<p>I got the idea to do this at a college seminar that was help in April at my school. One of the college counselors gave us a presentation and I got an idea of what to give schools.</p>
<p>I was at a similar seminar, but I have no recollection of a description of how/when to give colleges extra materials like that. I just remember seeing some examples of "brag sheets" without a clear explanation of who to give them to or when to present them. I was told by someone once that it has to be sent with the application itself. But I guess then it's just redundant.</p>
<p>At my seminar, the counselor said to never leave a college after a visit without them having something in their hands from you.</p>
<p>Cavalier--You did not put yourself at a disadvantage. At all. Don't worry about it for a minute. Also, don't bother to send anything before your application. They'll get all your information then. It's overkill.</p>
<p>But halopeno2, I don't know who to believe, most people say it's no big deal to not give the admissions officer all those papers, but then again I guess my counselor told us that we should (though I don't remember hearing this, my friend just told me). But this counselor also gave me some bad advice earlier, telling me to take the ACT w/o Writing because colleges didn't require it.</p>
<p>That was an oversight on the counselor's part. He/She probably didn't think it would be as popular w/ writing. Like a vhs vs. beta max situation. In this case she thought beta max would be the dominate recording medium, i.e. she thought the writing section wouldn't get picked up by schools.</p>
<p>Yale doesn't care that much about "interest" demonstrated - - apart from applying early. Schools like WashU, Penn, Tufts, and UChicago (just to name a few) care a lot more about your demonstrated interest.</p>
<p>Thats true, thats why I am applying to those schools. Actually flip that, I'm applying to those schools, so I effectively generated a sense of interest. I like that way better, yeah. Ignore the first sentence.</p>
<p>I heard that when colleges are stuck between a few candidates, they will look at things like if you signed up on their website for their mailing list. I did that and scheduled my own interview for Yale, so I'm really hoping that interest does matter. But who knows how much it really does besides the admissions officers. Sorry if this is a repeat, I didnt read the whole thread</p>
<p>There is no formula, no clear cut method to showing interest, but paying attention to the little things never hurts</p>
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<p>I really doubt that. There are still people who don't have computers and internet access and some who don't get those invitations to regional events.</p>
<p>You can do all that stuff by mail too. In fact I first had the opportunity to do it by mail, not by internet. They have this little card with a bulldog on it, I'm sure a lot of people know what I'm talking about. And I didn't mention regional events, which I don't think many colleges care about except for getting people interested in their college. You show real interest when you reach out TO the college, not when the college reaches out to you.</p>
<p>Personally, I think any personal contact that you have with someone who will be evaluating your application or can speak on your application's behalf can be critical in whether it's a yes or a no, even from Yale although more so for other schools mentioned earlier in this forum. Visiting campus, attending info sessions, even dropping off dossiers at admissions offices won't do anything at Yale unless it's in conjunction with personal communication (and often admission reps say extra paper just serves to frustrate).
I recommend:
- at a local info session, stop by afterward and introduce yourself to your local representative. It's his/her job to read your application and present it favorably or negatively to the rest of the committee, so their opinion matters. Follow up with an e-mail.
- e-mail Director of Undergraduate Studies of departments in which you're interested and ask them questions about the major. If you have a chance to visit campus, schedule an appointment with them. Even if you don't have any sure idea about what you want to study, this shows a lot of initiative.
- if there are extracurriculars you're interested in organized by Yale faculty (music lessons come to mind), contact the faculty member in charge and profess your interest. If you can send extra info to them, so do, as they have time to read/look at/listen to it, whereas your admissions rep has thousands of other applications to review. </p>
<p>None of these ideas are at all guaranteed, but the point is to make you memorable in someone's mind and get their support. If even one person supports you because of a dialogue you began, it could make a difference.</p>
<p>Hope that helps somewhat!</p>