Writing thank-you notes, etc. to admissions folks...

[JFSinIL]

where your student is NOT attending. DS has agreed to write a letter praising the efforts of the Illinois Wesleyan admission counselor who has tried so hard to get him to come to that school. Meetings, phone calls, emails, letters - she really worked hard. Had financial aid cooperated more, it would have worked, too. I figured it would be a nice gesture to write a letter and send it to the head of admissions, praising her work and clarifying that it was finances that made ds choose the other rival school.

 

Is anyone else doing this for college staff that went above and beyond???

[Michelle in MO]

where your student is NOT attending. DS has agreed to write a letter praising the efforts of the Illinois Wesleyan admission counselor who has tried so hard to get him to come to that school. Meetings, phone calls, emails, letters - she really worked hard. Had financial aid cooperated more, it would have worked, too. I figured it would be a nice gesture to write a letter and send it to the head of admissions, praising her work and clarifying that it was finances that made ds choose the other rival school.

 

Is anyone else doing this for college staff that went above and beyond???

JFS, I'm very impressed! I had not even considered this, but this seems like the right thing to do. These admissions counselors work very hard to recruit good students for the schools. Some gesture of appreciation would mean something.

 

Thank you for this suggestion. I'm going to have my daughter do this, once she finally makes a decision! :)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I like this idea, especially if she is paid admissions staff. I hope that he also sent her a thank you note.

 

I interviewed about 8 students for my alma mater and only had one who sent even an email thanking me for my time.

[Musicmom]

I think this is a really good idea, and because of this thread, I had my ds do this last week when he sent his notifications.

 

For one school, he never really saw or worked with anyone in admissions (no interview or anything), but we had personalized the application to be specific to that school, it was very selective, and the offer of admission meant a lot. So he included a hand-written thank-you note to the admissions office with his reply-card.

 

With the other school, he had interviewed last spring with a person in admissions, who was very friendly and encouraging. She even remembered him a year later this spring when we saw her at a special event at the university, and she had sent a couple of handwritten university postcards offering to answer any questions or provide any assistance ds might need. She was really, really nice... So after mailing the basic notification form back to the admissions office, ds sent her a personal email letting her know his decision, that the form was on its way, and thanking her for all she had done. She sent back a very warm and kind reply... I think she really appreciated it.

 

In both thank-you's ds explained his decision--not in any detail, but basically let them know that he had liked the school very much, the choice had not been easy, and that the school he chose was just the best fit for him personally--all of which was true.

 

We feel really good about having done this. THANK YOU much for this thread!