<p>That’s a great article. One way they would know if she hadn’t visited is if she didn’t interview with the school. I know that my son fell in love with Swarthmore, visited several times, sweated blood over his “Why Swarthmore Essay?” and learned everything he could about the school before going to the interview. He was definitely passionate!! He really made the case that he would be a good fit for Swarthmore in particular, not just that he was a good student in general. I really believe that helped put him above some other kids who might look a little better on paper but really didn’t care about the particular school.</p>
<p>I LOVE tuft’s admission Dan. Huge sense of humor, compassionate and concerned for how the process goes.</p>
<p>Strangely, I never heard of Pitzer College before last week–we got sent a random brochure of the place. It looked very strange, as if the whole thing is located in some weird old Howard Johnsons or something. Maybe their brochure just doesn’t represent them well . .</p>
<p>Thanks for the links to the MIT blogs, very interesting.</p>
<p>Endicott- I hope they send the brochure to lots of people- I’d love to see the amount of applicants go down when D is ready to look at colleges…</p>
<p>I’ve visited two of the Claremont schools and son goes to one of them. The ones we visited had a very organized sign-in process for tours. It wasn’t the kind of thing where you showed up and just joined a big group. Also, the two we visited made it very clear that if you lived within any reasonable distance, they expected you to interview.</p>
<p>Each school that Son and I visited made it pretty clear whether or not they were keeping track of student visits and similar expressions of interest. (I recall something on the BC site about the impossibility of tracking who stops by for a tour.) Also, schools are pretty clear whether or not the interview is expected or just desirable. If the school is important to your student, pay attention to the web site, what’s said at your visit, what’s said in the brochures. For the most part, there isn’t much mystery to this, you just have to be alert for the clues.</p>
<p>“Do people really call schools they’re rejected from? Angrily?”</p>
<p>Yes. I talked to an MIT adcom once, and she told me that the angry phone calls (from parents more than students) start immediately after the decisions go out. She said some of them in frustration quiz the adcoms about where they went to school and/or how much they earn - the implication being “How dare you presume to sit in judgment of my son (or daughter) when you are not as smart as he is and you work in this low-paid job?”</p>
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<p>Interesting to know. I applied to Harvey Mudd and live a couple hours away. I assumed they would contact me (or some alumnus would) for the interview. They never contacted me, so I was never interviewed. I ended up being waitlisted.</p>
<p>To be fair, marking me down for not interviewing was probably a good choice (assuming they did). I threw together the application at the last minute, and it was probably my 6th choice out of 7 (though I did like UCSD when I visited). I had no interest in staying on the waitlist after I got into UCLA.</p>
<p>Pitzer is VERY conscientious about recording student contact. They keep track of phone calls, interviews, tours, class visits, all of it, and they are very clear about how important ‘fit’ and ‘interest’ are in the application.</p>
<p>I can see why Pitzer, a unique school that has strong reasons for wanting to get students with the right “fit,” would track student contact.</p>
<p>But those of you who are new to these boards – and to the college admissions process – need to know that not all schools track student contact or care about demonstrated interest. A lot of larger schools (not all, but many), including some highly prestigious ones, couldn’t care less about such things and in fact would rather that you didn’t bother the busy people in the admissions office unless you have a legitimate question that the college’s web site cannot answer.</p>
<p>Good comment, Marian. There is a simple way to determine who does and does not care about an applicant’s demonstrated level of interest - it is included in item C7 on each school’s Common Data Set. We included this item in D’s college search spreadsheet.</p>
<p>definitely a good point, Marian. The UC’s and many many others couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>When my sons applied to colleges, their GCs were pretty clear on which school HAD to have a visit. They did tend to be the smaller LACs. The colleges themselves also were clear about the importance of contacting the Admissions office. Then there were schools where they did not even bother to note that you visited.</p>
<p>pitzer story</p>
<p>My D and I went to a 5 colleges event on the East Coast and spent
an hour in a specific session for Pitzer with I believe their admissions
director. We filled in all the forms, contact information etc and were
thinking of going out for a visit. Never heard anything further from them.
Contacted them again asking to be put on a mailing list - never heard
anything from them. My D is an athlete, would make the team at Pitzer
so she contacted the coach and… never heard…contacted him again
same thing - nothing. Needless to say we never visited and she never
applied. Their message was either - “not interested” or “can’t get our act
together.” We assumed it was a b.s. place or had so many apps that they
just didn’t care. Colleges need to be aware that all the marketing is a
waste if they don’t follow through on the basics or if the initial contact
person is a jerk. Another bad move is having current students do the interview.
Families sometimes come from a long way at considerable expense, only
to be interviewed by some self promoting frat boy or some gung ho habitat
for humanity chick. Parents expect an adult.</p>
<p>Bay, most GCs know – and should advise their students about this – that demonstrated interest is essential. That means making visits official by signing in at the admissions office, attending the information session, going on a tour. I tried once to convince a student and a parent that this formal visit was essential, and they didn’t do it because the student “didn’t really need to know more.” They were both upset when he was denied.</p>
<p>As the admissions officer in the Op-Ed piece states, adcoms look for reasons to deny applicants because it helps whittle down the list.</p>
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<p>I think that depends on how well trained the students is. Two of my D’s favorite interviews were done by students at Dartmouth and Haverford. She loved their styles and easy of conversation. But her worst was also a student interview at Bucknell. The admissions officers who conducted the interviews ranged in skills as well.</p>
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<p>This is probably true, but it assumes that GCs are actually involved in a student’s application process, which is not the case in many high schools.</p>
<p>Agreed that plenty of high school students go to high schools where the guidance counselors are clueless (and my state has the worst staffing ratio of counselors per student of any state in the country, I have been told), so it’s good that parents post here on CC to help younger students learn the system.</p>
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<p>BS. Obviously other kids did something “more right”. It may be the luck of the draw for the year, but someone did a little more.</p>
<p>I think part of the problem for kids (and maybe some parents) is that they are stuck on the idea that they will get a resolution that’s what they really wanted. Having recently had friends and the child of a friend suffer with cancer diagnoses (and several deaths), I’ve been reminded that life is not fair, that you can’t always get what you want. I hope those who have disappointments in college admissions pick themselves up and thrive where they go.</p>