<p>I always hear so much about how important it is for applicants to keep their name front and center, to make sure that the admissions rep knows the applicant. What are the best ways of doing this? I would think that the student would need a legitimate reason to contact an admissions representative. What would be some reasons? And how do you do it?</p>
<p>My kids never once contacted an admissions rep. They did have interviews, but those were set up by the rep, not the student. They did fine with admissions.</p>
<p>With 30,000+ applications at some school, staying in touch with admissions reps seems such a stretch.</p>
<p>It depends on the college and the circumstances. Has the student met the representative(s) in question, or visited their specific colleges? If not, it is perfectly fair to e-mail the representatives with questions about possible interviews or information sessions in your area, or with specific questions about the process that cannot be answered easily by consulting the college’s website. If your child is unable to attend a session, I see no harm in firing off an e-mail explaining why he or she had a conflict and expressing interest in any alternative opportunities (e.g. alumni/ae interviews). </p>
<p>There was a great broadcast on This American Life on NPR about college, and college admissions. The adcom from Georgia Tech was one of the speakers, and he was a riot. He said random contact by students to admissions is really not helpful…but that parents often feel it is. He told some historical anecdotes about student contacts…hilarious.</p>
<p>To be honest, unless your student has a reason to contact admissions, I’m not sure that it is necessary. I seriously doubt that most colleges keep track of every unnecessary contact with an adcom…just to keep the student name front and center. Think about it…these adcoms handle thousands of applications at most school. </p>
<p>And the last thing you want to appear to be is someone who is sort of spamming the admissions office.</p>
<p>Do the things that would count at some schools (and recognize that at most schools these things do NOT affect admissions at all)…visit the campus, go to an info session, contact a department chair for info about the department you are interested in, go to a local event hosted by your prospective college, etc.</p>
<p>But really…look at that list. If you apply to 12 schools and attempt to do all of that all year long, you won’t have time to do your homework.</p>
<p>A liberal application of SuperGlue just prior to the handshake ought to do the trick. ;-)</p>
<p>I heard that NPR broadcast too. It WAS hilarious! One story the Georgia Tech adcom told was about a mother who called admissions to say that her son has his sights set on MIT, but she (the mom) likes the southern vibe of Georgia Tech. The question was, how can she convince him to choose Georgia Tech and what can the son do to prepare himself to apply.</p>
<p>The son was in second grade.</p>
<p>On a more serious note…</p>
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<p>Consider the source. I’ve noticed this particular advice comes most often from paid professionals (admission coaches, admissions book authors, etc.) who stand to profit when little Johnny or Jenny gets into the dream school and confirmation bias kicks in.</p>
<p>“Why, of course my kid got in because of Expert So-and-so’s advice! I’m going to tell all my friends to use this (coach/book/magic bean) for their kids.” …and thus the word-of-mouth marketing lines the pockets of the dispenser of the advice.</p>
<p>It works because the advice is essentially a placebo. Unless practiced to ridiculous extremes, it won’t harm the applicant, but in most cases it won’t help either.</p>
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<p>Here’s a link to the radio archive for the show:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/504/how-i-got-into-college”>http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/504/how-i-got-into-college</a></p>
<p>A student can meet his/her college rep at a local college fair, or at his/her high school in many cases. You can look at a college’s admissions website and see the “Admissions reps in your area/on the road” page. The cool thing is that the reps that visit your child’s school are often the same reps who will be the first reader of your child’s application. Meeting them and shaking their hand can give you an opportunity to be more than just a name on an application. Interviews, even optional ones, can also help. If a student has a legitimate question for an admissions rep, this is usually welcome, but you shouldn’t just make something up–especially if it is information that can be found easily on a college website. I’ve found admissions reps to be very sincere in their offers to answer questions. </p>
<p>Constantly bugging your ad rep certainly will keep you front and center. ;)</p>
<p>@DreamSchlDropout you are right. That’s where it came from. A friend’s private guidance counselor.</p>
<p>You want to “Show Interest”…here is a post I wrote for Case Western but you can do similar things at other colleges.
<a href=“How to "Show Interest" in CWRU - Case Western Reserve University - College Confidential Forums”>How to "Show Interest" in CWRU - Case Western Reserve University - College Confidential Forums;