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My daughter is in 10th grade and has suddenly started getting inundated by mail and email from colleges. At the bottom of the emails is the fact that they got her name from the Student Search Service of the College Board.
Is this just junk mail? Or are they expecting us to be impressed by the fact that they've identified her as a potential student?
Like L210, after I took PSATs, colleges started sending all sorts of marketing material my way. Often with promised scholarship money. Save the material for schools that sound interesting and/or throw money at your child. Chuck the rest.
The schools submit the academic parameters they want and they get a list from PSAT, ACT, SAT. Your child probably filled out information on those forms that said her GPA was X.X and she is taking AP classes or whatever. I thought it was good initial information and a way to get the kids thinking about colleges they might like. Junior year you will get flooded with mailings, emails, etc. Take it for what is is, advertising for the school and not that your child is "special" like some parents do
The schools submit the academic parameters they want and they get a list from PSAT, ACT, SAT. Your child probably filled out information on those forms that said her GPA was X.X and she is taking AP classes or whatever. I thought it was good initial information and a way to get the kids thinking about colleges they might like. Junior year you will get flooded with mailings, emails, etc. Take it for what is is, advertising for the school and not that your child is "special" like some parents do
That's what I figured. She took PSATs this year (though we still don't know what her scores were) and suddenly this barrage started. What has amazed me is their persistence. We'll get one email, then a week or so later another one from the same school, and then a week after that another one saying "Are you getting my emails?" or some such. Plus we've started getting paper mail from the same schools.
Sheesh. If all they are trying to do is bring their school to our attention, they're going about it the wrong way.
Nothing to get worked up over and I'm not sure why this would be a turn off
There a lot of good schools out there and most of these mailings are fairly targeted based on information you/student provide plus things like the PSAT score
I was before e-mail on these things, so that is a new dynamic - but I definitely remembered the mailings.
There were a few schools that really grabbed my attention, including the one I eventually went to that had mailers ....... there were many schools that I had never heard of or would not have known existed without the mailers (a lot of the smaller lib arts schools or more specialized schools)
Basically there is an overwhelming amount of options and it's for the kid as well - I don't know many teens who hate the attention or didn't enjoy flipping through brochures ...... even as they complained about them
There are some that are turn offs though, but again that also serves it's purpose .... there was a lib arts school that sent me postcards, basically I'd get one every 10 days or so .... it was a basically a picture plus a word .... supposed to be strong enough to stand on it's own, but when put with the other mailings spelled out a greater message ..... I'm sure that drew in some people, but it was a bit gimmicky for my taste and really didn't leave me with intrigue or interest about this school
Finger Laker, I'm just saying that I find overly aggressive marketing to be highly unpleasant. It seems unlikely that any of these tactics will inspire us to investigate schools we've never heard of.
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