I think there ought to be a national 'mail back day' when we all conspire to send U Chicago the stacks of mailings received. That mail room would really be the place where fun died. :))
QUOTE: If the kids don't sign up for the spam, it will be very limited. We get very little. Any that has arrived has been because a kid signed up online at that school, vs from testing spam..
Well, my kids have not even tested yet and they get crushed ( I am the OP ) Surprising though that so many say Chicago, as we have only had 1 -2 pcs from them.
My daughter was peppered with mailings from UChicago and Vanderbilt to name a few. Because of the info, she became interested in Vandy. She wouldn't even had known about it otherwise as no one she knew went from her high school. Happily, she is now going into her senior year at Vanderbilt!
I see the UofChicago is trying to get their name in peoples heads and on their lips, but at this point it is not putting there in a good way. It seems as we are all making fun of the volume of mailing and still call it "the place wherebfun goes to die". I wonder if their marketing strategy will eventually backfire?
ConsolationRegistered UserPosts: 21,454Senior Member
edited August 13
Back in the day--2007/8--WUSTL was notorious for the frequency of its mailings.
That was before the U of C got a new admissions director and changed from the Uncommon Application to the Common Ap. When that happened, the U of C started pushing for more applicants to reject and thus boost its apparent selectivity for the USN&WR rankings.
When I was young before internet and call waiting somehow Mt. Ida College got my phone number. At that time it was a 2 year school which I had no interest in and it didn't have a major I would like. They called almost every day between 4:30 and 5:30. My father used to get so annoyed and told them I was going to go there but they ruined it by calling daily.
My dd18 has been getting college junk mail since starting 9th grade though she didn't take her first college test until the 10th grade PSAT. We get tons of Vanderbilt and UChicago. I've noticed several from Reed after finding out my fil went there for a year (around 1958). We tend to get 10-20 college letters the majority of days. At first dd was excited but the novelty wore off way before she was even thinking about college.
My mailman will love us for a long time. My kids are 4 years apart so no end in site. In one day dd may get Harvard, RPI, UConn, 2 year only school, for profit school etc - There is definitely no way the mailings have anything to do with her test scores, expressed interests etc.
We've seen quite an uptick in physical and electronic mail recently. There was a lull for a while during the summer. It seems like these new mailings are either postcards (single page) or "books" (many pages). She's had a couple of phone calls as well. Not a lot from UChicago like in the past. Northwestern is back along with plenty of Reed/Williams/Smith/etc and then many lesser known colleges. I think that a lot of the physical mail from top schools is triggered by her clicking on links in "feeler" email from them (what kid wouldn't be flattered by email from, say, Caltech or MIT, and those clicks are tagged to the specific piece of email sent to them == very effective marketing tool).
What's funny is that her top choice school doesn't send her much mail. She's been to their website numerous times and knows all about their dorms, majors, minors, etc. Maybe their marketing analysis says, we've got her in the bag, and so it doesn't think she needs more advertising.
As odd as the bombardments are, I find it even more bizarre when unsolicited acceptances and scholarships arrive in the mail. One of my kids (who had good-but-not-great GPA/ACT) started but didn't finish applications to Kentucky & Florida State, yet got accepted by both, including an out-of-state-tuition waiver and extra scholarship from FSU.
And I recall decades ago, when I was a high school senior, I got an acceptance letter from acollege I'd never heard of (St. Joseph's of Indiana) even though I was a lazy jock with a 2.3 GPA.
Wash U & U of Chicago are the offenders in our house. Both would be reach schools for my DS, but he has no interest in either. The nicest piece of mail he got last year was from Truman State. It was a birthday card that was signed by everyone in the admissions office. However, he had spoken to the area rep and attended the presentation at his High School. Truman is his safety.
Replies to: Do your kids get BOMBARDED with stuff from one particular school?
Well, my kids have not even tested yet and they get crushed ( I am the OP ) Surprising though that so many say Chicago, as we have only had 1 -2 pcs from them.
University of Chicago is a stellar school, too bad their marketing is turning people off.
That was before the U of C got a new admissions director and changed from the Uncommon Application to the Common Ap. When that happened, the U of C started pushing for more applicants to reject and thus boost its apparent selectivity for the USN&WR rankings.
My dd18 has been getting college junk mail since starting 9th grade though she didn't take her first college test until the 10th grade PSAT. We get tons of Vanderbilt and UChicago. I've noticed several from Reed after finding out my fil went there for a year (around 1958). We tend to get 10-20 college letters the majority of days. At first dd was excited but the novelty wore off way before she was even thinking about college.
My mailman will love us for a long time. My kids are 4 years apart so no end in site. In one day dd may get Harvard, RPI, UConn, 2 year only school, for profit school etc - There is definitely no way the mailings have anything to do with her test scores, expressed interests etc.
What's funny is that her top choice school doesn't send her much mail. She's been to their website numerous times and knows all about their dorms, majors, minors, etc. Maybe their marketing analysis says, we've got her in the bag, and so it doesn't think she needs more advertising.
And I recall decades ago, when I was a high school senior, I got an acceptance letter from acollege I'd never heard of (St. Joseph's of Indiana) even though I was a lazy jock with a 2.3 GPA.