Even more ways to ‘demonstrate interest’ in a college

While not completely out of the question, even the most wildly optimistic romantic might think twice about asking a complete stranger to the prom. Why? Because a complete stranger is not as likely to accept the invitation as someone with whom there is a relationship. 

In other words, you’re likelier to ask someone to a dance if you know the person a little and have an idea they might be a tiny bit interested in spending time together. It just feels more comfortable.

Similarly, colleges want to know you’re interested.

Stealth applicants who send electronic applications without taking time to get to know a place are a little suspicious. Colleges can’t help but wonder if the student has done any research or put thought into the connection. Is there really a match? Who could possibly know?

If you haven’t shown interest in the months before proposing a relationship, a college has no way of judging if you’re likely to accept an invitation to join their community. And many schools take this very seriously as your decision could affect “yield” or the percent of admits who actually join the freshman class.

In fact, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) found that 78 percent of colleges assigned “interest” at least some importance in the admissions process.  In the “considerable importance” column, interest outranked counselor recommendations, teacher recommendations, interviews and extracurricular activities, and was just behind essays or writing samples.

And according to many admissions deans, expect to be sitting on a wait list if you don’t take the time to visit a campus located within 3 to 4 hours driving time of home. Interest quotient (IQ) or demonstrated interest is one important way of differentiating students. In a highly competitive college admissions process where many students almost certainly have similar GPAs, test scores or other numerical “qualifiers,” soft factors like extracurricular activities, recommendations and IQ can become “tipping factors.” For local students, this means expect to visit campuses as far north as New York and Connecticut and as far south as North or South Carolina.

But whether you visit or not, it’s vitally important that you come out of the shadows and introduce yourself. Think of it as less of a game and more of an effort to do due diligence before proposing a long-term relationship.

Here are ideas you can use to demonstrate the kind of interest colleges like to see:

1. Visits. Again, there is no better way to try a college on for “fit” than actually visiting the campus. Take a tour, go to the information session, participate in a recruitment event, and definitely accept offers to meet one-on-one with an admissions representative. Colleges understand if distances make visits impossible, but if you’re within a reasonable distance of campus, don’t neglect to see it for yourself.
    
2. Information requests. Register interest by requesting information and getting on mailing lists. Not only will you receive glossy print materials and cheery emails, but you also are likely to get invitations to campus or local events. Warning: some colleges take communications to the extreme and the load of mail can be overwhelming.
   
   
3. Open emails.  Once you’ve signed up to receive information or have otherwise gotten on mailing lists, take the time to explore what colleges send. Open emails and click on the inevitable links that appear in the messages.  Many colleges have fairly sophisticated enrollment management software that will track how often you click through and how much time you spend perusing their website.  Sending emails to trash or neglecting to follow through on links may cost dearly if the college gets the impression you don’t particularly care.
    
4. Research. Colleges create view books, spend thousands of dollars maintaining websites, and engage in forms of social media because they want to educate applicants and their families. Ignoring these information sources hardly demonstrates interest. Before touring a campus or meeting with an admissions representative, take time to see what the college says about itself in print and on the web.
    
5. Local events. Because of budget constraints, colleges are increasingly traveling in groups. For example, Georgetown travels with Duke, Penn, Harvard, and Stanford, and UVa travels with Princeton, Yale and Harvard. Schedules are on listed on admissions web pages. If an event or reception is scheduled within reasonable distance of home, try to attend and have a conversation with the representative for your area. And make every effort to attend college presentations at your school. Your guidance office or college/career center will post dates and times well in advance of these visits, so mark your calendar and follow school rules governing attendance.
    
6. College fairs. College fairs are typically scheduled in the spring and fall. NACAC and the Colleges That Change Lives organize some of the most visible fairs, but many local campuses and high schools also schedule events. Although often hectic, fairs can provide opportunities to get face time with admissions staff.
    
7. Social media. Admissions offices are increasingly using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs and online chats to communicate with students. They consider social media vital to ongoing recruitment efforts. Although engaging colleges through the use of media is a great way to demonstrate interest, keep in mind that it’s a two-way street and your personal pages may be subject to admissions scrutiny.
   
   
8. Connect through applications.  In the rapidly-changing world of college applications, it’s hard to forecast too far in advance which application tool will best represent your credentials to colleges. Be on the safe side and register with those applications used by colleges in which you are interested.  Once registered, make use of the opportunity to connect with colleges by including them on your “potential” college list and indicating that “Yes” the application provider may advise colleges of your interest. Registering with a particular application doesn’t commit you to actually using it, but it does give you a way to signal additional interest to colleges. Again, be aware that this signal will result in more email!
    
9. Interviews. “Recommended” or “required”—if given the chance, schedule an interview. They can be informational or evaluative. Either way, interviews offer you an opportunity to learn more while expressing your interest in the specific programs and opportunities offered by the college of your choice.
    
10. Early applications. Taking care to differentiate between binding Early Decision (ED) and nonbinding Early Action (EA) programs, students who apply early imply higher-than-average interest in a college. If your high school record supports an early application and you’re organized enough to meet deadlines, consider the advantages of taking the early route. Apply before deadline
     
11. Essays. Here’s a secret: colleges really care about the specific supplemental essay questions they append to shared application forms. Take the time to show knowledge of the college by tailoring your responses based on details of programs and campus life you’ve gleaned from visits, written materials, or interacting on the social network. The more specific, the better even if it means creating different personal statements with shout outs to your favorite colleges.
     
12. Correspondence. It’s not always easy to differentiate between the college spam you receive and genuine inquiries from interested admissions staff. Err on the side of courtesy and respond to those appearing to anticipate a response. Or if you have a question, initiate correspondence—preferably with someone you’ve met in admissions or the representative from your area. Again, be brief and to the point. And do check spelling and syntax.
    
    
13. Faculty and staff contacts. On those occasions you have the opportunity to interact with faculty or staff representing programs or majors in which you are interested, make an effort to follow-up the contact and keep in touch.  The interest expressed is obvious, and you never know when the person might be moved to contact admissions on your behalf. You may also have the opportunity to describe your connection in an essay and suggest the beginnings of a relationship you hope will grow in the future.
    
    
14. Financial aid deadlines. In the old days, colleges could take a measure of interest by looking at where the applicant listed their school on FAFSA. That’s no longer possible. But colleges still use the financial aid process to judge an applicant’s interest by paying attention to whether or not the family adheres to published “priority” financial aid deadlines. With FAFSA launching on October 1 this year, these deadlines will almost certainly shift forward.  Make sure that you complete all financial aid applications including FAFSA and provide any required supplementary information well in advance of when it’s due. Missing these deadlines could not only cost you money, but this kind of a lapse could also result in a deferral or denial of admission if the college wonders about the sincerity of your interest.
     
15. Thanks. If you’ve had the opportunity to meet with an admissions staff person, take the time to follow-up with a brief thank-you note. Get a business card or look up the address and send a short email or hand-written note.

Parents please take note—the interest being demonstrated is the applicant’s not yours. These should be student contacts and as much as it hurts, resist the urge to take over.

Also, demonstrated interest is not meant to be a license to harass colleges and admissions staff. Daily contacts, obsessive texting, calling or emails won’t win you points. Use commonsense and don’t risk turning off the object of your affection.

13 very smart ways to connect with colleges you can’t visit

An important part of deciding which college to attend is finding good fit.  And without doubt, the very best way to investigate fit is to actually get on campus and see first-hand what a school is all about—academically, culturally, and socially.

This fact isn’t lost on colleges, which go to great lengths to get prospective students and their families to campus.   But at the same time, colleges also recognize these trips aren’t always feasible.

Getting to campus can be enormously expensive and time-consuming, and no one expects you to visit all the colleges on your list, especially those that aren’t within a “reasonable” distance of home.

If you find you can’t visit all the colleges you are seriously considering, try a few of these “next best” alternatives for making campus connections:

1.  Get on the mailing list. Colleges maintain mailing lists for the purpose of communicating directly with students. Take advantage of the opportunity to receive information and learn more about colleges you are considering by “intentionally” getting on mailing lists. But be aware that once you agree to receive these communications electronically, you need to open your email.  Colleges have software that allows them to see if you dump their messages directly into trash.  Yes, colleges can be annoying to the point of spamming prospective applicants.  But in the era of “big data,” you need to know that colleges have the capability of tracking your response to what they are selling.

2.  Subscribe to college blogs.  Many colleges are opening lines of communication through blogs. Bloggers can be admissions staff or students who have agreed to write regular columns on their experiences. Both can be enormously helpful in understanding the college, its community, and the process for submitting a successful application.

3.  Attend college fairs. Colleges and universities typically send admissions staff or alumni representatives to fairs all over the country. There are regional fairs or fairs centered on a theme or an alliance of colleges. Although they can be hectic, college fairs are great opportunities to make connections and pick up some glossy brochures.

4.  Sign-up for school-based presentations. In the fall, colleges send admissions representatives to meet with high school students on their turf. These events are generally organized through student services or the college/career office. Be sure to keep up with the schedule of visits and sign-up for presentations that interest you.

5.  Try the virtual method. Colleges are increasingly participating in websites designed to support “virtual” visits to their campuses. The most popular of these sites include CampusTours.com, ecampustours.com, and YOUniversityTV.com. You can even attend a virtual college fair at CollegeWeekLive.com or view a college lecture via podcast through iTunes U. YouTube offers some professionally produced marketing pieces as well as a huge sample of student videos. And finally, check out live on-campus webcams, which som more enterprising colleges use to give viewers a sense of “being there.”

6.  “Friend” a college. Many colleges have built their own Facebook “fan” pages, which they use as tools to display videos, pictures, and news articles about their schools.  With creative use of Facebook, colleges keep in touch with potential applicants as well as provide them with important information and invitations to events.

7.  Tweet. For the most part, colleges don’t expect their Twitter accounts to necessarily result in active exchanges with high school students. They’re happy to establish these forums to pass along newsworthy items or basic information. By following a few colleges, you can use Twitter as a tool for gathering data or keeping abreast of deadlines.

8.  Work the local network.  Touch base with friends coming home for Thanksgiving, relatives, and neighbors—see what they know.  Many have visited the campuses in which you are most interested and have useful information and impressions. Or ask admissions offices for the names of local alums who may be willing to spend some time with you. 

9.  Check out campus media. There’s hardly a college in the country that doesn’t have a student-run newspaper. Most also have campus radio and/or television stations. What better way to keep up with campus goings on—without editorial oversight from the admissions office or college marketing. You can find most newspapers online, and with a little creative searching you can stream a live radio or TV broadcast.

10.  Sign up for an online class.  One of the side benefits of the massive open online course (MOOC) movement is the ability to take college-level classes without leaving the comfort of your living room.  If some of the colleges on your list are offering online classes through Coursera, Udacity, or  edX, you can get a feel for some of what goes on in classrooms on campus by signing up and actually taking or auditing a course—you might even learn something useful!

11.  Attend a reception. A local or regional college reception is less of a social event and more of an off-campus information session. Don’t go for the food, but consider it another opportunity to meet admissions staff, ask questions, and pick up more marketing material. You’ll also get a good peek at the competition—students from other high schools in your area who are likely to apply to the college sponsoring the event.

12.  Schedule a local interview. Many colleges are expanding their capacity to provide off-campus interviews either conducted by admissions staff or alumni in the area. Although the staff interviews are largely extensions of the service offered on-campus, alumni interviews usually kick in after you’ve submitted an application. Either interview may be “informational” or “evaluative.” Regardless, don’t neglect this very important method of connecting with the college of your choice.

13.  Personal communication.   It may seem old fashioned, but don’t forget the power of personal communication.  At many colleges, you will have an assigned admissions counselor who visits your high school (see above), staffs the local college fair (see above), and reviews your file.  Networking can be a very powerful tool in the admissions game, so if they’re open to it, get to know your admission counselor.   This is not a license to badger overworked staff.  But if you have questions and feel comfortable making a more personal connection, don’t hesitate to call or email your area representative.

News from the 2014 College Reception Circuit

Claremont Mckenna travels with 8 of the Best Colleges

Once the books close on the Class of 2018, admissions offices will begin the process of retooling and hit the road in search of prospective candidates for the Class of 2019.  And because recruitment dollars are increasingly scarce, quite a few colleges and universities will opt for group presentations as opposed to individual high school visits to get the word out in targeted communities.

If you’ve registered to receive information from a particular school, it’s likely you will receive invitations to these kinds of events.  And short of actually visiting a campus, these presentations offer opportunities for you to get basic information as well as make yourself known to area representatives—some of whom may be reading your application next fall.

Although these sessions are usually open to the public, it’s generally a good idea to pre-register if the opportunity is offered. Otherwise, how are the folks running the event going to know how many folding chairs to set up?

The following are some of the more popular spring events (follow the links provided for the schedule of events in your area).

• Big Ten College Tour:  In early May, the Big Ten Universities will co-host several evening programs in California.  These events will provide a brief overview of the Big Ten community as well as a chance to meet representatives from each university in a college fair forum.
• Exploring College Options: This is a special recruitment program sponsored by the undergraduate admissions offices of Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford. The tour has three stops in the DC area, with the first scheduled for Sunday, May 4, at the Grand Hyatt Washington. Two additional sessions will be held on May 5, at the Fairview Park Marriott, in Falls Church, and the Bethesday North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Bethesda.
• Colleges That Change Lives: This year, CTCL will visit the Washington DC area on Sunday, May 18, at the Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner. Each program begins with a 30-minute information session followed immediately by the college fair.
• The Claremont Colleges:   The Claremont Colleges (Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, Pomona and Scripps Colleges) periodically schedule information sessions in different parts of the country.  This year, receptions were held in Bethesda, MD and New York, NY.
• Exploring Educational Excellence:  Join Brown, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, and Rice for an information session targeted to prospective students and families. Sessions include an overview of each institution, information on admissions and financial aid, as well as a chance to speak informally with admissions representatives. Events will be held at the Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center, on Monday June 2, as well as at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, on Tuesday June 3.
• 8 of the Best Colleges: Claremont McKenna, Colorado College, Connecticut College, Grinnell, Haverford, Kenyon, Macalester, and Sarah Lawrence invite students and families to learn more about these eight nationally recognized liberal arts colleges. Programs are scheduled for Wednesday, May 21 at the Sheraton North Hotel, in Towson, MD, and Thursday, May 22, at the Hyatt Regency, in Bethesda, MD.
• Coast to Coast Tour:  Dartmouth, Northwestern, Princeton, UC Berkeley, and Vanderbilt visit 10 cities in six states.  The evening includes a brief information session about each school and time to interact with admissions representatives in a college fair format.  The tour comes to the DC area on Thursday, May 22, at the Washington Marriott.
• SEC College Tour:  The 14 universities in the Southeastern Conference will be visiting 3 cities in California in April.
• Boston University:  This program will provide insight into the “complex admissions process.”  Admissions staff will be coming to Georgetown Prep, on Sunday, May 4, at 7:00 p.m.
• Carnegie Mellon University:  Admissions counselors will present a general information session to high school students who may be in the early stages of their college search. You can register now for the event scheduled for Sunday, June 1, at the Bethesda Marriott Hotel.
• Johns Hopkins University:  Explore Hopkins events allow students to join admissions representatives at presentations around the country to learn more about academics, student life, the application process and financial aid.
• New York University:  Each spring and fall, NYU holds off-campus receptions for prospective students and families. Students are invited to register for the DC-area event scheduled for Sunday, May 4, at 11:00 a.m.
• Northwestern University:  In addition to the Coast to Coast Tour (see above), additional sessions are open to students and their families in other parts of the country. 
• Purdue University:  Preview Purdue events are scheduled in different locations across the county.  The remaining spring schedule includes Dallas, Fort Worth, Cleveland, St. Louis, Boston, Louisville KY, Chicago, and Hartford.
• The University of North Carolina at Greensboro:  Two "First Look" sessions will be held in the DC area.  The first will take place on May 19, in Rockville, and the second is scheduled for May 20, at Tysons Corner.  Online registration will require you to open a SpartanLink account.
  
  
• Washington University in St. Louis:  The Office of Undergraduate Admissions invites you  and your parents to a presentation about Wash U, on Sunday, April 27, at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda.