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Articles: Expert Advice
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Ways to show a high "level of applicant's interest"
ucbalumnus
Registered User Posts: 68,162 Senior Member
Some colleges use "level of applicant's interest" as a factor, probably mostly to reject or waitlist high stats students who appear to be using them as "safeties" but are unlikely to attend (see the admissions tab on the college's entry at http://www.collegedata.com or section C7 of its common data set to see if "level of applicant's interest" is considered). So do not use such a college as a low choice "safety" that you are not really that interested in (but your actual safeties should be college you are actually interested in). Assuming that you actually are interested in such a college, consider the following (not all of which will apply to all schools):
* Apply binding early decision if the college is your clear first choice, and you will not need to compare financial aid offers. Early decision is the strongest expression of interest that there is, since you agree to attend if admitted and the financials work.
* If there is a choice between non-binding early action and single choice early action, apply single choice early action to indicate that you are willing to give up other potential early admission opportunities to apply to the college in question.
* When writing application essays, be sure to indicate interest in the specific college and characteristics unique to it (as opposed to characteristics shared by other, more selective colleges), particularly in a "why [this college]?" essay.
* Visit and have the visit recorded at the admissions office.
* Ask questions to admissions representatives (in a way that they record who you are).
* If filing a FAFSA with multiple schools listed, place the college in question high on the list.
* After applying, check your account on the admissions portal web site frequently.
Anyone have others to add to this list?
* Apply binding early decision if the college is your clear first choice, and you will not need to compare financial aid offers. Early decision is the strongest expression of interest that there is, since you agree to attend if admitted and the financials work.
* If there is a choice between non-binding early action and single choice early action, apply single choice early action to indicate that you are willing to give up other potential early admission opportunities to apply to the college in question.
* When writing application essays, be sure to indicate interest in the specific college and characteristics unique to it (as opposed to characteristics shared by other, more selective colleges), particularly in a "why [this college]?" essay.
* Visit and have the visit recorded at the admissions office.
* Ask questions to admissions representatives (in a way that they record who you are).
* If filing a FAFSA with multiple schools listed, place the college in question high on the list.
* After applying, check your account on the admissions portal web site frequently.
Anyone have others to add to this list?
This discussion has been closed.
Replies to: Ways to show a high "level of applicant's interest"
We live 3000 miles from our daughter's "top" school and a visit was out of the question. So was early decision, for a number of reasons. One thing she did to demonstrate interest was to follow the school on Twitter (and they followed her back!). Wish we'd had your list months ago....
This is the process I followed with "showing interest" at several colleges, roughly in order:
Junior year:
--Signed up for the mailing list
--Attended admissions presentations or college fairs at my high school or in the community (if offered), making an effort to introduce myself to the admissions counselor
--Follow up with an email ("Hi, we met yesterday at the xyz presentation, I had a couple of questions about [fill in the blank about the college process]. Thanks again, etc.)
--Sent one or two additional emails with various questions as the issues came up (trying not to be obnoxious)
--Visited campus, if possible, following up with brief thank-you notes to the interviewer (if interviewed)
Senior year:
--Continued to visit campuses
--Interviewed with the admissions counselor locally, if possible, following up with emailed thank-yous (interview not necessary if you already interviewed on campus)
--Promptly responded to any personal emails from the counselor
--Writing highly specific "Why X" application essays
I wouldn't play the game of listing the school you're most interested on at the top of the FAFSA. That tells the other schools on your list that they're also-rans. List the schools in alphabetical order on the FAFSA to maximize best results at all your schools.
Is it only private schools that track level of interest? We're in California and D would probably be perfectly happy at a UC. Half the time I just want to jump off this crazy train already.
However, UC admissions officers do pay attention to what students write in their two essays.
It's tough to draw any conclusions about admissions decisions involving students with "equal qualifications." Without looking at each student's application in its entirety, it's difficult to say what factors resulted in acceptance for one student and rejection for the other.
You can check if a college uses "level of applicant's interest" in its common data set, section C7, or the admissions tab in its entry on http://www.collegedata.com . The latter indicate that Irvine and Merced consider "level of applicant's interest", but the other UCs do not. (However, Merced still end up with default safety students who are ELC eligible but do not get into other UCs.)
However, the Berkeley College of Engineering, which admits by major, says here that "Applicants to Berkeley Engineering are also expected to demonstrate interest in the major to which they are applying since we receive far more applications than we can admit." This probably means that they expect your essay topics and whatever else to be consistent with the major that you are applying to, not that they expect you to play the usual "interest" games with respect to the school overall.
I'm sure my D will spend the time to make sure her essays are good quality. And once she's decided she's interested in a college, of course she'll open their emails. I'm just not sure she'll do anything more than that. Maybe we should just not even include any private schools that are reaches on our list of schools to apply to.