<p>Maybe that’s why they say youth is wasted on the young – they just don’t see how their world of possibilities closes with poor choices. But, hey, public state tuition is sounding better all the time.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ll second that!</p>
<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I’m a newbie with a newbie question. While we’re on the subject of college brochures coming in the mail…is there a correlation between a student’s PSAT/SAT scores and which colleges send brochures?</p>
<p>Bettzke:</p>
<p>Don’t forget the students can also put info on their College Board account that the university marketers can point to as well, such as planned major, preferred location, etc. Since my S put down physics as a planned major, he seemed to get a fair amount of mail from tech oriented school (in fact, most of the tech oriented schools.) However, 7/8ths of the email and snail mail he’s received thus far have been from non-tech oriented schools. (By tech oriented, I mean places like Cal Tech, RPI, etc.)</p>
<p>It’s all moot with him presently, since his world is California-centric. Given the current state of affairs in CA, I can’t say this makes me so comfortable for his future options. Then again, my DH didn’t go out of state until grad school, and I didn’t go out of state until the first professional job after undergrad and grad school in my home state, so who am I to talk?</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I guess I’m looking for ways to get my DD interested in the process…she hasn’t been interested in looking at any material that has been sent to her unsolicited because she doesn’t want to go to a school that’s so hard up for students!</p>
<p>Lately there’s been more selective college material in the mail/email, and I was wondering if it was coincidence or if it was because of her recent test scores.</p>
<p>Hopefully our college visits at the end of March will light a fire under her!!</p>
<p>My DD goes hot and cold - schools had better hope their mailer arrives on a good day :)</p>
<p>Yes, good PSAT scores will generate a lot of mail which says something like “We’re sending this to you because of your great scores”. Unfortunately many of these colleges won’t accept him because the grades are only good not great. My older son got some mail that was probably target to him as a engineering/comp sci sort of guy. My older son never looked at the mail that came for him. Younger son wants me to prescreen it.</p>
<p>bettzke - my D never looks at her college mail either. No sure what to tell you, but I wish you a successful trip in March. Let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>I’m noticing that the mail S2 is getting is different from S1’s – it seems to be breaking on two things: 1) the major each indicated and 2) size of school. S2 is hearing from lots of LACs, which is not something that happened as much with S1. Selectivity of the schools who have sent mail runs the gamut. The difference does not seem to be due to their PSAT scores, though both Ss did very well.</p>
<p>Blast to the past with our S today. He chose taking pictures of zoo animals as his assignment for his photography class (meeting the UC fine arts requirement), so we’re off to the zoo this morning. We haven’t been there in years.</p>
<p>FindAPlace - have fun at the zoo! I love the zoo, and it’s been years since we’ve been there too. Wonder if I’ll be able to lure my kids to the zoo this spring?</p>
<p>CountingDown - my D’s mail also runs the gamut from art schools to tech schools, and from schools we’ve never heard of to ivies and top LACs, and to local, fairly non-competitive schools. Some of them reference her high PSATs or possible selection as a NMSF or commended student, but most do not. She’s also been invited to apply to some programs designed to increase diversity in some fields. I’m guessing it’s because she’s female, because she isn’t a minority. I think they’ve all been science, math, or engineering-related programs. Some of them sound pretty incredible, but she hasn’t been interested.</p>
<p>The colleges sure have different techniques for deciding who to send brochures to. One of favorites of all time was my DS getting a brochure from an all girls school. He also got one from one of the black colleges in the south - which, given he is white and from CA, seemed like an interesting stretch.</p>
<p>I think for some schools they are really careful about who gets what - and other schools are much less sophisticated just simply spamming at random. I wouldn’t read too much into who sends what.</p>
<p>FAP - DD is also doing Photo as a means of meeting the fine arts requirement. Her brother also did so. They both have produced some beautiful work - in fact DS sold one of his pictures at an art show. At our school they go through the whole process - from taking the pictures to developing the negatives and making the prints. I think they have learned a lot and that going back to the basics is really great.</p>
<p>S2 took photography freshman year and also enjoyed it a lot. I was a darkroom groupie in HS and college, too.</p>
<p>scualum:</p>
<p>Wow, way to go on the sale of a picture! My S isn’t that good yet, although my H has sold a few, including some vacation photos to a couple of country guide books. I agree, I think Photo class was a good choice. Getting back to basics regarding lighting and composition for photography is critical. It’s also a skill he can use for a lifetime.</p>
<p>After several years, my H switched to digital (he never did his own developing) and now spends much time on the computer. For his birthday this week, he requested something called a “lensbaby” which is basically a filter that allows a special effect via positioning of a blurred part of the picture that also generates flares. He said it offers something much different than could be created in Photoshop.</p>
<p>I was also happy to hear my S used the dark room “down time” to either do his homework for other classes or tutor students in math.</p>
<p>I think most of the mail that S is getting is random. Only a few colleges send mails, based on a certain PSAT/SAT scores. IMO
Scualum, congrats to your S. That’s a nice accomplishment.</p>
<p>I have twin S’s. One of them is getting lots of mail, the other none. We have tried to decide if one checked the box, “Yes, flood me with irrelevant junk mail,” while the other did not. Their PSAT scores were not so dissimilar as to account for this, IMHO.</p>
<p>Thanks on the edge and FAP. </p>
<p>FAP: The only drawback to taking photo as the art requirement at our school is that it takes two years to meet the UC requirement as opposed to ART 1 which gets it done in a single year. Given how many other things they want to take, it seems a shame to burn two years instead of one. Is it a two year sequence for your school as well?</p>
<p>I must say that the second year taught them a lot of cool things. They took their photos from year one, added some additional photos - and then learned to scan them into the computer, edit them with photoshop and then produced a book of their photos. DS’s book will be something he will have for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>Over the past two weeks my son has recieved four pieces of mail, plus emails, from Carnegie Mellon. Considering this is based solely on his PSAT scores, they must do it for every student that has simliar scores. I cannot imagine the money being spent on this mailing blitz. How in the world does that wind up being a financially sound expense?</p>
<p>Because I’m a CC geek, I read every single piece of college mail that comes to the house. And I have to say, I am really getting fed up with Caltech. Both years I put down English as the intended major on the PSAT–and Caltech doesn’t even offer an English major. Have gotten info from RIT and other tech schools, too.</p>
<p>But the mailings do make a difference. I ended up reconsidering Carleton because I keep being charmed by their quirky mail.</p>