College "Junk" Mail

[Anonymous]

Anyone else getting excessive and random college brochures landing in your mailbox? Having twins doesn't help...double the junk.

Nothing against Va. Wesleyan but by daughter laughed at the most recent brochure (one of at least 3 I think so far) where they depicted a college student laying on the beach studying with 3 large textbooks. Like anyone could get serious studying done while laying on the beach - LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else getting excessive and random college brochures landing in your mailbox? Having twins doesn't help...double the junk.

Nothing against Va. Wesleyan but by daughter laughed at the most recent brochure (one of at least 3 I think so far) where they depicted a college student laying on the beach studying with 3 large textbooks. Like anyone could get serious studying done while laying on the beach - LOL.

Clearly you haven't studied at U-Miami, UCLA or Va Weslyan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else getting excessive and random college brochures landing in your mailbox? Having twins doesn't help...double the junk.

Nothing against Va. Wesleyan but by daughter laughed at the most recent brochure (one of at least 3 I think so far) where they depicted a college student laying on the beach studying with 3 large textbooks. Like anyone could get serious studying done while laying on the beach - LOL.

VA Wesleyan called over the summer and left a message saying my DC had won a $24,000/yr scholarship. We'd never heard of the school before.

[Anonymous]

There is a place on every college’s admissions website where you can opt out of the solicitations.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to experiencing probably the last big user of the USPS - canned college mailings. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

University of Chicago has sent DD at least 10 mailers.
With a 3.5 gpa and 1220 sat, I doubt....

[Anonymous]

My DD received tons from U of C as well as some obscure college in New Mexico along with a smattering of other colleges despite the fact that she never once requested to be on their mailing lists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else getting excessive and random college brochures landing in your mailbox? Having twins doesn't help...double the junk.

Nothing against Va. Wesleyan but by daughter laughed at the most recent brochure (one of at least 3 I think so far) where they depicted a college student laying on the beach studying with 3 large textbooks. Like anyone could get serious studying done while laying on the beach - LOL.

VA Wesleyan called over the summer and left a message saying my DC had won a $24,000/yr scholarship. We'd never heard of the school before.

We did too but back a few years. VA Wesleyan and another small LAC bought the list of high performers on the ACT. They called out home and I (DH) just happened to answer. They said based on DC's ACT of 32/34, they were offering DC $24K scholarship. I said that DC had recently retaken and now had a 36. There was a rustling of papers then the caller said "Well, in that case we can offer him the President's Scholarship of $26K. But Va Wesleyan didn't have the program DC wanted. At the time, both LACs that called were still more expensive than UVA even after the $26K scholarship so DC declined. A number of smaller schools do this so they can report the high SAT/ACTs, etc. to the rankings services. They really don't want your kid - they want the score.

[Anonymous]

Just assume that all of the college mailers are like catalogs – – things you probably didn’t want ... I feel bad for students will receive brochures from Schools like MIT and Yale and then think that they have a decent shot of getting in...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else getting excessive and random college brochures landing in your mailbox? Having twins doesn't help...double the junk.

Nothing against Va. Wesleyan but by daughter laughed at the most recent brochure (one of at least 3 I think so far) where they depicted a college student laying on the beach studying with 3 large textbooks. Like anyone could get serious studying done while laying on the beach - LOL.

VA Wesleyan called over the summer and left a message saying my DC had won a $24,000/yr scholarship. We'd never heard of the school before.

We did too but back a few years. VA Wesleyan and another small LAC bought the list of high performers on the ACT. They called out home and I (DH) just happened to answer. They said based on DC's ACT of 32/34, they were offering DC $24K scholarship. I said that DC had recently retaken and now had a 36. There was a rustling of papers then the caller said "Well, in that case we can offer him the President's Scholarship of $26K. But Va Wesleyan didn't have the program DC wanted. At the time, both LACs that called were still more expensive than UVA even after the $26K scholarship so DC declined. A number of smaller schools do this so they can report the high SAT/ACTs, etc. to the rankings services. They really don't want your kid - they want the score.

They want these kids too, so that they can say they attract students of that caliber and those students attend. They're trying to up their game here and lure the students who have been likelier to go to better-known colleges. And there's nothing wrong with trying that. We also got the $24K offer and a lot of mailings from VA Wesleyan, including three letters from business owners who graduated from there "how my years there helped me create this business" etc. I thought that was pretty smart marketing assuming they're trying to show parents and students "if you come here, yes, you're employable when you're done, and could even be an entrepreneur."

Nope, no connection here to the school; I just saw a LOT of college mailings and found various colleges' images, approaches and marketing choices really interesting. (And DC didn't apply to VA Wesleyan but it was never a possibility for a lot of reasons unrelated to the beach or to $$....)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD received tons from U of C as well as some obscure college in New Mexico along with a smattering of other colleges despite the fact that she never once requested to be on their mailing lists.

The SAT sold her data. No request needed.

[Anonymous]

Opt out of the Student Search service here: https://studentsearch.collegeboard.org/opt-out

For future sittings of exams with the College Board, instruct your DC to decline being added to mailing lists. It’s part of the preliminary filling out of the forms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago has sent DD at least 10 mailers.
With a 3.5 gpa and 1220 sat, I doubt....

Same with my daughter with a 3.7 and 1300. I laughed. Obviously just a way to increase applications so they can appear more selective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD received tons from U of C as well as some obscure college in New Mexico along with a smattering of other colleges despite the fact that she never once requested to be on their mailing lists.

The SAT sold her data. No request needed.

When you sit the SAT, I believe there’s a place where you can indicate whether colleges can contact you. One of my kids said « no », and received very little. The other one said « yes », and received tons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD received tons from U of C as well as some obscure college in New Mexico along with a smattering of other colleges despite the fact that she never once requested to be on their mailing lists.

The SAT sold her data. No request needed.

When you sit the SAT, I believe there’s a place where you can indicate whether colleges can contact you. One of my kids said « no », and received very little. The other one said « yes », and received tons.

Also when you sign up for the Sat do not fill in all the optional data about your classes and plans. It is just for them to sell.