others would). He doesn’t want to watch any more, and I’m good with it.
I’m late to the “undecided major” discussion but wanted to point you to YouScience.
It’s much more of an abilities test vs a personality test. Does a very good job of id’ing what you’re good at (skills & aptitudes, not necessarily knowledge) combined with what you do/don’t enjoy. Then it points you to the careers that line up with where you would excel. Tremendous amount of information but presented in a very easy to understand manner.
It was very helpful for D18 and D15. While they both changed majors, I thought (originally and in hindsight) that the Youscience recommendations were spot on for what they could/should have focused on. And it made some suggestions that we never would have thought about on our own.
OTOH, S21 has known what he wants to do since he was about 9. He’s refined it but never changed direction. For him, the challenge was always what does he need in undergrad in order to position him best for the phd level research that he knows he needs. His major will be Chem/Phys but research opportunities will be the most important part of undergrad for him.
@kbm770 the absolute best thing we did for S21 was to reach out directly to profs who interested him. At the tip top schools for his very specialized interest, we had about 50% positive replies to our requests for meetings. 100% at some schools. He got a personal tour of the main nano lab at each school and talked with multiple people doing research at each school.
We surfed the school’s site to find topics of interest, then ID’d the faculty who were doing the most interesting research, then S21 reached out with “could we meet with you or someone on your team to discuss X?” One of our prized possessions is a photo of our 16 yr old with his nose against the port window of MIT’s nuclear reactor, peering into the core. (It was down for maintenance, of course.) Never would have happened if he hadn’t sent those emails.
Demonstrated interest doesn’t matter now for S21. We’re 95% decided on our state flagship. But I expect that his 1-on-1 meetings would have really made him stand out in “Why X?” essays.
@3kids2dogs We are trying to limit online college stuff to 1 admissions event and 1 interview per college. Now that school is back in session, there isn’t time to do more and diminishing returns kick in pretty quickly.
In other news, it’s now official, we have a NMSF in the house! And admission to an affordable safety school!
Congrats!!! @mamaedefamilia
@mamaedefamilia Woohoo! Congrats! We also confirmed D21’s name is on the list today. It’s so nice to have it officially official. 
Congrats @amsunshine and @mamaedefamilia! We got the official news today. The NMSF list is printed in our metro area paper, and today we went to the HS for photos for all the NMSFs from the HS.
Can anyone pls link the local news for NMSF California? In particular Bay Area?
@Suave123 I haven’t been able to find the California list yet (well, I haven’t seen it published yet). I was able to get confirmation from our county office of education, and they told me they should be publishing it either tomorrow or Friday. Mercury News typically publishes it, too, but they may not get to it until tomorrow. If I see anything, I will try to pm you with a link.
@1Lotus We have used this website to look up where a school is on demonstrated interest (hopefully it is accurate). https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/dataverse/colleges-that-consider-demonstrated-interest
@1Lotus Hi, sorry, it may be that I can’t post links on here? You can look on the college transitions .com website under their Dataverse tab.
Congratulations to @amsunshine @carlson2 @mamaedefamilia Fabulous news!!!
D did not want to go to school today, she is down, (she is still upset over missing NMF) so she stayed home and was able to do online. She did not get counted absent. Gosh I wish I could do that with my job…
Congrats, @mamaedefamilia , @amsunshine , and @carlson2 !! Awesome news. 
Congrats to the NMSF crew.
@TVBingeWatcher2 sorry your D is down about it…glad she was able to do remote school for the day. It does come in handy. I have a friend whose son chose 100% in person but then got sick (not COVID) and is expecting to have to be out ~a month, but he can keep up with his classes more easily than he would have been able to in any other year (he’s switched to 100% remote).
A few additional things I wanted to mention from the Jeff Selingo webinar last night (please don’t shoot the messenger…just passing the info along)
The U of Chicago Dean of Admission and VP of Enrollment was very clear that submitting a PSAT score in place of an SAT score (if one was unable to get an SAT score) would not carry any importance (at Chicago, at least). He said to just skip the test score and said that even this year, he didn’t believe a PSAT score would be a stand-in for an SAT score. I know that question has come up in this thread before (I can’t recall who was thinking about/asking about it), so I thought I’d share what he said.
Obviously all schools are different. (though he did make the point multiple times that he meets with/talks to admissions officers at other selective schools regularly).
He also said that Chicago has been sharing info with other schools about how to evaluate applicants without test scores (since Chicago has experience that many others do not), and he feels those other schools are prepared.
He was very clear that one should not use the Covid space on the application to talk about inconveniences or activities you would have done but couldn’t. He said the Covid space is for the serious (job loss, home loss, illness, death) kind of impact, and that he can’t admit you on the things you say you would have done if not for Covid (though he said you can use the generic additional info section to mention something you’ve already done and would have continued). .
And he said he doesn’t believe Covid deferrals/gaps are going to impact admissions negatively this coming year. He specified that at Chicago, they are at similar numbers as they usually are so it wouldn’t have an impact there, but he also explained that he’s talked to those at many other schools who generally feel the same way - they’re looking more at overall enrollment across all 4 years than at a single year’s enrollment, and they are all hurting financially and want the students as a result, so he thinks it’s even possible that acceptance rates may go up in some cases. (forced triples, anyone)? ?
He was also very clear that ED is ED - there wouldn’t be flexibility on getting out of an ED commitment this year any more than in any other year.
@gotham_mom Thanks so much! I am reading all I can on Williams. D21 is very happy to have some decisions made on ED and her list.
@carlson2 Part of me thinks it would be better to have D21 apply RD so we could compare aid packages. The other part of me feels if she feels strongly about Williams it is worth trying ED. I am not sure if there will be more of an advantage applying ED this year than in the past, but it kinda feels that way. I guess time will tell.
Some good news for D21, she got the letter for NMSF.
Congratulations to all the NMSF kids!
I have listened to various college admissions podcasts about the COVID essay and I have heard conflicting advice. D21 put what she would have done with her extracurriculars had COVID not been an issue, and what she did instead (how she adapted). No, she did not have any significant hardships. Still, depending on which advice you listen to, she did it 100% right or 100% wrong. If admissions officers don’t give some leniency with this unprecedented situation/question then they are part of the problem.
@nichols51 My angst is not directed toward you, want to make that clear.
I agree that the Covid question is unnecessarily tricky. I feel that whoever designed the Common App should have specified whether the question was meant only for those with serious Covid issues, especially if that was the only acceptable thing to write about. Otherwise, it feel like just another booby trap.
@JanieWalker I have heard podcasts that have advised both ways as well. If I remember correctly, your D21 has quite a bit of impressive things that she was going to do pre covid and I would think it is a good use of the space.