Admissions Representative's Puzzled Comment

[Revan2011]

I had a meeting with an admissions representative last week and at the end of the meeting he said that information from those meetings is documented and can actually influence admissions decisions.

Is this just something they say to make students feel valuable? I highly doubt they keep files on student's who haven't even applied. Perhaps one of the admissions experts here can comment on this.

Personally, I feel like it means nothing and the only thing that would be documented is if you were an enormous jerk, self absorbed and condescending, or gobbled like a turkey intermittently.

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[theWUbear]

When I had my medical school interview, the file my interviewer had contained every single correspondence I had had with the school. The first words out of his mouth were, "So it looks like you've met with Dr. [Dean of Admissions] quite a few times".

It is in the best interests of a medical school to gather information on future applicants, and it is in the best interests of a medical school to have such things on file to gauge an applicant's connection to a school, if retention is to be factored into the admissions decision

 

[LizzyM]

I have heard this about some undergrad institutions. I suspect that some schools want to keep their yield high (get acceptance of most of their offers) and so they favor applicants who demostrate "interest" through frequent contact, etc.

In particular, I would thing that schools that are often thought of as "safeties" would be in this boat. If they make offers to many people who are going to go elsewhere, their yield will be terrible and by the time they go to the waitlist, all the "really good" applicants will have gone elsewhere. So they need to make offers to people who will say "yes" and the best way to identify them is to tag people who have consistently demonstrated a genuine interest in the school (because of geographic or legacy ties or a particular interest in a special program or population served by the school).

 

[Revan2011]

I have heard this about some undergrad institutions. I suspect that some schools want to keep their yield high (get acceptance of most of their offers) and so they favor applicants who demostrate "interest" through frequent contact, etc.

In particular, I would thing that schools that are often thought of as "safeties" would be in this boat. If they make offers to many people who are going to go elsewhere, their yield will be terrible and by the time they go to the waitlist, all the "really good" applicants will have gone elsewhere. So they need to make offers to people who will say "yes" and the best way to identify them is to tag people who have consistently demonstrated a genuine interest in the school (because of geographic or legacy ties or a particular interest in a special program or population served by the school).

This is probably the case then. It is my state school and I go to their undergrad. They are high on my prospective school list so I have been speaking with the admissions reps each time they visit yearly (for 3 years now). Each time I gain some valuable insights on new issue I am confronting or question I have. I really hope they take notice of my interest!

They also email us a spreadsheet to fill out so that the admissions rep knows something about us prior to the meeting. I noticed my spread sheet was titled Last, First-3

I was the last appointment of the day so I doubt it was my position. It seems that they keep track considering 3 is the number of appointments I have had.