So many brochures ...

In wonder if the box can be unchecked after the fact!!

Why??? There is not a single piece of this info that can’t be found online. Do you also stockpile brochures from car companies and pizza places? Do you keep every single J Crew catalog that comes your way? I confess, I don’t know why anyone thinks these brochures are either “special” or worth saving (more than a handful).

This is normal. I do not know why this is still going on with all kind of electronic media available.
We did not pay attention, except for few very small cards with invitations to those military academies, like West Point, and all others, but D. was not interested in them either. I was surprised only by them, the rest was kind of usual. Her GC said that these are always looking for the female applicants and that was the reason that she got them.

It’s big time marketing and big marketing budgets for sure. Upon opening up these beautiful brochures and view books who wouldn’t want to go there? They make all these schools look fantastic…

Personally, we just recycled them after we looked at the pretty pictures and kept the ones D was applying to.

Supposedly, schools buy lists of names associated with test ranges (I’ve read this but have no idea if it’s correct), then run that list through an algorithm and send mail to people they calculate would be interested enough to justify the expense of mailing.

I thought to look for any decipherable trends in our sample points.

So … until she actually applies, it’s kind of fun to keep them, see who thinks they’re a match, and who is just fishing maybe to cook their exclusivity numbers - I’m looking at you HPY.

I’m also fascinated by the approaches taken.

U Mich & RIT for example (there were others, but these stood out) sent large, colorful brochures with real, useful information.

Our state flagship (whose banner I read as I type this) sent a couple pages that basically told how to apply. Still scratching my head over that one.

In among all the brochures and mailings was the brochure for Rose Hulman’s Operation Catapult which we had never heard of but which turned out to be the best possible summer program for my daughter. We had never heard of it and she loved it. So there could be something of value in that pile of paper.

Those brochures can be of value but the vast majority are not. I just never found a reason to keep the college mailings, even the brochures and catalogs we found interesting/amusing/informative/eye-popping, for more than a week. I certainly didn’t think to keep what’s essentially mass marketing for the high school student for two years. That habit always puzzled me. I think ego plays a part (“look! I got a huge course catalog from Columbia!!”) but keeping the house clear of big name school brochures and mailing tamps down the prestige and ego factors and allows the child to explor

To address what @50N40W heard, colleges can buy leads from several sources, but the College Board is probably the most popular and dominant one. Their [Student Search Service](Connect With Colleges and Scholarships – Student Search Service) has been around for decades. [On the college’s side](College Board Search), the search can be limited by geography, academic interest, score range, and a slew of other criteria.

Assessing likelihood of enrollment isn’t part of the College Board’s SSS, but there are other tools for that. I’m personally don’t get too bogged down in those, so I can’t tell you how they work.

It becomes a game. When we were receiving these, I’d look through it to find the kids riding an elephant or camel. Those were PR firms’ images of choice for study abroad! And no one has class in a classroom. It was the college brochure edition of Where’s’ Waldo.

I found the brochure interesting, but they stacked up waiting for DS to take interest. I had a small wicker trunk in the kitchen and stashed them away. Plan A was to go camping summer after graduation and have a bonfire. Things got busy, so a few years later I decided to glance one more time (looking for schools where he applied). I was shocked to find two 18th birthday cards (and checks) wedged amongst the brochures. Ooops - senior year was a hectic time at our house.