Desperate, pleading emails from college admissions departments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's "small" everywhere but DCUM, where it becomes "selective."

Also, this is nothing new. I had a perfectly respectable university mooning after me when I was looking at colleges (but not applying to this one) in the mid-80s. Didn't most of us? Or at least a lot of us?


PS I thought the letter was kind of funny, even though it seems as though the college needs to take a hint.

[Anonymous]

OP - Schools are not after your DC, they are after your DC's application. More applications they receive, the more selective they become, and higher the school will be ranked by USNews or whatever. It's all just a game... Don't get too excited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's "small" everywhere but DCUM, where it becomes "selective."

A liberal arts college is by definition small, right? The S is for selective, to distinguish the competitive colleges from the hundreds of small local colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - Schools are not after your DC, they are after your DC's application. More applications they receive, the more selective they become, and higher the school will be ranked by USNews or whatever. It's all just a game... Don't get too excited.

+100 it is such a scam and wastes everyone's time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's "small" everywhere but DCUM, where it becomes "selective."

Leave it to DCUM to make it more competitive. The s is for small... no matter how selective the school or snotty the applicant's parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's "small" everywhere but DCUM, where it becomes "selective."

A liberal arts college is by definition small, right? The S is for selective, to distinguish the competitive colleges from the hundreds of small local colleges.

SLAC stands for Small Liberal Arts Colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The funniest one we received last week was a letter from a no-name institution congratulating DS that, based on information he provided to the college board (which cannot be much more than his email address at this point, since he hasn't released scores), he is "eligible" for a 19K per year "scholarship" worth 76K over four years. This reminds me of Jos. A. Bank ads: buy one, get three free!!

DC might have received the same scholarship 2 yrs ago without even applying - I forget the name, but the former Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, now becoming a LAC ?

[Anonymous]

I always thought there was a distinction between SLACs and LACs, where the "S" meant "selective" as in Williams, Amherst, usually Swarthmore, and then draw your own line for selectivity where at the regular LACs. All SLACs and LACs are small in a relative sense, being colleges not universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always thought there was a distinction between SLACs and LACs, where the "S" meant "selective" as in Williams, Amherst, usually Swarthmore, and then draw your own line for selectivity where at the regular LACs. All SLACs and LACs are small in a relative sense, being colleges not universities.

Nope, it's generally understood to mean "small," and that's been the case for a long time. The "S" as in "small" was intended to highlight the lower enrollments of private LACs, in particular, compared to big state universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The funniest one we received last week was a letter from a no-name institution congratulating DS that, based on information he provided to the college board (which cannot be much more than his email address at this point, since he hasn't released scores), he is "eligible" for a 19K per year "scholarship" worth 76K over four years. This reminds me of Jos. A. Bank ads: buy one, get three free!!

I wonder if admissions staff giggle about desparate pleading applicants

[Anonymous]

DS got one from Penn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - Schools are not after your DC, they are after your DC's application. More applications they receive, the more selective they become, and higher the school will be ranked by USNews or whatever. It's all just a game... Don't get too excited.

This. And don't forget the application fee.

[Anonymous]

While at first glance one might view it as "creepy"...honestly, as a PP noted, its really supposed to be a joke. DS is getting same sort of email and the hard mail is literally overwhelming. We are flooded daily. I wouldn't get too worked up over it. Just view it as a "right of passage"....through DC's senior year!

[Anonymous]

We were really excited when DC1 went thru the process many years ago. We were like "what? MIT wants him? P too? H, and whatever..." With DC2, we learned out lesson and didn't think much of it. With DC3 (current senior), our attitude is like "f**king a-holes"... So, yeah, don't get excited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought there was a distinction between SLACs and LACs, where the "S" meant "selective" as in Williams, Amherst, usually Swarthmore, and then draw your own line for selectivity where at the regular LACs. All SLACs and LACs are small in a relative sense, being colleges not universities.

Nope, it's generally understood to mean "small," and that's been the case for a long time. The "S" as in "small" was intended to highlight the lower enrollments of private LACs, in particular, compared to big state universities.

How is "small" liberal arts "college" not redundant?