How do colleges gauge student interest?

During COVID-19, it is practically impossible for students to travel to a college in order to demonstrate their interest in attending. However, colleges have other methods to determine how serious a student is about attending their school.

A recent article discusses Jeffrey Selingo’s research for his book about who gets in to certain colleges and why, revealing that colleges may be able to track which students open emails from them and even how long they spend reading those emails. Selingo describes that colleges have software designed to measure demonstrated interest by students. They can even track searches a student performs on the college’s website, which allows the college to send them personalized communication based on their interests.

Some college’s even place more importance on a student’s interest in the school than their academic performance and recommendations. They do this because they do not want to admit students who are inclined to go to a more selective school, since this can affect their national ranking by decreasing their yield rate - the number of students who accept admittance to the school.

This is why engaging online with the schools you apply to is so important. Open their emails and send replies to their messages, ask questions on their website or through email or phone, and search on their website for aspects of the college that interest you!

Remember, by showing your interest to a college, you are also increasing their interest in you.

For the full article and more information about how colleges decide who to admit, click this link below: