Parent Questions Answered: Demonstrated Interest

Parent Questions Answered: Demonstrated Interest

This week I got an excellent question from a parent as her junior preps to visit colleges over spring break.

“Should we be emailing professors or trying to get people at the admissions office to learn [my student’s] name while we’re visiting schools over the next few months? How much research should she do before visiting each school? She’s been so busy that she hasn’t had any time.”

What I tell my families about this part of the process (school visits and reaching out to professors) is that it's better to reach out only if the student is very prepared and has a specific question to ask. The vast majority of the time professors don't have any say in admissions: the reason for reaching out should really be to clarify specific opportunities at the school/has a specific question. "Demonstrated interest" is better shown through going to talks/info sessions sponsored by the college!

This past year one of my students had a massive panic attack (not exaggerating here) because, as she was applying to UPenn, another girl from her school reached out to a professor and the professor liked her so much that he wrote a letter to the admissions committee for her. And she still didn't get in, while my student did! It's totally understandable to want to give a student every possible advantage during the process, but this actually isn't the best way to leverage that: better to visit the school in a happy, relaxed state of mind, dreaming of going to school there and auditing a class or two, than to try to craft a perfect question for a professor before the application is in.

If a student applies to a school but gets deferred, or gets into several and is trying to decide between them, then consider reaching out to professors, but again, only with specific questions. Because then we have leverage and something to talk about!

As far as researching schools goes, not a single one of my juniors has had the brain space to dive into that process yet: everybody's sick or studying for the SAT and AP exams right now. If you haven’t done this yet, you’re not behind! What I would recommend is, if you’re taking a trip to visit schools, at least try and get a sense of each school from their website before you go. And take lots of notes when you’re there: they all blend together after several visits!

Some students do book sessions with me in spring of junior year to help research schools, which helps the process go much faster and allows me to show them how to dig into college websites, but it’s not strictly necessary. Just take good notes on the schools for me so that you have something to write about for the “why our school” supplementals!

"Parent Questions Answered: Demonstrated Interest"