<p>I wonder how they evaluate the efficiency and efficacy of these mailings. Standard direct-mail expectations would suggest that a 2% response on something like this (which requires effort, not just returning a pre-addressed envelope) would be incredibly good, and then of course only 5% of those who apply (if that many) are going to get accepted, and a little less than 4% will actually enroll. So a stake-in-the-ground expectation would be 1 enrolled student for every 1,250 letters, and that’s probably unrealistic. </p>
<p>Say 8 enrolled students for 10,000 letters. They can’t possibly expect more than that, and in all likelihood they expect less. After all, the students who would not have applied absent this letter probably have a below-average chance of acceptance (more clueless, less time to prepare their apps), and the average for unhooked students in the RD round is pretty tiny to start.</p>
<p>Does that alter anyone’s views? Are you offended they would kill that many trees to get so few kids? Kids who, after all, are going to be hard to distinguish from the kids who would have gotten accepted instead of them had they not applied? Or are you comforted to know that the only way to get those particular kids is to sent thousands of letters to people who will throw them out and maybe get annoyed?</p>