Juniors start recieving letters from colleges saying “Hey you are exactly the sort of student we want!” Feels pretty good right? Only….it is a bit of a lie. One of my students claims a certain ivy league college has been stalking him for almost a year. He told him that he is over them…but thy still keep writing…and writing…and writing.

“Prospective students and their parents probably do not realize that many colleges, Reed among them, sometimes contract out the writing of the search letter to direct mail firms skilled at crafting catchy phrases…I suspect that prospective students and their parents wonder sometimes whether admission deans are educators or sales managers. We can seem like masters of the bait and switch.”

But then again maybe they do love…they just do not know it.