I applied to Hofstra, but they continue to send me the same stupid postcards that they sent me before I applied. It’s a pretty big turnoff.
UChicago also sent me a lot of emails and snail mail. They annoyed the heck out of me as well, considering that I’d never attend even if I were to apply and gain admission.
I figured that the Washington U. emails would finally dry up once the Jan. 15th deadline passed, so I had to laugh when my son got yet another one yesterday (Jan. 17) that said:
Thank you for your strong interest in Washington University! For those of you who could use a bit more time, we’ll be accepting complete Common Applications through 5:00 p.m. Central Time on Tuesday, January 20.
I don’t know what was more amusing … the fact that the deadline has been extended to bump up the application count, or that the message referred to my son’s “strong interest,” given that he’s done nothing but delete these missives for a year or more.
^^^^I don’t find it amusing at all. Shame on Washington University!
We have the opposite opinion of the above two posters. WashU wasn’t on our S’s radar until the mailings. He applied, was accepted, visited and fell in love with the school and chose to attend over schools that he initially thought were top choices. And he had an incredibly happy four years there.
Our D recently was given an extended deadline to apply by Brandeis. As she had gotten in early to Chicago (yes, another school that sent a lot of mailings) she decided to take Brandeis off her list. But still she appreciated Brandeis’ offer of more time, and in no way found it bothersome. She didn’t check the box on the PSAT that would allow college board to give her name out, so she didn’t get that many mailings. But she got some, and just recycled the ones she wasn’t interested in.
Even Harvard, which certainly needs no more publicity, sent her a mailing. She has close to zero chance of getting in and no interest in attending, so she just recycled it too. It’s certainly nothing to get annoyed over.
Quinnipiac is a major stalker this year…High Point University as well…are they just trying to increase their applications so they can turn us down? Quinnipiac offered a free application as well.
Over the summer, my mom saved an entire box of junk mail from colleges and told me to go through all of it because I wasn’t sure where to apply yet. I tried to explain to her “there’s this thing called the Internet…” but she insisted. The worst part is they all say the same thing
“We have the resources of a large school with the smaller school feel.”
We are a big school with small class sizes and a tight knit community"
“Our school IS the perfect fit for you”
Blah blah blah.
The only thing that ever convinced me were full scholarship offers. Everything else I found out on my own.
UChicago was one for my son 2 years ago. He did not apply and I don’t think he would have ever gotten in. Also U of Alabama! I believe we got Bama mail every week of his Jr. year, then almost everyday of his Senior yr. He did eventually apply because of their scholarship program. Now my D, a senior, is getting Bama mail. The other one she gets all the time is Mount Holyoke. She has shown them no interest. Tulane sends her tons of emails and she almost applied “just to see if she got in”. But I encouraged her not to since they don’t have a program she would be interested in. I told her it would be wasting someones time to review her app if she has no interest. She had enough to do already with the 10 applications she was working on.
@green678 - the problem with the mass mailings is that some (many) of them seem to be targeting an overly wide group of applicants, including many who have little to no hope of matriculating to that school. I think it’s fine for schools like Wash U to send mass mailings to students who (1) showed interest, or (2) have credentials that may fit their criteria. The problem is when these mass mailings target massive amounts of students way outside of their criteria. In those cases, the mass mailings smack of a school simply trying to skew its selectivity rating.
I got emails from from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT etc. even though I would have had no chance of getting in there. I just laughed. I never thought about the raising application rates stuff.
" WashU wasn’t on our S’s radar until the mailings."
Obviously your son was qualified green678. The vast majority of those bombarded are not.
UCHICAGO AND YALE WON’T LEAVE ME ALONE. THE UCHI TEE SHIRT IS NICE THOUGH.
I used to get, and still get, TONS of emails from AMDA. The emails started back in the summer before my senior year. They told me I was a VIP applicant, so they did hook me. Briefly. I did a ton of research on them (that’s how I found CC!), and decided that AMDA wasn’t for me.
On the other hand, DePaul University sent me quite a few emails and hooked me. I was initially attracted to its location in Chicago, and as I did more research, I realized that their Theatre School was an excellent program, so I’m now going to be auditioning for them in two weeks!
Columbia and UChicago email me a lot. Like, a lot. Which is strange. If they could see my GPA, that definitely would not be the case.
Just curious… how many of you have actually taken the simple step of clicking unsubscribe links in emails and writing a brief email to the college (not a long explanation) – with the words, “Please remove me from your mailing list” along with the name and address as it appears on the label of whatever paper mail has shown up?
I admit to being flattered by the reams of mail that arrived for my son way back when (first time around)— but with DD we were proactive about telling the colleges when to stop sending mail… and it worked. I can’t comment on Chicago because my daughter was very enamored of the school and did apply, and we did rather enjoy the big fat envelope they sent in April --but definitely we cut of WUSTL early in the process.
The colleges admissions offices are NOT sending this stuff out - it goes out from companies that they hire to do their marketing, based on whatever mailing lists they buy or get from other services. So sending a long letter to admissions is counter-productive - it’s a waste of time to write it & the message is lost. “Please remove” is clear – it gets handled appropriately by the clerical staff.
It’s not perfect – it can take a few days to a few weeks depending on the chain the request needs to navigate --but it certainly will stem the tide.
Unsubscribed to many. Kind of embarrassed to admit that daughter did apply to Rensselaer after almost daily multiple emails promising merit and all sorts of benefits. RPI is last on daughter’s list but she applied with a “show me the money” attitude, then we’ll talk. I doubt they will end up putting their money where their mouths are, but for the cost of application fee it was worth a try since daughter wants engineering and it is close to New England.
@calmom - yes, “unsubscribing” is the appropriate solution to unwanted mass emails. However, keep in mind that these are not emails directed to us parents and they do not land in our email boxes. These are directed at kids, minors, many of whom are unqualified for schools like Wash U and U Chicago. I personally think it does not reflect well on these schools to put stars in the eyes of the average high school student by encouraging such students to apply to a school that has virtually no intention of admitting them.
@prospect1 I so agree. I am sure many schools writing to daughter came from College Board after high PSAT and SAT scores, but the rest of her CB profile went ignored as she had specific geographic regions of the US selected, school size, majors, etc which all seemed ignored by many schools. When a student puts New England in their profile, they don’t expect to hear from schools in Las Vegas, Texas or California.
@Calmom: I forget which school it was that was stalking S-- it was very conservative Catholic and sportsy, though. S unsubscribed, unsibscribed, unsubscribed again. Finally he sent them an email that said, essentially “I do not fit your profile, I’m not a jock and am atheist, please remove me”. He still gets mail from them.
Our family favorite stalker email subject line… “Sarah Lawrence Called.” That one actually tricked my daughter into opening the email.
Fun thread…my D has been stalked mercilessly by Washington U. and George Mason. Did not apply to either as they don’t have the program she wants, so that was an easy call.
My S applied to Berklee College of Music in 2011, got deferred admission for spring 2012, went elsewhere…and still gets emails from them. My D got mail from them too even though she isn’t a music major and isn’t even in band or choir anymore. He got stalked by Hofstra right through May, and even after that because they had room after all the decisions were made.
I’ve accumulated about a Xerox box full of college mailings, and I actually have become almost fond of receiving them (mostly because I’m still six at heart and love getting physical mail, though). Overall, I find them to be so impersonal and am kind of offended that these marketing companies don’t realize that kids may notice that half their mailings have a return card addressed to Des Moines, IA regardless of where the school in question is located.
That being said, Macalester’s creative mailings put them on my radar and made them a favorite of mine. I would attend in a heartbeat if I were to get accepted if they weren’t located 1,200 miles from home. Case Western also caught my eye and I don’t think I would have applied had they not sent me stuff.
The worst offenders are definitely Hofstra (I was interested in them early on but have come to dislike the school. Also don’t like how their idea of a “reduced application fee” for “select candidates” turns out to be $60…), Quinnipiac, Simmons, Mount Holyoke, Drexel, Emerson, Fordham, and Sarah Lawrence.
I almost applied to a few schools that offered a free application just to see how much aid they’d give me, but ultimately decided against that because I didn’t want to waste the adcom’s time on reviewing an application from someone who would not genuinely want to attend.
Like many, I was also pursued by UChicago, but never had a problem with that because their materials always had thought put into them and were entertaining.