<p>Hi, I was a Freshman in High School last year and I took the AP Human Geography test and the SAT II Molecular Biology test. I believe I did reasonably well because I got a 5 on the AP Human Geography test and a 740 on the Molecular Biology test. The weird thing is that when it came to the section about sending the scores to colleges, I didn’t choose to send any of my scores. However, on August 6, I got an E-Mail from the University of Chicago. It was one of those E-Mails where colleges try to show off their school with student testimonies and statistics. I also checked the schools strongest majors and most sources, including this site, said they were Mathematics and Economics. I thought that if I had gotten the E-Mails, assuming they could access my scores, why would I get an E-Mail from a University whose majors are Mathematics and Economics when I took a Geography and Biology test? I considered the idea of this being a college trick to get admissions only to reject them but I was a Freshman when I took these tests and I will be a Sophmore this year. However, if the colleges could access my High School grades it seems that it would make more sense because my math scores tend to be amongst the top and I am well within the top 2% possibly tied for first due to this years schedule. So if I wasn’t clear I would like to know why I got this E-Mail, can colleges access my scores without me sending them, is this a joke/scam, if not why did I get an E-Mail from a school whose strongest majors are not related to my tests, and can colleges view my grades this early into my academic career?
I asked several of my friends who also took the AP test but none seem to have gotten an E-Mail.</p>
<p>It seems like they got your email address through the SAT. When you took the SAT, did you mark any boxes saying that colleges could contact you, and did you put your email address down?</p>
<p>They probably got it from student service search. They probably got it from CB or another website, that you submitted information to.</p>
<p>Colleges recruit kids, with the vast majority eventually getting rejected. I got an email from top colleges such as Stanford. Heck, even three coaches from Cal Tech sent emails for recruiting. However, I know I won’t even be considered for admittance, as my stats nor extracurriculars aren’t up to par.</p>
<p>1) They cannot view your scores unless you send them. That’s a legal issue if CB sent them without you knowing. They also legally cannot access your high school grades. Actually, they legally cannot know ANYTHING about you unless YOU give them your information, which you have done by signing up to take the test.
2) College spam is sometimes so interesting. They scare you, they fill your inbox up with at least a gigabyte of advertising, and they never seem to stop trying to recruit you. It’s probably because either a) you put your email down on the SAT / AP test, or b) when you were signing up you (or your parent) entered in your email in a field that allows colleges to send you their advertising.
3) Your friends are smart to not have put down their email. At least they won’t have their iPhones buzzing about some remote college asking you to apply to them.</p>
<p>Univ of Chicago has been known for several years to advertise aggressively during the application season. The number of applicants shot up a few years ago, partly because of that approach. Even though your friends aren’t getting emails from them, many other seniors around the country are on their email list. Being added to their mailing list does not indicate you have a higher chance of admission than other applicants.</p>
<p>I didn’t mark anything for the tests. My mom told me that she wanted me to send all of my scores at the same time. As for E-Mail address I don’t remember it asking for one one the AP Exam but for the SAT college board made me sign up with an E-Mail to register for the test but on the actual test itself it didn’t ask for anything.</p>
<p>The thing is I didn’t send scores nor did I put down my contact information for anything. The only way I thought I would have gotten contact was through collegeboard but according to you that’s illegal so I’m at a loss to how they gotten my information.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response but that kind of doesn’t answer my question because I’m going to be a Sophmore this year. I’m wondering why would they send an E-Mail to me when I don’t plan on applying for two more years?</p>
<p>pimpmaster: maybe they thought you were older because of your name. :)</p>
<p>Alright, that makes sense but sergeydgr8 says they can’t access my contact information through websites like collegeboard.
Would you happen to know how they could have obtained my contact information?</p>
<p>Get used to it. Businesses, including colleges, buy and sell address lists (both mailing and email) all the time. Sometimes they miscalculate the age of students. Our kids were both contacted by a number of schools a year early, just like you have been. They were very careful to never sign up for mail, but by junior and senior years they were both inundated with contacts. This little junk mail episode is just the beginning for you.There’s no telling exactly how it happened.</p>
<p>Maybe they are upping the ante and marketing to students earlier than usual?</p>