D25 has been receiving multiple postcards and emails from several highly selective schools (e.g., Washington U @ St Louie, Case Western, NorthEastern, Mckenna, etc.). Although Northeastern provided an application fee waiver, too, others did not. Anyway, these emails are different from all the other brochures/emails she receives from other colleges who send information, deadline reminders, etc. The language of some of these emails is interesting: "We want YOU… " Her GPA is 3.95, SAT 1390 - nothing great - in fact, in California, where we are, this GPA doesn’t even make her competitive at the top 7 UCs. And for at least some of these schools (e.g. Washington), the median GPA is like 1500, 80% students are in top 10% of their class (she is not) and so on. So I am surprised why these highly selective private schools want “HER.” I am sure others are also getting similar messages - she is not the only one.
But I wonder why these schools are interested in a student with this profile? I consider these schools to be “Super rich” for her GPA. Are these schools giving a message that her academics are acceptable in their school - and if they get the whole application, they will not reject her just because of her grade but will review other aspects of her application? Or is it just a way to earn more application money? I am kidding about this last one, but it almost sounds like that - these schools getting $50-$80 application fees x 30,000-40,000 applicants make a lot of money). Or they want to look even more selective by jacking up the number of applications
The reason I am asking is to decide whether it is even worth taking their invitation and applying. These schools were not on our list due to their selectiveness, but we could seriously consider them. But somewhere deep in my mind, I am also a bit frustrated that they keep raising hope in my daughter’s young mind - for impossible things. Even an adult like me fall victim and consider their offer.
Who else has been getting these messages/posts, and do you have any insights about what it all means?
Thanks.
There seems to be certain schools that do send out both mail and emails encouraging students to apply even when reaches. My DD24 with similar stats received similar marketing flyers from Northeastern, Brown, Columbia, Chicago, Duke, and Pomona. Outside of NEU, she didn’t even apply or show interest in the other schools. If you can afford it and have thick skin (not afraid of rejection), it might not hurt to apply to her top choices knowing it is a reach.
These schools want to drive up applications so as to be able to reject more students. This helps them have a lower acceptance rate which, in turn, helps with their US News ranking.
Our daughter got a TON of mailings from WashU St.Louis, probably over 20 items over about a year. Believe me, she never would have been accepted there!
Many letters had things like “you are exactly the type of student we are looking for” or something like that.
We quipped that DD should have applied (paper applications were still accepted in 2005 when she was applying) and include at least a sampling of the letters. And her cover letter should have started with “As you have noted, I’m just the type of student you want in your freshman class”.
Of course, she didn’t, but…
It’s marketing, plain and simple. We got snail mail of it, and we had three copy paper boxes FILLED with this stuff for each of our kids. Neither of them applied to a college after receiving this unsolicited junk mail.
It serves the cynical purposes mentioned above – makes the school more selective for rankings, brings in fees, etc – but it does sometimes drop an applicant in the lap of a school who they otherwise might not have seen - and who they would love to have.
For example, someone with your D’s stats from a truly underserved community might be a real find. Or a kid who re-tests with prep and get a significantly higher score. Or a kid who applies TO. Unfortunately, the schools don’t run their filter that well or know where you might be in the process. Their goal is to have as much choice as possible. My kid too was targeted by schools that were ridiculous long shots for him.
I would not read anything about the odds into the communication. If these are schools that interest your D, read up on how to best present there and figure out if it’s worth the trouble. The decision to apply TO (where it’s an option) is one to be made by school. You can throw your hat in the ring and manage expectations. Just don’t change your expectations because of a marketing campaign!
My kid got a Chicago and WUSTL. I’m sure both would have rejected her. She showed zero interest. But they have interest in a 10% or less etc admit rate.
Study the schools - are they right for your student. If there was zero interest before, no need to waste your time.
On the flip side, think about all the mailings you’ve gotten that are terrible fits. In my house, it’s been schools without engineering programs, heavily religious schools, schools in areas of the country that my kid would never go to, etc. I guess they get their money back in application fees by enticing a kid here or there. As others have noted, Northeastern made such a habit of this that they’ve clawed their way up in the exclusivity rankings (waiving app fees, no supplementals).
We did this with kid #2 of 3 just to see where it landed. It ended up taking 3 x 110 quart large storage bins to hold it all. Weighted a ton. And was a pain to get rid of after that – mostly not recyclable and too much for one week of the trash, so had to do it gradually.
For #3 it all immediately went in the trash the second it was opened. #3 had said up-front he had zero interest in any marketing materials from any school – didn’t matter if it was reach or dream school or what.
Kid number 1 got mail. Kid number 2 just did not check the box on the PSAT form and as a result- got nothing. Not even from our local, open admissions Community College! Lesson learned.
Similarly, I know of a kid who received a rejection from Minerva University (which claims a 1% acceptance rate, making them the most selective school in America). Funny thing is, he never applied and had never even heard of them!
For the folks here on CC, the materials generally are overkill (and then some!) Still, I suspect – based on families in my community – that some of this correspondence might be informative. (But oh, the trees!)
After all, I’ve ordered from catalogs that I never requested or checked out the brand.
In Jeffery Selingo’s book “Who gets in and why” he goes into the history of college marketing and the money they make from it. As stated above when many of our kids got the University of Chicago marketing stuff, it couldn’t be marketing. It’s my kid and they are coming after him now . We are much wiser now
… I told her… There’s your safety!! Lol
