I am a Korean student attending an International school in Korea. I am 11th grade, and looking forward to going to colleges in the United States.
I just found out a shocking thing. One senior at my school whose GPA, SAT, etc are not good enough to go to great schools like MIT or Caltech said he received an email from MIT and Caltech saying: “We would love you to join our school if you get a higher score than 700 on Critical reading in SAT”. He did not apply to either MIT or Caltech yet, however the schools contacted him first. How is this possible? He said he registered something but he does not tell what it is. Do you guys know how this can be possible?
It happens all the time. My nephew was contacted by Yale and was told they would love to interview him (he did not apply to Yale at that point, and was not planning to). He finally decided to apply to Yale and they rejected him.
Many schools get student names and email addresses from College Board and send marketing emails that are intended to attract applicants, especially by making the recipient of the email or letter or brochure feel like the school wants them personally.
Colleges get your name if you check a box when you take the PSAT and send you lots of mail like that. My D recently got some letters from schools congratulating her on being named at National Merit Semi-Finalist and urging her to apply. One or two schools emailed her after the ED/EA deadline to say how disappointed they were that she did not submit an application but urged her to apply RD. It’s all a way to drive up applications which is good for their ranking in U.S. News.
There are some students who would not consider the Ivies for a variety of reasons. Getting such a letter may cause them to apply. A few of them will actually be admitted.
Some universities identify promising candidates and have their students call them. They usually were identified through a program or have somehow already indicated interest. Generic emails mean nothing.