It’s tempting to write them back.
“Dear Chicago, THANK GOD someone sees the brilliance of my kid. I’ve been waiting for this day! His teachers really don’t get him…insist on homework, critique his creative spelling, the whole nine yards. So…should we even bother with this application thing, or can I just write you a check and send him on over? Or…wait…do you pay US?”
Neither of our kids checked the box on the PSAT. DD began receiving these mailings in grade 8. I’m not kidding. And we have no idea why.
The thing about snail mail…there was no way to stop it. At least with email, you can block the sender!
D22’s biggest spammer was Harvard. She got daily emails and weekly mailers. It was insane. Don’t get me wrong; she’s a great kid and all, but she had no hooks, a 3.95 GPA, and a merely above-average SAT. Add in the fact that Harvard doesn’t offer one of her majors (dance) at a high enough level, and the whole thing was absurd. She did not apply.
My D25 didn’t even take the PSAT (or the SAT or the ACT.) Her GPA is maybe 3.4 But UChicago is still aggressively marketing to her.
Clearly they grade deflate. She’s top .5% in her school !!
That being said, there’s a new program through CommonApp where students that meet certain criteria (no parent with college degree or certain zip codes indicating rural or low income area plus certain academic criteria) can get a direct admission or free review even if they didn’t list the college. It’s called Direct Admission. These students would get mail from the colleges, too, even if they didn’t take the PSAT/SAT/ACT.
We’ve been getting mail practically daily from Chicago, WashU, Case Western, in particular, ever since she took the PSAT10, and at first it was exciting and got us to look twice at schools we might not have otherwise considered, but after 2 years, it’s feeling kind of pathetic.
Maybe it’s not just to drive the admission rate lower, I think it is very likely that schools like UChicago,WUSTL, or Case Western are experiencing declining applicant interest because of where they are located,i.e. they are turning into “buyers” even though their ranking is yet to reflect that.
CWRU maybe. It’s not in the same league. Its yield is paltry. They can’t get enough prospects.
The others - I think personally it’s just getting more apps.
Interestingly WUSTL went need blind so they might actually accept someone who showed no interest.
About 10 (?) years ago, one of the “got into everywhere” application essays that was floating around was about exactly this. The kid developed a cost methodology for all the stuff they’d received (postage costs, printing costs, paper manufacturing costs, etc.; they then imputed a carbon cost for it all as well from manufacturing and delivery).
They then multiplied that $ and carbon cost by the number of annual applicants nationwide, and then listed the incredible amount of good things that could’ve been done with the money instead. I don’t recall the specifics but it was stuff along the lines of e.g. free lunch for every kid in the nation for a week or month or whatever. And for the carbon cost the number of trees it’d require to offset.
UChicago’s yield is the highest in the country. They certainly are not “buyers”.
Wonder what % of their admits are from ED. They don’t show that in their latest CDS.
Interesting how people can pick and choose what to show.
With a crazy high yield - 88% - you can be assured it’s over 50% but so are some Ivies and top schools too.
And the wealthy, I’m sure, apply ED at a much higher clip.
It’s not an invitation to apply. It’s targeted advertising, as others have mentioned. And like others here, my kids received “invitations” from highly rejective colleges, including Ivy League schools. With the first kid, we felt that was pretty special, until we wised up. With the second kid, the mailings went straight in the recycling bin.
My daughter got postcards and emails from Emory at the start of 9th grade.
I have no idea how we got on their list. But they were the only ones who sent us anything in 9th grade.
It worked. My daughter has been fascinated by Emory for a year and a half now. She even kept their physical mailing.
I pointed out to her that Emory gains prestige by rejecting applicants. I pointed out that she had zero academic achievements at that point and that this was just a mass mailing.
She understands that, I think, but Emory still holds some sway over her. It was her “first,” lol.
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