<p>Congratulations to you GOB! It sounds like you have some wonderful opportunities. Hopefully you can sit back and take a deep breath and really enjoy the holidays.</p>
<p>I really believe people are drawn to places where they feel they get personal attention. Recorded messages? Not so personal. Calls from admissions staff? Personal. In the midst of trying to make her decision last year, DD received personal phone calls and e-mails from admissions counselors and directors. The week before she was to participate in a scholarship weekend at one of the schools, she received a big box of her favorite candy (Nerds) and a really nice note from her admissions counselor telling her she was excited to see her the next week and wishing her good luck in the scholarship competition. She received multiple unsolicited calls from the school where she attended Governor's School, but had no interest in going there. They called at least once a week, and though DD had answered "no" to their question of "Are we in the top three schools on your list? The top five? The top ten?," they continued to call. I couldn't fault them for that, but I did get tired of answering the phone. I told DD she just needed to come out and tell them to stop calling her. She said she couldn't do it ... she thought it sounded mean. When I told her what was really mean was not being up front with them, she finally told them to remove her from the list of people to call. Another school in Virginia (all female) called numerous times (unsolicited) and offered quite a bit of merit money, but DD had no interest in an all female school. I do think personal communication between prospective students and admissions counselors makes a big difference in where a student decides to attend.</p>
<p>Congratulations GOB! My d is a freshman honors student at UNC-CH and she LOVES it there! If ever you want to talk to a student, pm me and I'll get you her info. She's on Freshman Focus Council, and that's kinda their thing I think.</p>
<p>Regarding phone calls, my d got a few last year but I can't remember all of the 'from whoms'. Definitely from UT-Austin, Texas A&M and Tulane. Can't remember about UNC-CH, but she did get their likely letter. So apparently it is a recruiting tactic....and a nice one at that cuz isn't it just wonderful to feel wanted! :)</p>
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OOO WASHDAD - Especially JR - awesome news!!
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<p>(Sorry for stealing a bit of GooB's thread...) It was from the University of Portland, which should have been a safe match for my son, and is his first admit. He really liked our visit there, and he was comfortable with the engineering program. So -- it's an acceptance from a safe school that he really likes. Isn't that how it's supposed to happen? Now when he gets the no-admit from some of his reach schools he won't die of stress.</p>
<p>Congrats Washdad! I'm happy to share part of my thread. haha In fact, my first 2 acceptences were to safeties I loved, which was a total relief.</p>