I Like You, Do You Like Me? Understanding Demonstrated Interest
Deans of Admission are under pressure to enroll an exact number of students each year. They do this by factoring in what is called, Demonstrated Interest. Demonstrated Interest has proven to be a valuable tool to achieve this aim. One way for them to know that you are interested in attending their university is through demonstrated interest.
What is Demonstrated Interest
Most colleges want to know how likely you are to attend if admitted. They gauge this likelihood by tracking your contact information with the college and assessing the sincerity of your interest. The degree to which you show your interest can be a key factor for colleges that look beyond your grades and scores. Keep in mind that demonstrated interest is less of a factor for universities that are highly selective. These universities assume all applicants are highly interested in attending because of their reputation and level of selectivity.
Why Do Universities Track Demonstrated Interest
Applying for colleges through the Common Application makes it easy for a student to apply to many schools without much extra effort. Increasingly students, who are aiming for the most selective schools, are treating their applications like lottery tickets. While this often doesn’t work, they believe that applying to many universities will boost their chances of getting admitted.
Are There Some Schools that Do Not Track Demonstrated Interest
There are some colleges that do not track whether or not students have contact with the university because they enjoy very high admission yields. In other words, these universities aren’t worrying that a lot of accepted students are going to reject their college admissions offer.
What is Admissions Yield and Why is it Important
Yield in college admissions is the percent of students who choose to enroll in a particular college or university after having been offered admission. As a statistical measure, it has been used by college rating services as a measure of selectivity, such that a higher yield rate is a sign of a more selective college.
How Can You Discover if a University Considers Demonstrated Interest
Demonstrated interest isn’t just an issue for students wanting to attend highly selective schools. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 50% of four-year colleges say they view demonstrated interest as having “considerable importance” or “moderate importance” on admission decisions. The good news is that you do not need to guess whether schools want applicants to show them some that they are interested.
An easy way to determine if a school uses demonstrated interest in its admission decisions is to review how individual colleges rate 19 admission factors; specifically “Level of Applicant’s Interest.”
Each school is asked to rate the 19 admission factors in these four categories:
Very important
Important
Considered
Not considered
Once you are on the website, do the following:
Type in the name of the school.
Click on its Admissions hyperlink.
Scroll down to the Selection of Students heading.
* Look in each of the four columns to see where the X for “Level of Applicant’s Interest” is
Specific Ways to Show Demonstrated Interest to a University
Once you know this is important in the decision making factor, you can begin to do the following:
If You Are In the 9th, 10th or 11th Grades
Reach out to your college admission representative
Apply early decision
Join a school’s Facebook, Instagram or Twitter page and engage with the content
Talk with current students
Request literature from a school’s website.
Fill out a school’s interest card at a college fair.
