<p>Like many of the people on this thread, most days I receive more college mail than I can process; the majority of it then goes into the trash without even a skimming. The schools I get mail from run the gamut from local community colleges to top 25 national universities/LACs and by now just about every member of the Ivy League. Again, I’m sure that this experience is the same for most high school seniors.</p>
<p>Why this absurd excess of material? Given the >10% acceptance rate (I think), I find it extremely unlikely that I would have a serious chance for admission at Stanford, for example. Then why the beautifully laminated magazine-size information booklets and such? It seems to me, most top 25 universities have more applicants than they know what to do with as it is, I can’t imagine why they decide to go to the expense (and environmental cost) of sending every junior and senior with an SAT score above X information. </p>
<p>I’m particularly bothered by this trend because I’m afraid many students receive mail from extremely selective schools and misinterpret those schools’ level of interest. I can’t tell you how many of my classmates I’ve heard claiming they were being recruited by Harvard or MIT. This leads students to misdirect their energy into applying for colleges that are at best a far reach in lieu of finding less well-known schools that would be a much better academic/personal match.</p>
<p>Do you agree that colleges should at least tone down their recruiting efforts? Are there good reasons for sending so much mail that I have missed?</p>
<p>If you’re tired of receiving college “junk” mail, you should change the option on your College Board account. </p>
<p>If you’re a senior, the best kind of mail to get are those from your schools. These pamphlets, postcards, packages of books (thank you, Columbia) can be of great help in writing essays and learning more about the college. You can generally get these from registering onto the school’s mailing list at their respective websites.</p>
<p>Sounds like you receive about as much mail as me, though I attempt to read (or at least look over) all of it, to give each school a shot.</p>
<p>In a way, I like it, because it makes me aware of schools I hadn’t considered, but it is excessive.</p>
<p>As for why the selective schools send out mail… Well, they want more applicants. This can be seen in one of two lights. (1) They want as many applicants as possible, to reject more, to have a lower admit rating. (2) They want more people who hadn’t thought of applying to do so, thus getting better students for their class, however they might define that.</p>
<p>It’s just business. No matter how few they accept, top colleges want more to apply so they can reject more and maintain or advance their ranking.</p>
<p>I like getting them, especially the really nice viewbooks. But I agree that it’s often misinterpreted. I have a friend (1850sat, 3.6ish gpa) who got “a letter AND an email from Harvard!!!” and literally thought that she was one of a select few who were being recruited or something.</p>
<p>I’ve saved all the college mail that I’ve ever received. It’d probably all fit into a large box. I plan to recycle it all at the end of the year. It really is ridiculous how much they send.</p>
<p>Calculate how many applications Harvard sends out and multiply it times $75. They are cashing in on people’s dreams. The Harvard app we got in the mail said to go ahead and pay the application fee first and worry about the application later! Smooth.</p>
<p>We recycle all mail that is not on my Ds list of schools she is applying to. It is, as Harry Potter would say, “ridikulus”</p>
<p>Hah it is pretty ridikulus. I understand that colleges need to advertise like any other business, but still I think that many of us and our parents are only put off by the fake postcards and beautiful but wasteful viewbooks. </p>
<p>gbrasg do you really think colleges are trying to make money from peoples’ application fee? I’m not sure they would resort to that.</p>