<p>There’s nothing wrong with it as long as you understand you, along with others, are being solicited because of your scores. Good luck!</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>
<p>I think you have a knack for writing either comedy or drama.</p>
<p>… Anyhow, back to the OP’s original intended question, there is one thing that I use to determine it’s ‘legitimacy’. Is the letter hand signed or does it have a printed signature?</p>
<p>Thanks to the SAT, kids everywhere are getting mass invitations by the smallest of schools. Stanford might be more selective, and only mass target those at a certain threshold.
Nevertheless, unless you gave them info, or a recruiter cited a competition, work, etc, consider the letter an ad as well. If you are interested in Stanford, send back reply ennvelopes (if given). You might get a fee waiver out of it.</p>
<p>“You apply, rejection may follow but you are not shot. The sun will rise again.”</p>
<p>No one’s saying otherwise.</p>
<p>“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>That’s <em>not</em> what they’re doing with these ads. First off, most everyone who would apply to Stanford and get in already knows about Stanford. What they’re trying to do is increase the application pool so they can reject more people. This makes them “more selective” (bull ****) in the eyes of publications like US News and World Report. Due to their lower acceptance rate, the school’s ranking rises. That means even more kids apply, and their ranking rises again and again. This is all in theory, of course. Other “top” institutions are playing the same game. Therefore, it’s one giant competition between the “top” colleges and universities to see who can have the lowest acceptance rate (or, with my negative spin, who can reject the most people).</p>
<p>They’re essentially further dirtying whatever authenticity college admissions might have once had by making students just like you think they can get into Stanford with these letters, only to be disappointed later. You may well get in; I have no idea. However, there <em>are</em> lots of kids who won’t, but think they will because of this ad.</p>
<p>My post was a simple request to see if the Stanford letter was generated by the SAT or by some other means–it was never meant to dissolve into some long dialogue regarding mass marketing by colleges & universities. Anybody who takes the SAT is AWARE of marketing as the ensuing emails in our inboxes feels like overwhelming uncontrollable spam. Most of us are also aware that other posters may or may not be who they seem to be, e.g., suffering from multiple personalities & OCD, specialized agendas, trolls, agent provocateurs, hobbyists, and god knows what else. Why would an individual post thousands of times? Who has the time or need to do that?</p>
<p>It seems almost certain SAT scores generated the letter. The message then to me was that Stanfords English Departments factored in my low-for-Stanford SAT math score. Thats all. If the English Department paid a market research company to reach out to fellow students like me it is Stanford setting the criteria not the ad company. It was refreshing. It is an honor that I received a request to apply to Stanford even if the letter was sent out to 70,000 other students.</p>
<p>Last year over 81,000 applicants applied to UCLA (probably hired no ad agencies). I am not worried about rejection because it is simply a part of todays application process. One does not need to set such a negative spin and discourage other prospective applicants.</p>
<p>“If the English Department paid a market research company to reach out to fellow students like me”</p>
<p>the English dept does not have a separate budget to pay an enrollment company to send out letters. That is handled by admissions. Stanford may very well have set the overall criteria for minimum scores , but it is likely that your data was obtained directly from the college board, and the letter was written to appear to come from the English dept. But if you want to continue to believe that separate depts have their own enrollment companies working for them, go right ahead.</p>
<p>Actually, now that I think about it, I specifially checked off that I didn’t want my info released to shools on the SAT. Perhaps this is just random? Or could it maybe be based on AP scores? What did anyone else who got the letter score on the English AP? I didn’t think those scores were sent to schools but I got a 5 so maybe Stanford sent it to all kids who got 5’s?. I don’t know, but like I said, they shouldn’t have gotten my SAT score. So either it’s random or based on something else.</p>
<p>"Or could it maybe be based on AP scores? "
Of course.</p>