College Admission Information

[robros]

My son is going to be a senior in high school and like most kids he is getting information from colleges on a daily basis from colleges.

He has very good PSAT scores and SAT scores but he continues to get material from Ivy League schools and other top schools. He has almost no chance of getting into these schools, so I wonder why are the wasting all this money on sending him this material.

Is it to just increase the application pool, so they can report that they only accept 5% of applications?

Thank you

 

[Upstream]

Did he request information from these schools, or have his test scores sent there? Or did he sign up for a mailing list to get info from a lot of schools?

Ivy league and similar schools don't have to rely on marketing tricks to get applicant pools. Princeton, for example, gets about 30,000 applications for 1300 freshman spots. Princeton will get those applications regardless.

 

[robros]

No, we have not had any contact with the schools. I think they get the PSAT scores from ETS. Not sure.

 

[RU MAN]

No, we have not had any contact with the schools. I think they get the PSAT scores from ETS. Not sure.

the Ivies get their info from the PSAT scores just like any other colleges and universities that send out material. If you don't mind me asking how is his GPA both unweighted and weighted?

 

[Upstream]

the Ivies get their info from the PSAT scores just like any other colleges and universities that send out material. If you don't mind me asking how is his GPA both unweighted and weighted?

But doesn't the student need to indicate that he wants his test scores sent to a school before the school receives them. Or the student would have had to sign up for a service like the Student Search Service or a college guide service.

 

[RUnTeX]

My son is going to be a senior in high school and like most kids he is getting information from colleges on a daily basis from colleges.

He has very good PSAT scores and SAT scores but he continues to get material from Ivy League schools and other top schools. He has almost no chance of getting into these schools, so I wonder why are the wasting all this money on sending him this material.

Is it to just increase the application pool, so they can report that they only accept 5% of applications?

Thank you

If you don't mind answering, I'm wondering what concern you (and/or your son) have with receiving many superfluous brochures.

It would appear many of those schools have plenty of money in their budget to afford mass mailings.

Is it too distracting or taking up too much space in the mailbox only to be destined for the recycling pile? Treat it like junk mail and move on, I suppose.

Perhaps your son becomes inspired to shoot for what might be considered a long shot and he would never know unless he tried.

Either way, good luck to your son as he navigates the process over the upcoming year.

 

[RU MAN]

But doesn't the student need to indicate that he wants his test scores sent to a school before the school receives them. Or the student would have had to sign up for a service like the Student Search Service or a college guide service.

It appears this parent didn't say yes or no. Once the scores are in (PSAT or SAY) the College Board, which is still a marketing service regardless of being non-profit, they will send these scores to participating colleges. For example, my son is going to a UC school in September on a partial scholarship and was accepted into their Honors College. But based on his scores, Brown, Cornell and Dartmouth kept sending him information brochures. We did not sign up for that and we did not say yes or no to receive those.

In the end my son wanted to stay in California (where we live) so he didn't even bother to apply. So for the parent above, that's why I believe his son has been receiving those brochures from the Ivies.

 

[robros]

I don't recall the option of saying yes or no to receiving information from the schools. I don't have any objection to receiving the information. I am just curious why colleges would waste their money. My son is a very good student but not a Harvard or MIT student.
Thanks

 

[RU MAN]

I don't recall the option of saying yes or no to receiving information from the schools. I don't have any objection to receiving the information. I am just curious why colleges would waste their money. My son is a very good student but not a Harvard or MIT student.
Thanks

The bottom line is, was his PSAT score high? If so that's why they sent him brochures. They don't even know what your son's grades are. Oh, and btw, my son probably would have had a very good chance getting into one of those Ivies if we had applied early decision. Where the Ivies like to boast about letting in 7-9% in. In fact if one were to apply early decision the acceptance rates are more like 20 to 25%.