TravelingChris Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Okay I will admit it, dd did not do well on the PSAT. She particularly did not do well on the math section. So why in the world is she getting college mail from tech and engineering schools? She marked undecided for her major. But even if she had marked engineering, a below average math score should not be particularly attractive to an engineering school. We aren't worried since it just turns out that dd is particularly not well suited to the SAT and particularly well suited to the ACT. Her practice math scores on the ACT have been much better and her composite tremendously better. But it still begs the question- why would any engineering school be interested in a child not asking about it and having a 47% score in math? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 Colleges love to attract applicants they can turn down. A low acceptance rate bumps them up in the selectivity rankings. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Honestly, I think they just get a pool of names that marked "undecided" and jump right in, bebopping and scattin' all over the place, sending out those brochures and letters. Ooo--I think I'll put that in my siggy--"Beboppin' and scattin' all over the place..." :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 We're getting them too...mostly from schools that are a tier or two out of reach. I'm a little cynical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 Colleges love to attract applicants they can turn down. A low acceptance rate bumps them up in the selectivity rankings. Barb That is just mean, they scout you to turn you down, how crushing is that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 That is just mean, they scout you to turn you down, how crushing is that. I remember going through this with my older daughter 3-4 years ago and reading an essay asserting exactly that. On one hand it really ticked me off, but on the other hand, awareness made it easier for her to keep things in perspective. We found out that the literature is essentially meaningless. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 LOL! I was just coming here to post a similar question. Although ds (11th) did quite well on the PSAT (192), he is nowhere near Brown University potential IMO. We have been getting all sorts of letters from those classified as "most selective" schools (Brown, University of Chicago, Washington University at St. Louis). I was wondering if they were just sending these in the hopes of getting our hopes up and having us fork over the application fees! With all the budget cut backs, they could do quite well on application fees :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-FL Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 We can't figure out how/why dd#2 is getting e-mails @ my address. She took the ACT a year ago (sent to no-one), didn't take the PSAT, the cc has her addy (so it's not coming through them). . .The only thing we can figure is the ACT from where I registered her or from when dd#1 was in the process & they ask for younger siblings names & ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted February 19, 2010 Author Share Posted February 19, 2010 Well both the ACT and SAT also have college searches for people who took their test. It is a box you check or not check. I don't remember if the automatic setting is mail or no mail. Some things you have to opt out of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 LOL! I was just coming here to post a similar question. Although ds (11th) did quite well on the PSAT (192), he is nowhere near Brown University potential IMO. We have been getting all sorts of letters from those classified as "most selective" schools (Brown, University of Chicago, Washington University at St. Louis). I was wondering if they were just sending these in the hopes of getting our hopes up and having us fork over the application fees! With all the budget cut backs, they could do quite well on application fees :D I wonder if it's a function of demographics. Lots of tech/engineering schools desperately want to attract more girls so they reach out to young ladies who mark "undecided". I'm also just guessing here, but maybe Brown University (in Rhode Island) is looking for more students from OK? Or maybe they are just looking to boost numbers of applications as someone else said. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halftime Hope Posted February 19, 2010 Share Posted February 19, 2010 to make themselves look better. One of the colleges dd looked at had a very low acceptance rate, which just didn't make sense with their average freshman SAT scores. For that low an acceptance rate, I'd have expected a much higher median 50th percentile SAT score range in the freshman class, by comparison with other, similar schools. Turns out they had hired a emailing service to contact students and were getting a lot more applicants using the new service, many of whom were not really interested in the school but were just doing it because they could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photo Ninja Posted February 20, 2010 Share Posted February 20, 2010 My dd has not been experiencing what you have experienced, but we keep laughing at her college mail, received from taking the ACT. She listed her major. She has no plans to change that major. Only about 10% of the universities that are contacting her offer her major. Why are they wasting their time and money emailing her and sending her so much advertising? She just laughs and throws it away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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