Which Schools Track Interest

College Search & Lists
1

<p>I took the PSAT in October, 2005 and scored a 226. I recently received a letter from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation offering their referral service. I wanted to send my stats to my top choice schools, but my reach schools are big schools such as Columbia, Cornell, MIT, etc… which don’t track interest. </p>

<p>Does anyone have a list of good schools that track interest?</p>

<p>Schools that I am interested in:
MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, University of Chicago, Duke, Vanderbilt, Princeton, Williams College, and Hamilton College (In no particular order)</p>

<p>P.S. I’m also interested in Pre-Med. Are any schools in my list a good/bad fit for my preferred major/ field of study?</p>

2

<p>Get referred, however, I know of few schools that genuinely track interest besides Washington University in St. Louis.</p>

<p>MIT, Cornell, Columbia, University of Chicago, and Princeton I know for certain do not. I am not familiar enough with the other schools to give you a definitive answer.</p>

<p>Rule of thumb is if the schools gets enough strong applicants to be able to pick and choose… and probably get their candidates… then it probably doesn’t track interest. Elite institutions know you are interested.</p>

3

<p>i know northwestern cares a LOT about interest.</p>

4

<p>i asked for an interview, then didnt go and still got accepted to northwestern.</p>

<p>and i never visited.</p>

5

<p>Johns Hopkins and Duke do not track interest.</p>

6

<p>I never interviewed at Northwestern and got accepted, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t track interest.</p>

7

<p>I think demonstrated interest is considered at Hamilton.</p>

8

<p>bobbobbob , you probably had above-average stats, im talking about people like me who are on the brink - i think that NU will look upon interest favorably if it’s an applicant theyre not sure of.</p>

9

<p>The underlying cause for “Tufts Syndrome” is probably not overqualification, but rather sloppy applications and the lack of interest shown in the school. If you treat a school like a last resort that you don’t care about, then they probably won’t accept you.</p>

<p>If you want to avoid that sort of thing, I’d put Tufts down as one of your schools.</p>

10

<p>I saw “track interest” and “pre-med” and bells started going off in my head for Washington University in St. Louis. Not just any bells, either; I’m talking Liberty Bell and Big Ben sized bells! It probably won’t be where you end up, but if you’d actually like your PSAT score to count (besides eventually telling your colleges that you’re a NMSC Finalist), this is one place that will appreciate the attention. If you don’t like Wash U, try to pick your favorite colleges off your list (so hard when you still have another year to decide) and hope they make the smallest difference in your favor. I hope it all works out for you.</p>