<p>Hi all
I recently finished my junior year and in the past couple of weeks I have received quite a few emails from admissions officers inviting me to apply to their school and waving the application fee (a couple also waived the essay portion of their application for me). I didn’t pay much attention to them but then I got an email from University of Portland with the same spiel and I was already seriously considering applying to this school.
What do these emails mean? Can I count university of Portland as a definite safety now or is that too big of an assumption?</p>
<p>My stats for reference
GPA: 3.9 unweighted, 4.45 weighted
SAT: around 2100 (haven’t gotten my scores back but I took a prep course and I got around 2100 on two of my practice tests)
Extra Curriculars: junior city council(started beginning of this year), chamber choir (fresh-present), school a Capella group (sophomore-present), school musical (sophomore and junior years), campus ministry (freshman year- present) </p>
<p>I think we all get those. Especially if you check that little box while taking the act or sat that says colleges can sends you things and info. I also just about finished my junior year of hs and still get a lot of emails and even things in the mail inviting me to apply (even got one from MIT today, which was a school I had been and still seriously considering telling me I qualify for the application fee waiver ). Even got the exceptional student application which waived me of the fee and essay and accelerated admin decision. I think they pull our information out of the national research center for college and university admissions and then mail you all these things. Doesn’t really harm you but it might not do much either I guess. good luck :)</p>
<p>Not too significant. Most people get them. The waiving of hte application fee is often due to showing interest in some form or figuring that you might be a fit based on anything you shared with college board. On occasion they report things such as psat test score ranges etc for these things. Remember they don’t know anything about you from these things, mostly just basic info. So no I would not consider it a safety based of that alone, but from your grades it seems to be a possibility. Good luck, if you have those free applications definitely use them, and the free score reporting service by college board as well.</p>
<p>Edit: On second thought, look into whether you want to go to the school mentioned first. Some of the schools that gave me free applications or offered to “waive” essays and in some cases standardized test scores were often lesser quality schools that I wouldn’t want to go to if accepted.</p>
<p>You should assume nothing from an invite to apply. It is simply a marketing ploy.</p>
<p>If you score a 2100 on the SAT, then U.Portland will be a safety. Upper 25% starts at about 1950.</p>
<p>In general, not only can you ignore emails, but not even a personal phone call necessarily means much. I know a young woman (straight A’s, 34 ACT) who was personally phoned by Harvard. Asked her if she would like to interview while they were in her hometown. She agreed to the interview, then applied, and was denied. But, of course, she was still an official applicant and helped keep Harvard’s admissions rate down. THAT is often the point; keeping admissions rates low. Colleges frequently ask students to apply, knowing full well that the student will not get admitted.</p>
<p>Apply to colleges you like and think you would thrive at. It is safe to ignore all email from colleges. If they are not willing to at least send you a postcard, then they are not serious about you.</p>
<p>^ I would argue that even the postcards ones are safe to ignore. Many times they send these out to almost everyone and they are more of an indicator of their marketing and reaching out to people. It’s okay to look at them and see if you’re interested at first glance, but do some more research, find the ones you’re interested in, and whatever you do DON’T apply to all of them</p>