I'm surprised by the mail from highly selective schools when getting a higher ACT/SAT score. I keep reading here about large volumes from Chicago but that hasn't really been the case for my kid. They have gotten 3 things from Yale and today something from Harvard neither of which would they be competitive candidate. I must say I was a bit disappointed to see this from Ivys.

They do have interest in some selective schools that haven't sent anything. So which schools are trying to drum up numbers and which don't play into the mass mailing game?

And when during senior year will the mail stop?

I had two kids with SATs in the 1500+ range. They both got mailings from a variety of top 10 schools, a different mix for both. Neither of them received contacts from MIT, but they did from Harvard.

My other kid scored in the 1200 range. The highest ranked school they received mailings from was U of Chicago who markets to almost everyone, even kids without a shot of getting in. The rest of the mailungs are from Mary Washington through JMU level schools, plus small liberal arts colleges that no one has ever heard of.

The volume of mailing between the two 1500 kids and the 1200 kid is very different. The 1500 kids got a pile of mailings every day. The 1200 kid gets a 1-3 mailings/week.

My child got a 1050 on the PSATs junior year and she was still flooded with marketing materials from selective schools (Chicago and Harvard were among the worst offenders). Getting email/mail means nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is some PSAT/SAT/ACT score level that leads to mail from the Ivies. I don't know what it is but it's something like 1500 for the SAT.

My Junior got a 1440, 221 index and she's gotten some from Yale and Cornell recently plus enough from Columbia that it's starting to feel like spam. We just laugh about it.

Sorry, this was for the PSAT. SAT was 1470.

Anonymous wrote:There is some PSAT/SAT/ACT score level that leads to mail from the Ivies. I don't know what it is but it's something like 1500 for the SAT.

My Junior got a 1440, 221 index and she's gotten some from Yale and Cornell recently plus enough from Columbia that it's starting to feel like spam. We just laugh about it.

Anonymous wrote:They’re trying to drum up ever more applications, so they can drive down their acceptance rates and appear more selective.

It’s a racket.

This is the answer.

Anonymous wrote:There is some PSAT/SAT/ACT score level that leads to mail from the Ivies. I don't know what it is but it's something like 1500 for the SAT.

new poster here
My (class of '24) kid got a 35 on the ACT and got mail from Harvard, Dartmouth, and one other Ivy--I think it was Princeton, but I'm not positive. His older brother (class of '18) got a 33 on the ACT and did not receive anything from colleges like that.

They’re trying to drum up ever more applications, so they can drive down their acceptance rates and appear more selective.

It’s a racket.

There is some PSAT/SAT/ACT score level that leads to mail from the Ivies. I don't know what it is but it's something like 1500 for the SAT.

It’s not a coincidence. High test scores get you lots of solicitations from fancy schools. Including ivies. But it has no relationship to whether you will get in. They want lots of applicants to boost their USNews rankings. Your zip code and test score makes you a likely APPLICANT. Nothing more.

Harvard needs Larla Smith in Fairfax. Now.

This year's 10th grade boy (Class of 27) is getting more mail than graduated (Class of 24) boy.

Difference probably is 1 AP 5 (APUSH) vs. 1 AP 4 (APUSH).

Or the colleges are fretting about the coming cohort shrinkage. But I don't think it's that big of a cliff for our area/my kid's grade.

Anonymous wrote:Rookie question here. My sophomore recently got a very high score in the PSAT. Is it coincidence that he’s now receiving marketing emails from very selective colleges or do they specifically target based on certain metrics like test scores?

Completely normal. My kid was contacted by small lacs you've never heard of and offered full ride scholarships because of his ACT score and because these schools valued Eagle Scouts

They cast very wide nets. Don’t read anything into getting a mailer from a specific school or level of school. No one is standing in an admissions dept. conference room screaming “Hurry! We have to get this postcard out to Larla Smith in Fairfax right now! She would be perfect for our next class!”

Schools buy lists based on PSAT metrics, zip codes, high schools, you name it. My kid got enough mail from a T10 to wallpaper their room, but they were far from being a competitive candidate.

Rookie question here. My sophomore recently got a very high score in the PSAT. Is it coincidence that he’s now receiving marketing emails from very selective colleges or do they specifically target based on certain metrics like test scores?