<p>Oops-posted this question in 2012 forum so perhaps will get an answer here in the current forum.</p>
<p>Recently I received a letter and brochure from Stanford's English Department to consider applying to Stanford immediately. I assume they found me through SAT testing since they knew my home address (sadly math score is uninspiring). Has my fame as a writer reached the English Department or is this simply a form letter given when some SAT threshold is reached? Any thoughts out there?
Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t know, but I just got the same letter. It probably is something SAT-related, if you never requested information from Stanford. I don’t know how else they would get your information, and my CR/W scores were good too so that would make sense.</p>
<p>“is this simply a form letter given when some SAT threshold is reached?”
yes. thats all it is. And Stanford did not send the letter. It was sent by the Enrollment Management company that Stanford hired to bring in more applications. All colleges use these type of companies. Its nothing more than an “ad”. Treat it as such.</p>
<p>I got the same letter today. And @menloparkmom actually, it is from the direcor of the English department. It was not from an ad company.</p>
<p>It likely does not mean much, but who knows. There’s a good chance it could be just because of the SAT threshold. Because I neither said I was an English major on the Common App, nor did I even apply to Stanford. So who knows?</p>
<p>“I got the same letter today. It was not from an ad company”
Honey, NON of the mailings sent by enrollment management companies SAY the name of their company- what would be the point of that? The admissions office or the English dept directors dont have time to sift through reams of data to find the names, address, etc of students who scored well on tests. ALL are sent out “as if” they came from Stanford, or U of Chicago, or Yale etc, etc . That’s what they are paid to do by the colleges that hire them.</p>
<p>It is nice to have any solicitation from Stanford even if it is produced by an Ad agency. I was curious to how they found me since this letter targeted my interests so well. Sure I receive thousand of emails sent by mostly little-known schools that are flooding my gmail account but nothing has been as personal as this snail letter. I was going to apply to Stanford before the letter arrived but was unsure if this school was a good fit for me as some of the schools back east. It seems the English Department (at least this week) is the only department sending out letters. Obviously they are spending money to seek and attract talented writers. It is refreshing.</p>
<p>My dad works in college counseling and assures his students that these are marketing solicitations based solely on particular test benchmarks. In this case, in is probably the SAT english score. Unfortunately, these do give students the idea that a particular college wants THEM, when in reality a third party marketing company is producing these on their behalf. I’ve gotten a number of these from odd schools myself, one that looked like it was from a current engineering student at a school (and I haven’t the least bit of interest in engineering) that was probably based on my math scores. It is just marketing.</p>
<p>I was already applying to Stanford but was truly on the fence whether Stanford would be the best place for a writer as independent as myself. I see Stanford as a large research oriented university. When I was 10 my mom (not she is not Asian) enrolled me in some silly 3-week JH gifted program at Stanford so I am familiar with their campus and campus life at least from a 10/11-year-old perspective…</p>
<p>Brown has been my first choice but I have been a little dismayed at their binding early action program; also Brown’s application only allows science and math types to submit supplemental essays. Writers can be instrumental in influencing culture and producing significant changes in the world. </p>
<p>It seems Stanford did not target me as an individual but probably through SAT scoring. So what? I believe the Stanford English Department knows what they are doing. I am interested.</p>
<p>Not sure why the visceral attack to discount the Stanford English Department’s expensive marketing tactic to lure top talent as absolute stupid meaningless mass marketing. Yea, those idiots at Stanford just want to get their application numbers up, maybe even make some money at getting those suckers to pay the $90 app fee…
Signed ‘No letter from Brown’</p>
<p>I think people are just cautioning students that it may be best to evaluate the school on it’s own merit rather than whether or not a marketing firm solicits on the school’s behalf.</p>
<p>In other words, it’s not personal. So, don’t take it personally, other than a compliment on your scores.</p>
<p>Moot, Boot…
Let some prospective students feel confident in applying especially when they are asked to apply by Stanford. Do you really think the viewers who are attracted to this forum are so stupid they do not have a clue where they stand? </p>
<p>“With no more than that, we were set on the desolate, lonely path of the writer. And we must have turned in some abysmally bad stories. If I had expected to be discovered in a full bloom of excellence, the grades given my efforts quickly disillusioned me. And if I felt unjustly criticized, the judgments of editors for many years afterward upheld my teachers side, not mine. The low grades on my college stories were echoed in the rejection slips, in the hundreds of rejection slips.”
John Steinbeck (regarding writing classes at Stanford).</p>
<p>Yea let’s discourage the future Steinbeck’s of the world. Hey, you been mass marketed and let me enlighten you…Perhaps Stanford was looking for the serious writers who were not going to apply to their school. Your negative inputs are appalling. Why discourage people?</p>
<p>especially when they are asked to apply by Stanford. .
Once again, Stanford’s English dept did not send the letter to you. It was produced by a marketing company that Stanfords admissions office hires to comb through reams of data available through various search engines and from Data provided by the College Board and ETS. Sorry if that makes you upset. We are parents whose kids also received those kind of letters and learned, after the rejection letters were received, that they dont mean a thing to the admissions committee. What matters to them is your application. You should apply to Stanford if your research makes you feel it would be a great place for you. But mailings from Stanford dont increase your chances of acceptance. So rejoice if you are accepted and dont feel led on if that doesnt happen.</p>
<p>If Steinbeck had been alive today, Stanford may have targeted him. A misfit like him surely would have had some difficulties in the Chance Me department. I am no ‘Steinbeck’ but I would welcome writers like him in my classes. Putting effort and money into seeking individuals who might be good candidates but were not applying to Stanford–what is wrong with that?</p>
<p>You apply, rejection may follow but you are not shot. The sun will rise again.</p>