<p>D is already a freshman in college, yet a booklet from Pomona showed up the other day. A. Pomona? Really? She’s have zero chance. B. Where were you last year and the year before? None of the Claremont Schools would say boo to her although she qualified for Scripps and Pitzer. C. Or is it a case of she got in someplace decent, so now you’re interested?</p>
<p>When S starts going through the process in a few years, I expect even more top level material to go with his even higher test scores which will all go in the giant box that gets thrown away when we’re done, most of it unopened.</p>
<p>At least the junk can be recycled, so some posiitve. </p>
<p>Amanda Graves seems to have good writing skills. Will fit right in at Yale or Chicago.</p>
<p>So tell me again why these institutions that blow wads of money on USNWR-gaming get non-profit status?</p>
<p>Don’t get me started…</p>
<p>I wonder how the colleges shes applying to will look at this.</p>
<p>It’s a good lesson in critical thinking–to discern the difference between recruitment/courting and advertising. Welcome to the cold, cruel, world, kids.</p>
<p>@MrMom62, tell him to choose not to receive mail from colleges when he takes the PSAT. Problem pretty much solved. He can go out to the websites of colleges he IS interested in and sign up for mailings. We did that for D2, and even with super high scores, she didn’t really get any mail except from colleges she was interested in.</p>
<p>Yes, my son has received nice letters and booklets from Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Unfortunately he has not found the cure for the common cold so I think the odds for him getting in are close to zero. Into the trash they go. I’m actually quite shocked that these “big names” need to seek out commoners such as us. One would think with their world wide name recognition that they wouldn’t need to even have an advertising/recruiting budget.</p>
<p>^I’ve often thought that too, riverbirch. You’d think they’d be secure in the status of their schools without needing to spend money on fishing for applicants. But of course, more applicants to reject means a higher rate of selectivity.</p>
<p>What a stupid game.</p>
<p>On the flip side, I find that some schools are woefully undergunned when it comes to woo-ing my NMSF kid. </p>
<p>I mean, if OU is going to offer her a full ride and a steady stream of quality/substanstial marketing materials, some of the East Coast schools are going to have do better than send a generic letter in a glossy envelope (looking at YOU, Drexel). And honestly, I’d think that the schools in our home state would be putting the hard press on…but no.</p>
<p>Why do people take these letters, emails, even phone calls personally? When a personalized credit card solicitation comes does anyone really think there is an actual human being somewhere that has determined “wow, what a credit score, we want him!” </p>
<p>Mailings can easily go in the trash, unopened even. The phones calls from the colleges are super annoying though, just as are the phone calls from Amex. Still, it should be clear that work study students or other paid marketers are making the phone calls for the colleges from a huge list that they run down hour after hour. Again, it is not personal any more that the “special offer” that the credit card company is calling me with.</p>
<p>Even a University that S has already been accepted to has called to “answer questions.” Again, I know full well that a student is being paid to place that call to him, and every other accepted student on the list, all evening long. The Univ doesn’t specifically want to see if my special snowflake has questions, lol, they are just working their yield.</p>
<p>As far as I know, Drexel does not give enough to NMSFs to make it affordable.</p>
<p>I loved the article written by a high school student that was cited in the original post. Frankly, If I were an admission’s officer at a top school, I might really consider admitting her based on that wonderfully written, introspective article. I am going to cross my fingers for her admission chances.</p>
<p>LOL, the full-page sized envelope with one piece of paper in it from Drexel was pretty funny. We thought it must be something special, but it was just a generic please come here letter someone was too lazy to fold into thirds.</p>
<p>My son has gotten interest from the local CC up to Harvard, Yale, etc,. - based on mailings only. Looking at college app fees, why would they not try to bring more students into the applicant pool so that they both get more money and decrease their % accepted?</p>
<p>Wish that colleges were forced to list the SAT and GPAs of those who apply and those who are rejected, not just those who are accepted.</p>
<p>@texaspg: That’s not my point. My point is that you’d think ANY school is going to want to “stack its deck” with NMSFs…so I’m puzzled that schools like Drexel aren’t making the effort. They have the data, the computer can do the sort…</p>
<p>There is another school that I will not name that IMO is doing a far worse job than Drexel at “selling” itself to my D…who would be at/near the top of their applicant pool based on stats alone. I just don’t get it.</p>
<p>My son received a ton of mail from University of Chicago, but we knew that was a very high reach. He wasn’t interested in the least.</p>
<p>@sevendad - There are very specific schools which throw money at NMSFs who nominate the school and unfortunately, not many privates fit that bill. I was wrong and it looks like Drexel does have a full tuition scholarship. Not sure whether there is a cap and whether it is offered to everyone who wants to come.</p>
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<p><a href=“Grants and Scholarships | Drexel Central”>http://drexel.edu/drexelcentral/finaid/grants/special-interest-scholarships/</a></p>
<p>Make sure your kids know when they take these tests not to check the box where the helpful CB folk will help to match you up to a school or whatever the line they use. I think we’ve saved several trees by doing that.</p>
<p>It is marketing plain and simple-too bad kids have to learn the hard way they are just another statistic in this whole process. </p>