<p>Hey I'm a junior in HS and I get a bunch of those countless college emails. One day I found a University of Southern California e-mail (and a letter than came to me) that said...</p>
<p>"According to information we received from the College Board, your achievements suggest you would be a strong addition to our student body and would appreciate the rich academic environment we can offer you.</p>
<p>If you would like to learn more about the unique benefits of a USC education, please visit <a href="http://www.usc.edu/reply%5B/url%5D">http://www.usc.edu/reply</a> and tell us more about yourself. (Use xxxxx as your ID number.) We will send you information pertaining to your specific academic interests and student life at USC, as well as a personal invitation to visit our campus.</p>
<p>We look forward to hearing from you!</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Timothy E. Brunold
Associate Dean and Director
Undergraduate Admission"</p>
<p>And I entered the code, but I never got a reply e-mail or any information about the school - nothing, and that was in Feb, still nothing. When I try to re-enter the code I get:</p>
<p>"Thank you for your interest in USC our records show that your response has already been posted.</p>
<p>You can expect to receive ongoing communications from us regarding academics, student life, financial aid and admission information."</p>
<p>Should I call them? The offer for a invitation for a visit seems nice, but that was the end of Feb!</p>
<p>Or are these e-mails useless? I got the same/similar one from Boston University, and their reply came the next day...</p>
<p>op9no2, Like most universities, USC admissions is in the midst of their busiest time of year - making 36,000 admissions decisions, getting the decisions out, fielding calls from rejected applicants pleading their case, calls from accepted applicants anxious to get fin aid info…</p>
<p>The materials they mention have in the past been sent through postal mail, so I am sure in the next several weeks (as admissions gets a chance to catch their breath) and over the next few months, you will receive several communications from USC including an invitation to fill out the “Part 1” application that is generally available in July.</p>
<p>This advertisement is part of USNWR ranking management. </p>
<p>All the top schools (at least those that care about % accepted) are incented to have the greatest possible number of submitted admissions, which is the denominator in the #admitted/#applied equation. </p>
<p>Let’s take as an example a school, any school, with 2000 spots to fill in Fall, 2010. Let’s also assume an historic 35% yield… meaning they need to admit 2000/0.35 or about 6,500 students, and of those 2000 will enroll.</p>
<p>If that school has 13,000 applications, it’s all important % accepted is 50%. But what if it could really beat the admissions drum around the country, visit high schools, send out 1,000,000 emails to juniors all over the country, and entice and encourange these kids to take the time to fill out their application? If they could get 26,000 kids to submit an app, and they only accepted 6,500 as before (assuming the yield does not change), their coveted % accepted rate drops from 50% to 25%.</p>
<p>This in turn encourages more kids to apply, because it must be a worthy school, right? And a judicious use of scholarship money can help keep the yield at 35%.</p>
<p>It’s kind of funny how transparent these marketing efforts are.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys. I was just wondering because BU sent theirs the next day, while the USC one didn’t even come yet. Unfortunately it is not in my bulk folder. Even if it doesn’t come, oh well…</p>