“Elite” schools invite students to apply to make their admission rates look more selective. It’s as simple as that.
My son has been getting emails and mailings from Yale. We are in MI, have no ties to Yale, have expressed no interest in the school, and frankly, my son does not have the stats to get into an Ivy League school. Maybe they are trying to attract students from the Midwest as they bolster their numbers.
So question for everyone who says that elite schools are only mailing to their kids to improve their admission rate, rather than genuinely hoping to find some gems of kids out there. Do you think the same of schools that are way below your child’s range, when they mail to your kid? Are you just as cynical that Low Tier U from a faraway state who is sending your kid mail and offering them a free application is doing so just to increase the size of their denominator, not because they really hope to persuade your kid to go there? I don’t see any reason to put all your harsh thoughts on one type of school…they’re all just casting a wide net and hoping for the best class they can attract. In all cases, direct marketing may result in increased applications, but I am not sure why it is seen as more negative if you are a top school.
My kids got mailings from ALL types of colleges around the country; far away geographically; many at a totally wrong level of competitiveness for them. At this point, the colleges don’t have the info to target only the kids they will accept and that will want to go to them. So they mail widely. Discard what you aren’t interested in, but no need to ascribe evil motives and get upset.
Yep I am just as cynical but it’s just marketing and definitely no need for upset. My D’s two biggest mailers with U of Chicago and Colorado School of Mines. Very different selectivity, both equally annoying with mailers and contacts. All went into the trash.
UChicago and WashU are intense. Not once have I shown interest but they won’t stop bombarding my inbox or mailbox.
U Chicago must have quite the marketing budget based on the replies here. They were one of the first and more frequent mailings my daughter received. But I have to admit their marketing was well done and we did do a tour when in Chicago for Easter her junior year. It was not a good fit for her so she didn’t apply but the marketing was effective and at least got us on campus.
As I mentioned above, I think there are a few reasons for the mailings. While it is true that increasing the number of applicants helps with selectivity rankings, it is also true that elite colleges talk a lot about socioeconomic diversity, and mailings are one way to achieve that.
Our own high school counselor recommended our state U to all the kids, and didn’t seem to realize that the financial aid at, say, Harvard, made it cheaper… I am assuming that some of the mailings mention financial aid, or at least I hope so.
Elite college admissions officers seek students from diverse backgrounds. If the student body is comprised only of those students who knew about the school and were raised and prepared for admission, then the college class would not have the now desired mix.
Less selective schools also have a financial need to market, to attract students simply to keep up enrollment. I have also seen reps from some schools recruiting from local community colleges. Some smaller privates are in danger of closing.
So, yeah, it’s complicated. The main message is that these mailings aren’t some kind of personal invitation and don’t really mean anything in terms of chances of admission.
I wonder if schools are targeting students based on zip code or high school. It would make sense for them to focus on students who attend strong high schools, in relatively wealthy areas, where the education level is high.
Actually outreach efforts are focused on lower income areas. Schools need wealthy full pay students as well, of course.
100%. My S was an undergrad admissions “ambassador” and the schools he was assigned to give in person info sessions were the high schools in rural areas or less affluent neighborhoods. No reason to send him to the local magnet. In fact it was parents and kids from that magnet that would reach out to him on their own.
I think this varies by college. Brown and Duke, for example, are much more likely to send their AOs to private schools and public schools in wealthy neighborhoods.
The Yale AO’s themselves went to the affluent schools. It’s not that they don’t know which are the richest areas to mine. The point related to the thread is that there is a real push by many of the elite colleges to diversify their student bodies. Using students to reach out to underrepresented schools during their breaks is an efficient and low cost way to get out and personalize the message. Mailings, especially electronic ones, are a very cheap way to potentially find the diamonds in the rough. The message as to the affordability of many of these schools is an important one for them to communicate. I honestly don’t believe that in most cases for elites that these mailings are to sucker in “no-shots” to lower their admit rate or to collect app fees.
If the argument is that the primary motive for mass mailings is altruistic, then I don’t think it’s well founded.
Mutually beneficial under the guise of altruism.
Depends what you mean by altrusitic. These schools are doing these mailings not as a public service but because it serves their interests, I agree totally.
What are their interests these days? I’d put at the top, finding the best collection of students as they define, which itself is a complex rubric including academics, talents (athletic, artistic, musical, literary), diversity in SES, race and geography, prospects for future leadership in their fields (political, academic, business), current and prospective monetary support of the school, alumni engagement (for those with a legacy preference). Having more applicants to choose from allows you to better “shape” the class.
Enhancing the brand is a separate interest. Here we are talking about combatting the negative perceptions about an institution that perpetuates privilege for the privileged while sitting on in some cases billions of dollars in tax advantaged endowments. The current push to admit more Pell/lower income, first gen and racially diverse groups is in service to both collecting the optimal student body and combatting negative PR perceptions. Reducing the admit rate is pretty far down the list for most elites IMO.
As long as people continue to believe that a lower acceptance rate is a meaningful indicator of school quality, schools will continue to market and harvest applications. (Tulane must be better than Cornell, right?)
The additional revenue doesn’t hurt either.
I’ll never forget a naive, not high achieving young man that I knew who added a highly selective school to his list because he thought that since they had invited him to apply, he would surely get in!
I hadn’t realized that we had met before 
I know it’s all marketing but…When my son was on 8th grade his brother got a Yale Blue book. He took it and read it cover to cover and told me he was going there. He worked really hard in HS and held on to that book for all 4 years. He even talked about that mailing in one of his short essays. I don’t know if he would have applied if he didn’t fall in love with that school just from that mailing. We didn’t even get a chance to visit. Well, he got in and has never been happier.
Maybe a tourism marketing ploy with Chicago Chamber of Commerce. Lol!
They started earlier than anyone else with both kids.
RIght?! We did spend a night there, eat there and visited other schools while in town.