<p>I am by no ways a perfect A student or a nationally ranked athlete. Why might a highly selective liberal arts school send me information of themselves? My GPA and SAT are not as high as other students from my school who applied there and were accepted. I have selected an interest in them on some college sites. But why would they bother with me if I'm below the usual acceptance?</p>
<p>It helps to lower their acceptance rate and makes the school look more selective. </p>
<p>I also mean they mail me information, not just email me.</p>
<p>Colleges need to advertise to make an impression in the academic world. </p>
<p>Basically if they mail you some stuff throughout high school they want you to apply? Why because it will lower acceptance rate as previously said and because you will be paying their application fee to apply. </p>
<p>It can be annoying for many students. Even a smack to the face when I’m getting letters from U-Chicago but my stats are no where near competitive for U Chicago.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon I know what you mean. They sent me that big poster of the campus and the Chicago skyline </p>
<p>Marketing.</p>
<p>Chicago, Vanderbilt, Washington University St Louis all have sent my daughter way too much marketing stuff for her stats. It really lowered their standings in my eyes Bowdoin, Columbia have also sent brochures, postcards and other stuff. They all go into the trash as quickly as Podunk U. </p>
<p>This is just marketing material. It doesn’t mean anything personally. </p>
<p>Lots of colleges send out marketing material to any student expressing interest. Lots send out from lists they get from testing agencies. To be kind, they don’t know if you will be the one in a million gem until they see your application, so they are not trying to screen out anyone based on grades or scores without seeing their full application. And the more students who apply, the more selective they look so it benefits them in finding students who might not have considered them and also getting higher admissions selectivity numbers. </p>
<p>It’s marketing. They also want you to be aware of them.
If you’re at the lower 25% level, they’re just hoping you’ll apply even though you don’t stand a chance.
If you’re within their median (even if the students you know had different stats) it may mean you do stand a chance and if the school is a good fit, why not?
Finally, do you have a “hook”, something they’re interested in - you live in a rural area that sends few students there, for instance? You have a talent, artistic or athletic…?</p>
<p>I ski… There isn’t mush else that would make me podium worthy</p>
<p>They purchase lists of everyone interested in them from various college sites online. They are trying to establish themselves with you enough to get you to apply. They don’t really know anything about you until they receive your official transcript and test scores with your application. It is basic marketing and outreach. It does NOT indicate anything about your chances of being admitted.</p>