The Marketing from some of these schools is nuts- and totally wasteful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the person who keeps saying that schools don’t know scores, you are wrong. They order batches and set parameters. For example, they may say send me all of the scores above 1200 from males in these three ZIP Codes……. If the batch is larger than what they are willing to pay for, they get a randomized sample from within that patch. This is all very clearly explained in the selling go book. Line.

Also, schools that are looking to increase their appearance of selectivity want as many kids to apply as possible. The goal is more applications.

That's why it's ridiculous that they market to kids with 1100/1200 SAT/psats. Those kids have no chance really, but all the marketing gets some to attempt it, thus lowering acceptance rates

Again, they don't know who scored in precisely that range from the lists they buy.

Would you want colleges to be able to buy lists with 100 point rages and know nearly exactly what your kid scored without your consent to submit those scores?

According to College Board, they do. They said:

"What Information Is Shared

General information you provided when creating your account, along with your score range on any College Board exams you’ve taken.
Colleges that you’ve added to your college list. This data helps those colleges see your demonstrated interest.
Information you’ve provided about your high school performance and activities, along with your college preferences."

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/student-search-service

So you agree they only know a range, not a score. And no idea if you will study and retake.

Stop trying to make this into some kind of preposterous conspiracy. It’s just marketing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree it's gross and wasteful. My kids is at a magnet school where the kids are bombarded with UChicago marketing materials. In the Bethesda Magazine article, it was reported 55 students at this school applied last year and 0 were admitted. It's often about inflating application numbers, nothing else.

Are you suggesting that the folks in marketing who are responsible for encouraging as many students as possible to apply are sending out marketing materials with the intention of getting the maximum number of students to apply?

Is that really some kind of conspiracy? I mean, how is the college supposed to know you won’t get admitted unless you apply? Do you expect them just a guess because of the school you go to?

Do you get this mad when stores you don’t shop at send you advertising?

It’s well known that U Chicago sends loads of marketing materials to unqualified students and that this increases their number of applications and reduces their acceptance rate.

It’s not an accident.

Uchicago hired a guy to run its admissions dept about 20 years ago and his direct aim was to lower its acceptance rate, which was about 50-60%—way above its peers particularly
Columbia. I went to Columbia so I remember reading this and he remarked that Chicago should have as many apps as New York. He revamped the dept and undertook an aggressive campaign to increase the apps. The school utilizes 2 ED cycles, which explains an artificially high yield. Applying and getting accepted RD is impossible.

Yes, U Chicago is absolutely the worst in the ranking games that includes its marketing. Someone in this thread asked, what is so sinister about what U Chicago does. It's not sinister but for a #6 ranked school, it's a bit pathetic. Obviously this is how it reached #6 but it's about time U Chicago tone down on it now that it has reached the top. I get why Case Western does it (the crazy number of post cards sent every 2 weeks) because it has a hard time getting students but why does Chicago need to do this?

I don't think they need to do it but more of matter of the costs of doing business. To keep applications with their hefty fees coming to the admissions office along with helping them encourage kids who will take their shot ED. US News has stopped taking acceptance rates into account for rankings a while back so this isn't the reason eventhough everyone wants to say so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has been bombarded by stuff from High Point since he took the PSAT sophomore year. Every few weeks he's gotten glossy books, packaged in super expensive looking packaging. We made sure to opt out of their mailing list digitally and things stopped for a bit but have started back up. Today he got a PEN via FEdEx!!!! Nonsense. I am sure there are others here as well. Seems so wasteful all the magazines, etc.

High Point was a running joke in our family last year. Has your kid gotten his Golden Ticket yet? My kid opted out of everything, but was still inundated by HP. They even got her cell phone number somehow and kept texting her even after she asked them to stop.

OP here- YES!!! This is us now. It is really annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the person who keeps saying that schools don’t know scores, you are wrong. They order batches and set parameters. For example, they may say send me all of the scores above 1200 from males in these three ZIP Codes……. If the batch is larger than what they are willing to pay for, they get a randomized sample from within that patch. This is all very clearly explained in the selling go book. Line.

Also, schools that are looking to increase their appearance of selectivity want as many kids to apply as possible. The goal is more applications.

That's why it's ridiculous that they market to kids with 1100/1200 SAT/psats. Those kids have no chance really, but all the marketing gets some to attempt it, thus lowering acceptance rates

Again, they don't know who scored in precisely that range from the lists they buy.

Would you want colleges to be able to buy lists with 100 point rages and know nearly exactly what your kid scored without your consent to submit those scores?

According to College Board, they do. They said:

"What Information Is Shared

General information you provided when creating your account, along with your score range on any College Board exams you’ve taken.
Colleges that you’ve added to your college list. This data helps those colleges see your demonstrated interest.
Information you’ve provided about your high school performance and activities, along with your college preferences."

https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/student-search-service

So you agree they only know a range, not a score. And no idea if you will study and retake.

Stop trying to make this into some kind of preposterous conspiracy. It’s just marketing.

It was my first message to you, not sure why you replied as if there is only one poster here besides yourself. You said: "Again, they don't know who scored in precisely that range from the lists they buy." College Board said that they do know the range for every specific student.

[Anonymous]

On YCBK podcast, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions said the College Board also shares if someone took the SAT and how many times. He said this in response to a question about test optional policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On YCBK podcast, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions said the College Board also shares if someone took the SAT and how many times. He said this in response to a question about test optional policies.

I love that podcast

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On YCBK podcast, Dartmouth’s dean of admissions said the College Board also shares if someone took the SAT and how many times. He said this in response to a question about test optional policies.

I love that podcast

Great podcast, and the Dartmouth convo was really insightful even for our not-Dartmouth-bound kid. Really helped us think about the relative value of submitting scores in a TO world.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious if all those being inundated with material live in affluent zip codes. We do not, and none of our kids — who all scored reasonably well — have ever been mailed anything from a school unless they specifically requested it. Emails? Yes. Tons and tons of emails. But nothing that would actually cost money to send. Wondering if the goal isn’t merely to drive up applications but specifically to boost applications from wealthy communities. Just curious.

[Anonymous]

My kid checked the box so she did not receive marketing.

I wanted her college search to be driven by research, not slick marketing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious if all those being inundated with material live in affluent zip codes. We do not, and none of our kids — who all scored reasonably well — have ever been mailed anything from a school unless they specifically requested it. Emails? Yes. Tons and tons of emails. But nothing that would actually cost money to send. Wondering if the goal isn’t merely to drive up applications but specifically to boost applications from wealthy communities. Just curious.

It depends if the school is looking for more full pay or if they have other priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m curious if all those being inundated with material live in affluent zip codes. We do not, and none of our kids — who all scored reasonably well — have ever been mailed anything from a school unless they specifically requested it. Emails? Yes. Tons and tons of emails. But nothing that would actually cost money to send. Wondering if the goal isn’t merely to drive up applications but specifically to boost applications from wealthy communities. Just curious.

We live in Takoma Park and my son (a junior) receives lots of mail in addition to emails. It started after 10th grade PSAT. Last week he received what I will describe as a large poster from Duke. His friend who lives in Silver Spring and attends Einstein also receives lots of glossy materials weekly. Not sure what the institutional priorities are as a lot of the colleges overlap, especially Chicago. My son is biracial, and his friend is white. They both did well on the PSAT.

[Anonymous]

They are sending things at their own expense asking you to apply to a school you might not otherwise consider?

The evil bastards.

Just like Kohls who sends me ads. I don't need any more pants! And BMW. I can't afford one! Those heartless monsters.