<p>Do most people just email the Admin Representative for their region and express interest in the school. Is it even necessary since most all schools have their applications available on line and a good number use the common application?</p>
<p>Should one call instead of email? DS is a first generation student and as far as I know he has no plans on calling or sending e-mail to anyone. He had planned on just sending in the applications. He has expressed interest to some schools by requesting material be mailed to him. Will this demonstrate enough interest? </p>
<p>We are unable to visit most schools that he is interested in due to them being a long way from our home and limited financial resources. Do some schools pay for students to visit after they are accepted?</p>
<p>If the student is deemed as low-income and the college has a program that pays for him/her to visit after being accepted, then yes. I don’t think showing interest will increase the chance of admittance to a college. You could contact a representative to request information.</p>
<p>Many many colleges don’t track “demonstrated interest” whatsoever. What specific schools is your DS considering? With names, we can determine if they actively respond to “interest”</p>
<p>Whatever it is, DS should not call or e-mail someone just to try to demonstrate interest. There are a lot of threads on this. Your DS should be doing stuff to find out more about the colleges, not to try to impress colleges. That means trying to get an interview, attending college visits (by this I mean when college admissions officers come to your DS’s high school to talk about their college), and having good reasons why you want to go, if that’s asked on a “Why ____ College?” essay. </p>
<p>Also, some schools offer invitations to certain students to visit the college free of charge. Swarthmore, for example, has something called Discovery Weekend, which is when they try to attract students of color by saying that they can visit Swarthmore in the fall of senior year for free (room, food, airfare are all free). Washington University and Reed also have programs similar to this. Some schools also let people visit for free after getting admitted. Contact the colleges to find out if they have these programs.</p>