In this episode, Sylvia Borgo and I discuss how a student’s demonstrated interest in a college can create an admission advantage for your teen and how you can determine which colleges don’t care about demonstrated interest. Sylvia also shares how she advises high school students to consider the value demonstrating interest brings to their college-bound journey.

EPISODE NOTES

The second half of 10th grade is the ‘sweet spot’ for your teen to start their research on colleges, starting perhaps with schools in your area. And if your family has not started by junior year, it’s time to get hustling!

Demonstrated interest is when your teen engages with a college prior to applying. Many colleges track how much your student demonstrates interest. From a college’s standpoint, they want your student to engage as they know they are more likely to attend if admitted. Therefore, for colleges that do track demonstrated interest, your teen’s engagement with them can lead to an admission advantage. If you want to find out if a college doesn’t care or track demonstrated interest, look at the common data set, section C-7. When tracking demonstrated interest the colleges are checking whether you are engaging and responding to the communications they send, visiting their website, opening the emails they send, visiting their campus, and more. This metric helps colleges understand if you are serious about attending their institution.
Other ways for demonstrating interest include getting on the school’s mailing list, visiting the college, or meeting with a regional rep when they visit your high school. You can also have your teen write an email to the rep. They must do it themselves because the colleges can tell when the parents write the email. The colleges want to hear from your student. Your teen will get excited when they hear back from a regional rep or professor!

Alternatively, suppose your student is overwhelmed with mail after taking the PSAT. In that case, you can make it a weekly task to unsubscribe to all emails from colleges they aren’t interested in for whatever reason. From your student's standpoint, showing demonstrated interest is part of the process of making an informed decision on where to go to college.

Links mentioned in this episode

Launch College & Career Clarity Course

How-to video: Demonstrated Interest: How to find it on the Common Data Set

Get your email templates: Tips for Sending Student Emails that get a Reply

Sylvia on Instagram 

DJ Educational Consulting on FB

Sylvia on LinkedIn

Timeline

[0:38] Intro
[2:43] What is demonstrated interest
[3:34] Why Colleges use demonstrated interest
[4:35] Why admissions look lower than they used to 
[6:19] Ways to demonstrate interest 
[8:10] Campus visits & pre-prep for regional rep visits. 

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