What does "confirm your interest" mean?

<p>In all the college spam mailings, there's an option that is a link to submitting information about yourself to that college so you can "hear more about us." Should I submit my information to these things? what is it for? If i'm genuinely interested in that school, is it beneficial for me to submit my info to show my interest? I'm just worried that my information would be sold and spread.</p>

<p>Your information will not be sold and spread; that’s self-injurious to the colleges. They want you all to themselves, all else being equal. </p>

<p>They’re going to use your indication of interest to enter you into a communications workflow. You’d start receiving more detailed and targeted information from those schools. For a very few, indicating interest will have an influence on admission decisions, but it is a distant consideration behind GPA and test scores.</p>