<p>Over the past couple of weeks, my rising senior has been inundated with mailers from Washington University in St. Louis... a "get to know you" questionnaire, a brochure on the scholars program, a booklet from arts & sciences, an undergraduate viewbook, a booklet from engineering, etc. My gosh! We have an older son who went through the college application process two years ago, and I don't recall either boy receiving so much stuff from one college in such a short period of time. WashU is not on our senior's wish-list (he plans to apply ED to Duke, where big bro attends), but he has taken notice of WashU (obviously, a very fine school) just by virtue of the quantity of materials he has received in the past couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Has anybody else recently been blitzed by stuff from WashU or elsewhere?</p>
<p>WashUSL started the bombardment after D took the PSAT in 10th grade. The volume has been absolutely ridiculous--everything from post cards to giant glossy booklets. D has no interest, and their admissions are super selective. Why all the mail?</p>
<p>I have about a 6 inch stack of stuff from WashU. Tied for second...Scripps and University of Evansville (?...I'd never even heard of UE before).</p>
<p>Funny, my D is actually a rising sophomore at WashU and never received a thing from them her junior or senior year of high school - go figure! She was a National Merit Finalist, val of her class, regional tennis champion, 3 X state violinist, in the 99% on both SAT and ACT - all things that could have prompted them to send her info, but they never sent her so much as a postcard! We took a photo of her sitting of a PILE of brochures sent from other colleges with the caption "I'm wanted!", but there wasn't a WashU booklet in sight!</p>
<p>One of the funniest posts I have seen on CC was in a thread about which colleges send you the most stuff. Another school was mentioned and a poster replied, "What happened? Has mail service from St Louis been suspended?"
WashU is notorious for flooding high schoolers with mailings.</p>
<p>Same thing in my house, but in this case, my S is interested in Wash U. He gets two or three e-mails a week from the school, too. He's been invited not once but twice to September Days. To help him decide ig he really wants to apply, he plans to attend one of the Wash U events locally. If he likes what he hears, he might fly to St. Louis with a friend of ours who is a native of the area.</p>
<p>Yeah, WashU has sent me a ridiculous amount of mail over the past year or two. I've started to feel kinda bad about all the trees that must have gotten cut down to send out all that mail... but on the upside, it has gotten me to start recycling college brochures more regularly.</p>
<p>MidwestParent, I had exactly the same situation - daughter who had great stats, etc was completely ignored by WUStL (even after she requested info!). Son, on the other hand, is getting a lot of mail from them even though it would be a definite reach for him.</p>
<p>It's a good thing I really like WashU, or else I would be very annoyed with the onslaught of mail I've been recieving.</p>
<p>I just think it's silly that they send so much stuff to students who never reply saying they want to be on the mailing list. Talk about a waste.</p>
<p>Mailings depend on where you live. Marketing the school gives the opportunity to reach those living on the coasts.
Nowadays, most higher selective schools follow the Washu's practices including the Ivies (you would receive tons of mail if you life in the Midwest, southwest or any place far away).</p>
<p>I don't think it's silly at all. People ***** that WUSTL is unknown and doesn't have a reputation (hell, many Northeasterners couldn't find Missouri on a map without being spotted, and know nothing about St. Louis), and then they do something to raise their profile, and it's too much. Can't have it both ways.</p>
<p>If some LAC in the Northeast were to decide to raise its profile by sending marketing materials to the midwest or west, it would be applauded as trying to seek diversity -- but when WUSTL decided to transform itself from strong regional / St. Louis-based school to strong national school, it got dinged. Can't win for losing, it seems!</p>
<p>WUSTL sent me the most mail out of all the colleges I received from. The flood first started in 10th grade, and now I have a huge box full of letters from them.</p>
<p>DD could have sided the house with the mailings from Wash U. She tried to get them to stop mailing her "stuff"...didn't work. She wouldn't have gotten accepted there if she had applied. It made her feel like they were trolling for her application fee. At one point I quipped...apply and include several of the "mailings" with cover letter that says "After reviewing my application, I'm sure you will agree with the mailings you've been sending me for three years...I would be a perfect addition to your enrolled students."</p>
<p>Wash U must be personally responsible for destroying acres of trees to make the obcene amount of papper necessary for their mailings. In our case,they have far exceeded the amount sent by any other school. And like another post mentioned, I am also sure my child would not be admitted.</p>