I know this used to be a popular trend before COVID where kids would email colleges and ask for free t-shirts, but after COVID it seems to have stopped. Did colleges stop sending free t-shirts due to the trend? If they haven’t, is it still possible that they send out free t-shirts if I just ask them?
We got exactly zero from admissions.
We got - I think IU and Oklahoma - on visits.
The rest we bought at the bookstore or local store (or Kohls has them cheap).
If it was a thing for admissions, we missed it.
Good luck in your hunt.
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When DS applied, pre-covid, the only way to get a t-shirt was to pay the deposit confirming attendance in the fall or to purchase one at the bookstore.
One other paid for him to fly to the accepted student day and gave him a t-shirt there.
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The only t-shirts S got were on accepted student day visits (and even then he just at a couple of schools).
FWIW I had a general rule – no buying school swag until accepted and enrolled at a college.
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UChicago will send one if you ask. Or I know they did in 2021.
The college S23 committed at sent an email where you could opt in for a “free gift” that arrived several weeks later and was a T-shirt. I don’t think he got any shirts from colleges that accepted him before he committed – he did get various other swag like stickers and small banners, etc.
Years before, S16 got a free shirt for attending an accepted student day at a college he didn’t commit to in the end. Later D19 ED’ed there and did not get a shirt from them. That’s always been an irritation to D19 (who we ended up buying a shirt for) – took it as a sign they didn’t care about ED’s as much as prospective RD’s.
Neither of our kids ever got a free t shirt by asking. At all, ever. I think one got a freebie in their packet after they committed to matriculating.
If it were guessing, I would say that this free thing has stopped or slowed because just about everything is done online now, not via some mail service. Hard to send T shirts via email.
I would suggest you buy a shirt at the shop when you decide where you plan to actually attend college.
U of South Carolina has a button to click to get your free shirt if you were accepted. My son did that, hasnt received it yet but im sure its on the way. UT sent him a cool school yard flag.
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I think it will be cheaper for OP to go to Kohls.com and order away (with the 30% off coupon of course) vs. getting admitted to colleges or visiting them in hopes of snagging a shirt.
The cost and effort will be much less 
And the result will be assured.
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I wasn’t aware one could request swag. Penn sent C19 an umbrella with a note about preparing for rainy Philadelphia. We both thought it was an odd gift.
C23 didn’t receive any swag from Penn until Quaker Days and orientation (stickers were in the admissions packet but I don’t consider those swag).
Free T-shirts have been the exception and not the rule for quite some time. Since my first kid applied to college back in 2015-16, she received one, out of 12 schools applied to. Kid 2 received one on a college tour. In total, we have probably visited 30 colleges and my kids were accepted to 16 total. So the odds aren’t in your favor.
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We did the opposite…bought everywhere because it was fun! There was no requirement to be accepted…or even apply…to get a shirt. There were some they didn’t get because they didn’t like the school enough to want to wear the shirt, but my kids continue to wear the BC hockey shirt years later, even though no one ever applied.
To the OP, the only free shirt I remember is one at an admitted students day in 2022. She attends that school and they continue to hand out free shirts all the time to current students.
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We did the same. Many years later, DS still sports the shirts of the also-rans. Fun reminders of the trips there!
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My D23 looked at a lot of colleges and didn’t get a single free tshirt (and we did follow the no-merch-until-you’re-accepted rule, unless it was free). Some acceptance packages came with free merch, but none with t-shirts: she got stickers, socks, knit hats, mugs, mini-pennants, and that kind of thing.
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My kid got a free t shirt at Hamilton by correctly answering a trivia question regarding the schools motto. We also got some swag at an accepted student day at Duke.
So a 6 hour drive to Clinton NY or a 3 hour flight to Durham, yeah “free”
We were sincerely very appreciative.
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Mine got t-shirts at visits, but one came from the school that was the arch rival to the school she attended, so it went to good will (never worn). Other daughter got a really nice 16 month calendar from U of Wyoming when she applied and it had beautiful pictures of the school and all the due dates for the application and scholarships. Very helpful. She also got a bag of swag and a free football ticket when we attended a campus visit; it was a fall preview day, so they had a fair-type set up with academic departments and clubs giving stuff away.
They each got a lot of junk in the mail but I don’t remember any other t-shirts except at the visits.
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Our D21 got T shirts from Wake, BC, Duke and i believe a 4th I am forgetting(maybe it was W&M or Davidson? I willhave to ask), all came in the mail after accepted. D23 got a full coa merit scholarship from Wake and got lots of swag but no T shirt (maybe the free shirt was just a covid year thing sonce most admitted days were modified or canceled ?) , but did get Ts from WashU and UChicago. The Duke T was opt-in after committing I believe so she didn’t get one. The other schools that accepted her sent small swag like stickers or pencils. Only got free Ts from Penn after arriving on campus (but they sent other free swag and had tons of swag at admitted students day and even more “free” stuff o-week).
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@optimal_mango does your kid want all these free T Shirts? If so, they can reach out to the colleges and ask if they can have a freebie tee.
The thrift shops in my town are overrun with unworn college, middle school sports teams, 5K runs, and corporate swag T-shirts. No, they aren’t free. Usually 3 bucks for kids/teen sizes, 5 bucks for adult.
Lightly worn? Under a buck…
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Baylor sent 2 free t-shirts after acceptance and Hope College sent an embroidered sweatshirt that is really nice, D23 wears it a lot even though she doesn’t attend.
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