<p>I just got a Candidate's Choice Application notification from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the mail today. They claim that my "high school accomplishments have caught [their] attention[.]"</p>
<p>Are letters like this handed out to a bunch of people on a mailing list or did I actually receive it for the reason they claim?</p>
<p>I think they send it to people whom College Board told them got a good score.</p>
<p>It’s a marketing tool (sent to many) to get your attention. It seems it worked!</p>
<p>Other schools may use some form of this: “preferred application”, “fee waiver special application” ,etc.</p>
<p>All designed to make you feel more inclined to apply to or at least, seriously investigate the college.</p>
<p>Of course, if you’re considering studying science, engineering or technology, RPI is actually a good school for you to investigate seriously.</p>
<p>So, on one hand, letters like yours *are *handed out to a bunch of people on a mailing list, but, on the other hand, your name gets onto the list only if you’re a pretty good student and/or you have pretty good standardized test scores. It is a marketing tool that seems to have worked, but if you’re interested in RPI and they’re interested in you, then it works out well for everybody.</p>