<p>I would say that even at top schools, being in touch with your admissions officer can be beneficial. If you are one of the many borderline cases, and you have had meaningful conversations (as in, questions that aren’t annoying and that cannot be easily answered on the internet) with the admissions officer in charge of your region, it can put a friendly face to the name. Even if it’s not the school’s policy to track the number of communications you had with the school, I would think there’s a subconscious boost if the admissions officer thinks of your application as a person and not as a piece of paper (and we know that admissions is as much an art as a science).</p>