<p>I posted this on the parents forum, but there was not a consensus -</p>
<p>I believe I read somewhere on this site that visiting and other contact might diminish your level of merit aid because they feel you have high interest to attend. Revenue management models determine the amount of merit you receive? Is this true for the majority of schools that give merit aid? I'm rethinking our visiting and registering online if this is true. Or visiting and not signing in?
We were replying to some of the mailings, basically to correct the wierd major they all had listed which was not what my DS listed on his PSAT reg; but now I'm thinking we shouldn't answer these?
I mean, I guess an actual application means you are interested right? Thought I also read that colleges know the order of colleges you send your SATs to, is that right; so they would know you were their first choice?</p>
<p>I have never heard that a student’s merit aid chances might be diminished if the student does a campus visit. Colleges know that students visit 5 - 10 - 20 or more colleges. </p>
<p>Heck…if “showing interest” by merely visiting would diminish merit chances, what would submitting an app to the school do??? Applying shows the ultimate interest!</p>
<p>Some would argue that applying ED diminishes merit chances at schools that give merit.</p>
<p>I have also never heard that visiting a college would decrease merit aid chances.</p>
<p>It seems to me that NOT visiting, if you have the means to do so, carries much greater risks if your child chooses to attend a college that he or she ends up hating.</p>
<p>We visited College A that became my son’s top choice in October of his senior year. We’d just come from a tour of College B, and the admissions rep asked how he liked College B (admissions rep at College A used to work at College B). My son answered honestly that he preferred College A. My son kept in touch with the College A admissions rep, applied early action and was admitted. He received the top merit award offered by College A, despite having mid-range stats for this college. This was a very nice surprise, as I was beginning to second-guess my son’s approach prior to receiving the award letter.</p>
<p>So this is just one data point, but consistent interest was shown and it all worked out better than expected.</p>
<p>I know that the chances of merit aid at my d’s school increases if the student interviews, visits, goes to admissions fairs, or otherwise shows interest.</p>
<p>Now, there is a train of thought that applying Early Decision (binding if accepted) decreases one’s chance of merit aid, since the student is locked in, but otherwise, showing interest is a good thing.</p>
<p>Colleges, like students, only have so much money/time to spend. They want to woo those top students for whom merit money could be the tipping point. They don’t want to waste their “bids”.</p>
<p>I swear I didn’t make this up, zoosermom. I read both points on CC and they also linked to the site of the biggest company that specializes in revenue management for colleges. I’ll have to search and find the posts. I was just looking to make sure I wasn’t hurting DS chances by make an effort to visit most of these schools before he applys on our spring break college tour next week. I would never send him somewhere he had never visited. Well, he wouldn’t go anyway.</p>
<p>Revenue management is real, but I’ve never read where visiting a school hurts one’s chances for merit. Afterall, many kids cross a school OFF THEIR LIST after visiting. As I said before, applying shows more interest than a college visit does.</p>
<p>And, I agree, that applying ED can hurt ones chances. I know my sister now wonders if her ED son would have gotten a merit offer from Vandy if he had applied RD.</p>
<p>When it comes to Enrollment/Revenue management…What some people don’t realize is that a student’s stats can influence the FA package. If two students have the same “need,” but one has better stats, the student with better stats may get a better FA package.</p>
<p>My thought is that visiting the college and also their booth at college fairs would help the student’s chances for merit aid and not hurt them, assuming that the student’s stats are strong compared to the averages at the school.</p>
<p>The US News rankings also consider yield – what percent of the admitted students actually enroll. In order to get good yield, colleges need to admit students who have a strong likelihood of enrolling at their school. These students would often be the ones who show the most interest in the school. Then they sweeten the pot with merit aid to hope to push that high stat student into the “enroll” category. If this works, they “win” twice. They increase their average stats and also their yield.</p>
<p>Now that the Common App is in use at most schools, it is very easy to apply to a large number of colleges. If a student (who lives within reasonable distance to visit) applies without visiting, I think the school probably assumes that the student is not that interested in the college and that they are being used as a back-up. When you look over the accepted/wait list/rejected lists at reasonably competitive colleges and you see very high stat kids wait listed, I think this is why. The school figures if the student is really interested in attending, they will send in the card and try to get off the waitlist. If not, then they haven’t jeopardized their “yield” stat by admitting a student who really has no intention of enrolling there.</p>