<p>yeah, my friend got this from williams but then they waitlisted her, which made me feel stupid because I was telling her she was so in because of how much they were doing for her (paying for visits, sending her letters, facebook friend with the guy who was to read her acceptance)</p>
<p>I also knew another guy who was told he’d be for sure into MIT by an admissions person there but he wasn’t</p>
<p>I never got recruitment mail from anywhere. No one wanted me :*(</p>
<p>I didn’t take a PSAT. I’d guess that’d be why.</p>
<p>That’s why, QwertyKey. Who wouldn’t want you??? ;)</p>
<p>Plainsman, I like that analogy.</p>
<p>Isn’t it fairly obvious when HYPSM sends a kid with a 1.3, 1000 total SAT score a letter that it’s nothing but a marketing scheme? From the letters I have received from the PSAT, there is always a little envelope, or something along the lines of, that they ask you to send back so that you can keep in touch…never a t-shirt, though. :(</p>
<p>^Okay, seriously now, did this kid with a 1.3 and a 1000 actually get recruitment mail from HYPSM? </p>
<p>Follow up. Okay, seriously now, is this kid with a 1.3 actually going to graduate High School?</p>
<p>“Isn’t it fairly obvious when HYPSM sends a kid with a 1.3, 1000 total SAT score a letter that it’s nothing but a marketing scheme?”</p>
<p>But the kid in my house didn’t have those numbers, nor do most kids who get the letters. I guessed the letters were prompted by College Board scores.</p>
<p>My kid had one college that paid to visit them twice (yes, they realized it was the second visit) and still rejected kid. Kid had met the admissions officers at a college fair and they had stayed in touch for years.</p>
<p>i got courted, all expense fully paid trips to Notre Dame and Washington & Lee</p>
<p>Got not only accepted, but a 50K scholarship to ND and people calling me every week.</p>
<p>I got the johnson scholarship at W & L, 55K, very nice chunk of 5k personal expense money plus everything else, but no calls enticing me to accept it…i wonder why?</p>
<p>I’m not saying this is the norm. Perhaps 1.3 is an exaggeration, but there have been lots of stories of the top schools, among them HYPSM, who send kids with lower PSAT scores such letters simply to lower their admissions rates.</p>
<p>There was an interview with the head of admission from Harvard a few months back - where he said something to the effect that he wanted to see a Harvard application on the kitchen table of every qualified high school student in the country. So clearly - it’s all about raking in the most applications possible - collecting those application fees - and then submitting a very small percentage - making your school look increasingly selective every year. It just seems like Marketing 101 - the more you tell people they can’t have something - it is available only in limited quantities - the more they want it.</p>
<p>Selective graduate programs in some fields regularly recruit graduate students with campus visits, but this takes place after the student has been admitted. This is not marketing but part of the budget of graduate studies recruitment. </p>
<p>I am surprised that universities are paying for visits for prospective undergraduates, especially ones that they do not end up admitting. Would anyone care to share which or what type of universities do this?</p>
<p>I have also read about colleges increasing the number of applicants by telling students they can apply for free and have an expedited review. I wonder if they reject some of those applicants also.</p>
<p>I have twins who applied to Oberlin. AFTER they submitted their applications, they each received several letters – one twin received letters from chairs of departments and the other received a letter from the dean of the college – so these clearly weren’t mass mailings. They were waitlisted. Luckily, there was already a thread on the Oberlin forum talking about similar experiences in years past, so I didn’t take these as signs, but if I hadn’t seen these, I would have been more surprised at the outcome than I was.</p>
<p>I was very disappointed that Oberlin did this kind of solicitation after the applications were already submitted. I understand doing it before, to increase the likelihood of an application.</p>
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<p>I received free pre-admissions visits to:
George Washington University
University of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Mellon University
Scripps College
Washington University in St. Louis</p>
<p>I also seriously considered free admissions trips to:
University of Maryland, College Park
Bryn Mawr College</p>
<p>I also received probably half a dozen other offers. All were all-expenses or most-expenses paid (although I am a low-income student so I can’t say it was free for all), and were either by invitation, application, or call (i.e., I was invited but had to call for a travel grant).</p>
<p>My daughter did experience this phenomenon a couple of years ago; so much so that her admissions rep helped her with her app to a special scholarship program…and then she was waitlisted;
found out subsequently that the admissions decision was not in the control of the regional rep…I imagine this may happen alot…</p>
<p>When do these paid trips happen?
Summer before senior year or during the first semester of senior year?
Why do some people get invited and some people don’t?
Maybe, I am asking too many questions.</p>
<p>I think it’s fine for colleges to offer “free” trips to campus to students who may not ultimately be accepted as long as the college makes it clear (pre-visit) that the trip comes with no guarantee. Last fall, a young woman I was advising (low-income, student of color) had a wonderful weekend at Williams College courtesy of their WOW program. Although she had to submit an application (that even included an essay) just to be accepted by WOW, she knew all along that Williams was a “Reach” college for her. Williams never led her to believe that being admitted to WOW would assure her a spot in the next freshman class. Ultimately she was waitlisted. It was disappointing but not surprising. She never felt misled by Williams and still looks back on her WOW weekend with fondness. Similarly, all colleges need to be as crystal clear as Williams was so that students can make informed decisions about attending on-campus programs … and won’t invest in too many pricey sweatshirts while they’re there.</p>
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<p>That surprised me and I wonder what had happened during the trip. Or, do universities fly in more prospective students than they would eventually admit, like candidate interviews by a big company?</p>
<p>Paid college trips are a 2-way street; allowing the candidate to see the college and the college to see the candidate. Either party can decide after that trip that maybe things won’t work out. I see no deception.</p>
<p>Applicannot, thanks for responding. I find this all very lavish, and indicative of how out of control the admissions process is, not to mention university spending in general. No wonder tuition is so high. And these same universities then badger graduates for donations!!</p>
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<p>Mine were all in the fall of my senior year. I did, of course, receive paid trips once I had been accepted. Invitation is an engima. It has a lot to do with PSAT scores. It can sometimes appear totally random. I haven’t the faintest idea how I got invited to Scripps College, but I had had some contact with Washington University in St. Louis. Some schools have “diversity weekends” for minority students, which are often free (I’m personally annoyed by “diversity weekends” but alas, they were my only opportunities to do college visits).</p>
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<p>Well, the whole idea is to attract more applicants than students who can be admitted.</p>
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<p>I’m of mixed opinions on the subject of fly-outs and even university spending.</p>
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<p>I was recently at the QuestBridge conference at Yale University. My table (Stanford) was set up next to the Bowdoin table. The Bowdoin admissions counselor was very cool, and seemed to be “excited” about his school’s brand new brochures (complete with metallic paper). I laughed because my table had no fliers whatsoever, and suggested to some full pay student had paid for those new brochures. He said yeah, TWO students paid for those brochures…</p>