"recruited" for academics

Hi. I had a friend whose child was “recruited” or wooed last year, after being accepted to Notre Dame. I don’t know all of the facts, but I believe they flew her child out and paid for the visit once they were accepted EA. I know that various colleges recruit athletes, but does anyone know if selective colleges/universities might do this, if they see amazing candidates that they would love to have? Thanks for your time.

While there isn’t “recruitment” for academic cases, if you are accepted to a college that really wants to come I’m certain there would be some “wooing” with merit scholarships, accepted student days, etc.

3 different LACs.

One flew child out, paid for all meals and ground transportation provided by admissions rep.

One flew child and 1 parent out.

One flew child and both parents out, paid for hotel, paid for rental car.

Many selective schools have fly-in programs for certain students they have accepted who they hope will enroll.

I don’t know about ND specifically but at other schools a fly-in may be offered by specific programs that aim to increase geographic, gender, or ethnic diversity at the school or in programs looking to build up a major area. It may also be offered to kids whose financial aid application shows that they would not be able to afford to fly out to visit. Fly-ins may also be offered to kids who have been awarded certain merit scholarships.

Don’t rely on getting any such invites and don’t feel slighted if your child doesn’t get an invite while another does. My son was offered a fly-in for a school for what was probably geographic diversity reasons but it may have also been a desire to bring in more students in a particular major or maybe it was because the person he interviewed with really liked him. We’ll never know.

My D had a friend who was offered a fly-in by Kenyon after she was accepted regular decision - apparently any accepted applicant who had applied for FA was offered one.

ETA - Princeton has a creative arts and humanities “recruiting” program for certain applicants in October of their senior year and Yale does a STEM-focused program that I believe is in February for current applicants in whom they’re extremely interested.

Just got back from a school that paid for travel up to a certain amount and campus hotel. The offer was based on stats and geographical diversity.