I certainly don’t know the answer to this, but I can tell you that one kid’s brochure’s and letters were far superior to the other one’s, so they must know something about scores!
True, but if they can get those top scoring kids…what a feather in their cap! I’m sure they’d love to get more top students at their schools.
And then, there’s the…“We don’t care, we send to everyone” schools.
“Actually the mail that used to surprise me was the opposite. Why would a school with average SAT scores around 1500/2400 be targeting my top scoring kids? Even if they had been chasing merit money there were much better choices for them.”
…similar to “mid-major” colleges in DI athletics. You have to try to recruit top rated athletes, even though the chances of getting them are slim, because they could raise the level of your program.
I kept the postcard from the flight attendant school.
I have to assume that the excellent parents on CC have already explained to their kids how marketing works. If not, here’s a great opportunity.
We got all the stuff 2 years ago. I don’t know if they still do it, but DS scored a nice free T-shirt from U Chicago.
It worked though sometimes.
Prior to DD applying to any college, we didn’t know some of the colleges that sent her mails. We’ve never heard of RPI, Case Western, and even some of the elite LACs. After she received these mails she considered some of them. She even applied to Case and got accepted and receive 1/2 COA merit (we are full pay to virtually all colleges). She didn’t attend, but seriously considered it.
We know more than one group has sold my daughter’s name/information to colleges. The colleges that “make more sense” use her full name and colleges that aren’t as good a fit have her nickname on the mailing address. We’ve been having a giggle over the clear difference.
@palm715 that happened to my son too. The ones with his name spelled in an “abbreviated” manner defiant,y came from the college board…because that is how his name came on all,of their mailings. Luckily it was correct on his score reports!
My favorite all time mailing came to my son from University of Michigan. T was really a nice marketing thing for music majors. Discussed undergrad opportunities, studios, etc. knew his instrument, and so on. Only issue…it came half way through his masters program elsewhere.
I’m actually going to miss the mailings (my DS is my last one at home). I look at them like I do cruise brochures . . . fantasizing. 
If only I could go back to college!
Yes. Yes. And yes.
Chicago is one of the worst. It’s best to kind of just ignore what comes in the mail and choose your list based on what’s important to you.
I’m with @SouthFloridaMom9 - I sort of missed all of the mailings once “admissions season” was over - we had twins applying, and were bombarded. Now all we get is bills! I will also say that both kids did end up applying to a couple of schools they might not have as a result of mailings, particularly those that waived the fee. And, yes, Chicago’s were easily the most clever.
It’s pathetic how off the mark they can be. We’ve gotten material (printed and digital) from service academies and Catholic/other religious schools. Just about the only nonnegotiable parts of my daughter’s college search were liberal arts, secular. How West Point and Salve Regina found her, I can’t imagine.
I think sometimes the mailings get messed up. My High school Junior keeps getting mail that talks about how he is a Senior and also my college Junior has been getting some mailings about UG degrees…
Signed up for a college fair with the pet’s first name. So far said pet has been found to be a perfect candidate for several schools via email and letter.
My older son (at Google for the last three years) still gets mail!
Yes, @mathmom, my college junior still is getting mail as well. Pretty sure it not for grad school!
I also don’t think this practice is a nefarious scheme to get application fees or to have more people to reject. I think it’s an effort to broaden the applicant pool as much as possible, to give the school as many options as possible in crafting a class. That probably does result in a lot of people getting mailings who aren’t really candidates for the schools, but that sort of overreach is true of many kinds of advertising–perhaps especially for advertising of luxury goods. I’m not going to buy a Rolex, but I see ads for them and similar stuff in the Sunday New York Times all the time.
I think they want our money and they want to say we have thousands of kids wanting to go to our school but we turned them down.
Another way to look at the question posted in the title of this thread, is to suggest that OP’s D perhaps didn’t have as good parents, or maybe she didn’t work hard enough, to get the grades/scores needed to get into these schools?
^^^Ridiculous. Plenty of excellent parents have children who don’t even go to college. I’m so tired of the mom wars.