As we’ve mentioned in our previous blog posts on this topic, we always suggest doing your best to figure out your school’s stance on demonstrated interest before you go to great lengths to prove that you want to go there. As you’ll see in this blog post, there are many schools that no longer consider demonstrated interest as an important factor in their application process. None of this means that you shouldn’t demonstrate interest if it’s in your means to do so, but we think it’s important to shed light on how the admission process works. And because things like going on a school tour or attending a summer program don’t guarantee admission, it’s important that you spend your time wisely.
Based on some of the questions that we’ve received, it seems that demonstrating interest is sometimes viewed as more important than actually getting to know the schools you’re applying to. When we work with juniors and sophomores, we start the research process online. We suggest you do the same. It’s a great way to get a better view of the collegiate landscape, to find out what you’re looking for, and to create a basis for comparison. If you’ve already found your dream school, and you’re ready to demonstrate interest, check out the list below.
Ways To Demonstrate Interest:
Go on a school tour (and give them your information)
Attend an admissions information session
Go to events on campus
Schedule an interview (if it’s available)
Reach out to a regional representative and/or alumni from your town
Attend a summer program at the college
Sign up for a webinar (if you can’t attend a tour)
Email the admissions office **with a SPECIFIC question**
Apply early decision or early action
Introduce yourself to a representative at your college fair
Put yourself on the email list (and actually open the emails)
Call your department of interest and ask for information about specific offerings (example: contacting the English department at Brown to ask about tracks, classes, or opportunities)
Contact professors and pitch yourself as their research assistant, or ask for an informational phone call
Anything else that puts you on their radar
As you can see, this list is long. Should you do everything listed above? No. That’s not a realistic goal and it would be a poor use of your time. While we did our best to curate this list internally, there are other ways to demonstrate interest. We advise you to be creative, but not to waste your time and the time of people who are working at these colleges. You should not be calling to introduce yourself, or emailing anyone if don’t have a genuine question.
We would be remiss not to mention that perhaps the strongest way to demonstrate interest is to write a stellar “Why X College” supplement. It might be helpful to reframe the process and think of demonstrating interest as a way to gather information for your written application. Writing “I toured Cornell and loved the campus and buildings” will not do much (read: anything) for your candidacy. But if you really do the work of familiarizing yourself with the school before you apply, you’ll have plenty to write about in your application.
If you’re not sure where to start, contact us here.