email to admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid got a very personal and encouraging response from an admissions officer yesterday after sending in an email update to a college.

should DC respond? worried about filling the AO's email inbox with unnecessary chatter.
the school does track demonstrated interest.

I think you're getting a bit of bad advice here. My dd attends a top 10 SLAC and there is NO downside to responding with a brief, enthusiastic email - that is very different than spamming their inbox. SLACs are way more personalized than larger schools - when my dd was applying, she had a peer interview at a SLAC and the director of admissions decided to sit in at the last minute (big surprise for her when she got to the meeting!). When she attended accepted students day at the school she now attends, the head of admissions remembered her and her application in detail. When she was finalizing her college list, she emailed a department head at her 2nd choice school (also a SLAC)nand the department head happily corresponded with her for a couple of weeks. She also corresponded with the head of the same dept at her current school, and before orientation week that professor reached out to my dd and said how thrilled she was that dd would be joining their community, and suggested they grab coffee after dd arrived on campus. All this is part of the reason some students want SLACs (and probably also why others would run in the other direction lol).

Very good advice. And agree the SLAC makes all the difference in how you approach this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid got a very personal and encouraging response from an admissions officer yesterday after sending in an email update to a college.

should DC respond? worried about filling the AO's email inbox with unnecessary chatter.
the school does track demonstrated interest.

You don't send a thank you for a thank you.

I would advise responding "Thank you for your response. I am super excited about XYZ school and think it is a great fit for me because of ABC reasons. If you have any questions on my application materials please do not hesitate to be in touch."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid got a very personal and encouraging response from an admissions officer yesterday after sending in an email update to a college.

should DC respond? worried about filling the AO's email inbox with unnecessary chatter.
the school does track demonstrated interest.

odd. a state school?

no, a T10 SLAC.
RD applicant.
Met the AO in the fall at high school.

Personal communication with applicants is standard for top LAC AOs, maybe even lower ones, as well as some T15 universities. The answer on whether to respond is It Depends: what was the wording of the email, was there already an ongoing conversation, etc. Both of my kids responded to many AO emails, and initiated communication with others, but they did not respond to the ones that were just brief thank-you-for-sending-us-update types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid got a very personal and encouraging response from an admissions officer yesterday after sending in an email update to a college.

should DC respond? worried about filling the AO's email inbox with unnecessary chatter.
the school does track demonstrated interest.

odd. a state school?

no, a T10 SLAC.
RD applicant.
Met the AO in the fall at high school.

Personal communication with applicants is standard for top LAC AOs, maybe even lower ones, as well as some T15 universities. The answer on whether to respond is It Depends: what was the wording of the email, was there already an ongoing conversation, etc. Both of my kids responded to many AO emails, and initiated communication with others, but they did not respond to the ones that were just brief thank-you-for-sending-us-update types.

OP. thank you for this.
I think my daughter has an email from another SLAC from last month - generic at the beginning but personalized at the end asking to stay in touch. I just texted DD and told her to respond to that AO with a question that's not easy to find an answer to. That SLAC's app was due earlier this month....also a RD.

Thanks for this very helpful advice for SLACs!! Hope it helps others!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid got a very personal and encouraging response from an admissions officer yesterday after sending in an email update to a college.

should DC respond? worried about filling the AO's email inbox with unnecessary chatter.
the school does track demonstrated interest.

odd. a state school?

no, a T10 SLAC.
RD applicant.
Met the AO in the fall at high school.

Replying can't hurt. And if the AO keeps it going you can see if it's a Matt Gaetz / Ron DeSantis type situation with a rogue AO using the opportunity to groom teens.

Nice one, Troll, but it’s mostly liberals who love grooming kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my kid got a very personal and encouraging response from an admissions officer yesterday after sending in an email update to a college.

should DC respond? worried about filling the AO's email inbox with unnecessary chatter.
the school does track demonstrated interest.

You don't send a thank you for a thank you.

I would advise responding "Thank you for your response. I am super excited about XYZ school and think it is a great fit for me because of ABC reasons. If you have any questions on my application materials please do not hesitate to be in touch."

I would remove "please do not hesitate to be in touch" because that sounds like the kid's mom wrote it. The mom who works in admin for the local government or HR or a doctor's office etc