<p>I was pleasantly surprised to see so many parents still on the Discussion Board even though the college admission's season has "technically" ended. As there is still an audience to ask, I would appreciate your opinion as to explaining the best way to request material from colleges and be added to the mailing list. I would think that it is as simple as filling out "request for additional info" on college site but would it be more advantageous to email directly to the adcom who is the rep for your area. Would that "more personal" touch be more impressive? For an upcoming high school junior when is the best time to request matierals (July?, August?) etc.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Trust me....if you fill in the "request info" spot on the web site you will get MORE THAN ENOUGH mail from that college. Once you take the PSAT you will receive mail ad nauseum from places you have never heard of. You'll also get packets of post cards to request info (my daughter gets a bunch every week). If there is some college that you have a particular interest in, I suppose a personal note might be nice, but to be honest it probably won't increase your chances of admission to write a personal note asking for an info package. At DS's university, the folks who field the requests for info packs are work study students....not adcoms. Regarding when...you can request information whenever you want it. It will come quickly. Much of what you will get in writing is duplicate to what you can read on the websites.</p>
<p>"when is the best time to request matierals"</p>
<p>After you notify your mailperson of the anticipated avalanche and after you go to Walmart to buy storage bins....BIG ones! </p>
<p>They come quickly....and often.....letters, DVDs, fridge magnets, glossy envelopes, copies of newspaper articles with little handwritten notes to your child....and, eventually, phone calls and emails. </p>
<p>I think there should be an "Opening Ceremony" to the "College Information Olympics".......maybe your mail carrier running around the block, carrying a torch......followed by you with the look of worry, your H with bags of money, and your child carrying an SAT prep book.</p>
<p>And there should also be a "Closing Ceremony"! My D just took her last AP tests today (and my S graduated three years ago). My D and I are looking forward to ridding the house of all of the SAT, SAT 2, and AP review books we have accumulated over the past five or six years (and we have a LOT of them)!!!</p>
<p>I have read and been told by at least one admissions officer in a presentation that the selective colleges keep track of interest shown. If you request info from the school or a department, or you request their DVD, or you go to a presentation, or you visit the school; it all goes into a database. At admissions time, it will help some if you have shown an interest in the college. Also, in any essay explaining why you chose the school, use specific information that shows that you have researched it. For example, use names of programs and research centers.</p>
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<p>My D and I are looking forward to ridding the house of all of the SAT, SAT 2, and AP review books we have accumulated >></p>
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<p>When DS graduated from HS we gave ALL the college "stuff" to the HS guidance department. ALL of what we gave them was more current than what they owned...sad but true.</p>
<p>If there's a particular school you want more information from, no need to wait to a "good time." Just fill in the online form on their admissions web site. If you really want to be deluged, register at the PRinceton Review site and click "send me more information" - you'll start receiving mail and emails almost immediately.</p>
<p>When your child takes the PSAT in October, they will have the chance to decline information from colleges or not when they fill in their info. at the test. If they say they want information, the College Board will sell their names and addresses to colleges and your child will automatically start getting materials. Most colleges buy names with some specifics such as test scores, geographic location, reported GPA, etc. so just because you haven't heard from a college doesn't after the PSATs doesn't mean you can't (and shouldn't) ask for info. if you want it. </p>
<p>As Dufus noted, schools do keep track of demonstrated interest, and SOME schools keep track of whether or not you respond to their mass mailings by sending back the BRC or signing on using the special code they give you in the mailing --- but mainly so they know which students are worth sending a second mailing to. When schools are making admissions decisions, however, I doubt if they are checking to see if you sent in the Business Reply Card to a mailing when they're looking at your file. </p>
<p>MAny schools, especially smaller and less selective ones, DO pay attention to demonstrated interest such as campus visits, emails to the admissions rep, and attendance at local presentations. And, that IS becomming a tipping point at some schools. </p>
<p>In general, I find the materials colleges send to be pretty useless. They all pretty much say the same sorts of things and have the same sorts of pictures. The only brochures my daughter really spends any time looking at are the ones from schools she's interested in in the first place. Therefore, it's not a bad idea to send for those.</p>
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...would it be more advantageous to email directly to the adcom who is the rep for your area. Would that "more personal" touch be more impressive? For an upcoming high school junior when is the best time to request matierals (July?, August?) etc.
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<p>Yes, but......</p>
<p>You are on the right track; keep thinking like that! Depending on the school, initiating a courteous, professional, information-seeking communication with your regional adcom is a good idea. But, you are a year too early for that sort of thing. Summer before senior year is the time for that. Odds are the current regional adcom won't even be there a year from now.</p>
<p>For now, I would just check the request boxes on the websites.</p>
<p>At a recent college information night that my daughter and I attended, I mentioned to one of the college reps the ever-growing mounds of college mailings taking over our kitchen table . Her advice: make note of the names of any schools that catch your fancy and check out their websites. Then donate the material to your school or the recycling bin...and sit down at your kitchen table and enjoy a meal with your family again. Sounds like good advice to me...</p>
<p>What I meant by "ridding our house" of the review books was donating them to our school. Hopefully some other students can make good use of them.</p>
<p>Upcoming Juniors can request to be on the mailing list of colleges, but they will likely receive information a bit later. The summer & fall focus for college admissions offices will be in responding & using mailing lists of upcoming Seniors.</p>
<p>At this time, I recommend using the computer to check out college websites of schools in which you are interested. It will help you learn alot of basic info about them. Just make sure that by Feb./March of Junior year, your D is on mailing lists of schools in which she is interested, so that she can receive updated viewbooks and application materials & info on open house or campus visits in a timely fashion prior to the start of her senior year.</p>
<p>And just remember....once you get ON these mailing lists, it is virtually impossible to get off of them. DS is still receiving mail and he is finishing his sophomore year in college. We could wallpaper a room with Wash U info alone.</p>
<p>thumper is right. Here we are, less than a month away from graduation....and we're STILL receiving college letters..."Just in case you haven't decided"....</p>