Schools track a student’s interest in that school to see if he really is eager to go there. This interest plays a part in college admission. However, many students visit campuses, sign up for mailing lists, and write letters to admission officers to show demonstrated interest, even if thy have no interest in that school. They are just showing demonstrative interest to increase their chances. However, some schools say they do no consider demonstrative interest.
Could this message would weed out the kids who only fake demonstrative interest to increase their chances? Could colleges still be checking for students who visit the campus, sign up for the mailing list, or email the admission center for questions?
Colleges state the extent to which demonstrated interest counts in the admissions process in their common data sets (Section C). IMO they have no reason whatsoever to lie about it.
If you do not trust colleges to be truthful when they say that level of applicant’s interest is not considered for admissions, then you are free to expend extra effort showing additional interest even to colleges stating that it is not considered.
Note, however, that not using level of applicant’s interest for admission does not necessarily mean that the college will not use it for other purposes, like estimating the likelihood that a given admitted student will matriculate. Awarding of merit scholarships may be another instance – the college may see no point in offering to someone who is very unlikely to matriculate, but also may see no point in offering to someone who appears certain to matriculate even without an extra incentive from a scholarship.
The issue is that admissions and the institutional reporting department (preparer of the CDS) don’t always communicate well, and even if they do, they sometimes do things differently, like calculating GPAs.
For example, Cornell’s CDS says level of interest not considered, yet they are tracking campus visits at the applicant level. What I don’t know is whether student’s who visit campus have any advantage in the admissions process.
I can speak for Cornell - they are super clear that they want to level the playing field for low income applicants or those who live too far away to travel to campus, so they don’t consider demonstrated interested.
That said, if you are within an easy drive, they do expect you to get to campus.
Schools also expect you do your research and write a compelling “why us” essay which is part of the holistic review. Visits can obviously help with that.
Why would colleges state they don’t consider student interest and then do it anyway? I think you have to trust what they state on their Common Data Set for that.
My guess is that very few schools will consider demonstrated interest for the 2021 admissions cycle given that the pandemic has made it impossible to visit campuses in person and college fairs have been canceled, and considering that disadvantaged kids may have trouble accessing online tours and information sessions.
Admissions officers care about yield and would prefer to offer spots to those top students most likely to matriculate. That is true even if they are not literally counting how many times you “officially” demonstrated interest by visiting the campus, reaching out via email, or accessing an online tour.
If you love a school and would definitely matriculate if admitted, make sure it comes across in your application and interactions with AOs.