<p>Is anyone else as sick of the spam mail from Wash U as I am? I have no interest in attending but I get at least a letter a week, often times the exact same one! To me, Wash U is trying to buy their way up the US news rankings by spamming kids into applying and then waitlisting them, to lower the acceptance percentage. Anyone else sick of this game?</p>
<p>My son gets more junk mail from University of Chicago, University of Puget Sound, Olin School of Engineering, etc. than he does from Wash U. Why does everyone pick on Wash U for this and gloss over the tons of junk mail from the other schools?</p>
<p>andrw313, my S got lots of mail from almost every top 25 university including all the Ivies, and also an invitation to visit Wash U. He went, he loved it, he applied, and now, he is a very happy student there. Sometimes, that junk mail makes you look to some places that otherwise you wouldn’t, and anything that help you in your decision, it’s welcome. If you don’t like the mail, throw it away; if you don’t know the university, give it a try, maybe it’s the one you best fit in.
My D is getting more mail than her brother did(she is in the “undecided” side), but none of that made change her mind.</p>
<p>Have you sent an email asking to be taken off the mailing list? It's probably possible to do. Let them know you have no interest and they can save the postage. </p>
<p>I disagree with complaints about the mailings. Why not complain about any and all advertising for that matter. We live in CA and WashU is not well known among the public HS counselors (it is among the prep schools) so we didn't know anything about the college until my son started getting mailings (along with brochures and postcards galore from other schools, particularly Tulane, Duke, MIT, Michigan...) We are glad we got the more detailed mailings about special programs and dual majors. Reading about the college put it on the visit list and after the visit, it shot up to the top three choices for my son. He also chose to attend and is a very happy freshman. IMO that is WashU's goal. It doesn't have nationwide name recognition but if the mailings encourage prospective students to visit, they are more likely to apply because the campus is compact and beautiful and the facilities are top-notch and everyone is friendly. What's not to like? </p>
<p>Nobody can be "spammed into" applying unless you think there's some hypnotic element to the mail. As you have stated, it may well turn off a good number of recipients instead of encouraging interest in visiting and applying. (Their loss.)</p>
<p>Ugh I unfortunately threw out all of my WashU material when I wasn't interested in the school. Then, after a bit of research, I decided that I will def be applying to WashU and don't have the viewbook or anything.....</p>
<p>My daughter got junkmail from many other selective schools, including Duke, MIT, CalTech, some of the ivys, and lots of really interesting schools we knew nothing about. I question why you are so hard on WashU---is there an agenda here? It sure seems like it, with your comments about the rankings. It is hard to imagine a student or parent getting angry about marketing material from such a great school--unless you feel, for some reason, that the mere sending of the information misleads unqualified students into thinking they have a chance. Anyhow, it is easy enough to throw out the mail or push the "delete" key, like all of the rest of the high school juniors and seniors did with the mounds of communications they received from across the country. It is not fair to single Wash U out for trying to get the word out about what an awesome school they are.</p>
<p>It's well known that Wash U likes to send a lot of mail ("junk mail", not "spam", spam is only email), but I'd agree with blackeyedsusan and Cressmom about other colleges. I received minimal amounts of mail from Wash U compared with Lehigh, U of Chicago, and Emory, as well as a lot of schools I've never heard of and don't have much in terms of academic reputation. Chicago was by far the worst offender, sending "creative" postcards very often. If you don't like the mail, either request to be taken off their list, or just chuck the mail in the trash.
Wash U didn't accept anyone off of the waitlist last year, so your argument about rankings manipulation through waitlisting completely falls apart. In fact, Wash U's freshmen class was overbooked by ~120-150 people... If anything, their plan to manipulate their rankings by lowering their acceptance rate completely backfired. They could have accepted even fewer students and still would've been able to fill the freshman class without touching the waitlist.</p>
<p>I'm basing my comment on previous years and the quality of the students I saw admitted there last year from my high school so congratulations to them for having a stronger yield last year. No I don't have a "hidden agenda," I'm just a high school senior who is annoyed with Wash U. Also, I'm not singling them out. If you'll look at the message boards of some of the other offenders, I have indeed posted there as well.</p>
<p>Oh lord, the mail from WashU and Chicago and Duke was NOTHING compared to, say, Wartburg College (I am not joking). Also, up until about two months ago, I got weekly emails from Utah Valley State College which always ended up in my bulk mail folder and were promptly deleted... could've been porn offers for all I know; I never opened them. Trust me, if you're gonna be receiving junk mail from colleges (and pretty much anyone who took the PSAT will) be glad to be getting it from top-tier schools, hahah.</p>
<p>andrw313,</p>
<p>Washu CCers are very touchy specially the moms.
I have even received Washu bulk mail after being admitted.</p>