<p>Schools usually say to contact your regional admissions officer, but when you do, what on earth do you e-mail them about? Do you just go "hi, i'm a prospective student at ___ university and would love for you to accept me!" ? Sounds kind of useless. Is there anything important you should add to these messages?</p>
<p>I think they mean, if you have questions.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for a pretext, though, my daughter used a couple:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I live in [location] and go to [name of high school]. Will you be in my area? (Obviously, for the 2010-11 season, the time for this one has now passed.)</p></li>
<li><p>I have some additional information since I submitted my application. I could email it or send it by US Mail. What’s better for you?</p></li>
</ol>