Demonstrated Interest: Why Opening That College Email Might Matter More Than You Think
Demonstrated interest is a term that now plays a role in the admissions world in a way not possible a few decades ago. According to a recent survey by the National Association of College Admission Counseling, about 1 in 6 colleges rank demonstrated interest as having "considerable importance" in their admissions decisions. But many people entering that college search process have no idea what demonstrated interest means and why (or when) it matters.
Factors in Admission
Below are the various factors taken into account for admissions decisions, as reported by CollegeData.com. Each college assigns different levels of importance to each factor. For example, there are some colleges for which a relationship with an alumnus (a.k.a. legacy admissions) can boost the chances of admission, whereas it isn't a factor at other universities. For colleges that are "test blind", standardized tests is ranked "not considered", whereas "test optional" schools mark them "considered", but not "very important." In a previous blog, I wrote about the top two factors on this list, and the importance of understanding how a college prioritizes the balance between rigor and GPA. For colleges that rank both as very important, a perfect GPA without rigor isn't as impressive as a high GPA with good rigor (APs, IBs, etc.).
The factor I am focusing on in this blog is about halfway down the list—Level of Applicant's interest. The example below is Tulane's page on CollegeData.com Tulane is a great example of a college that considers demonstrated interest to be an important factor in admissions decisions. In Tulane's case, they rank the "Level of Applicant's Interest" as important. This means that how many emails you open, how many times you reach out to the admissions department, whether or not you visit campus, how much (and for how long) you explore the website are factors in the decision to accept you.
Tulane considers demonstrated interest as "important" for several reasons, with one of the main reasons being yield.
Wait, what, you might be saying. What is yield?!? Well, let me take a detour and explain.
Tracking Clicks, Protecting Yield
It should come as no surprise in the current age that electronic moves made by a student can be tracked by a university. They can track if and how quickly an email is opened; their "bounce rate" (whether they visit more than one webpage during their visit); how often they visit the website and how consistent their activity. For some colleges, this can just be helpful information--for others it makes a difference when making admissions decisions. However, to make sense of this, it's important to first understand "yield rates." (And I'm sorry for throwing so much jargon at you in one blog post).
As the number of applications submitted per student has skyrocketed in the past decade, yield rates have become more important as colleges try to balance their incoming first year class. A yield rate is the number of admitted students who accept enroll at the institution. This means that colleges are trying to hit a particular number for their incoming class, but if too many or too few accepted students enroll...there's a problem come fall. One way colleges have tried to predict who will enroll is to track demonstrated interest. For example, consider how an admissions office might view a very well qualified applicant who doesn't spend much time on the university website, responding to emails, visiting campus, or attending a college visit at their high school. While they would be a great candidate for admission, this might indicate to a college that the student views them as a "safety school" (I'd like to take this opportunity to reiterate my dislike of this problematic term). In order to protect their yield rate, a college might choose to reject a candidate they believe is unlikely to attend. Crazy, but true.
"When schools believe they are being used as a backup, they use deferrals, waitlists, and even outright rejections to protect their yield rates...By deferring [a student], admissions officers could wait and see how much interest [they] would show in the months between early and regular admissions by visiting campus or attending virtual admissions events--and then, if [they seem] serious, offer [them] a spot."
Jeffrey Selingo, Dream College, pg. 38-39
Why would they do this? Because yield=prestige and stability. "For colleges and universities, yield is an institutional status symbol and signal of financial strength." (Selingo, 37). Protecting the yield has become a crucial element in the college admissions game. If a college miscalculates its yield, the impact can be substantial.
Too few accepted applicants enroll...it takes a toll on the financial bottom line of the university.
Too many accepted applicants enroll...resources are stretched too thin.
Tulane: A Case Study in Yield Protection
Now let's return to the example of Tulane I was explaining before my brief detour. In the current college search and admissions process, a hierarchy of colleges has appeared (if you'd like to hear my thoughts on the problems with rankings, I wrote a blog about it, but I digress). Tulane is not considered to be at the top of the hierarchy, but has established itself as a very good, selective school. The result is that it has become a backup on a lot of people's college lists. This means that they would be happy to attend Tulane, but only if they don't get into their first choice schools. The Tulane admissions department is aware of this and, in an effort to protect yield, have been known to reject well-qualified candidates that they suspect won't enroll if they are accepted somewhere else. How would they know if they are a first choice or back-up choice? Demonstrated interest gives them a big clue. A student who is very qualified but hasn't spent much time on their website, responded to emails, or visited their campus, won't appear to have a lot of interest in Tulane. For them, this indicates that they are a back-up school. However, a well-qualified student who has visited the campus, reached out to the admissions department, attended and asked questions during the Tulane session at their high school, and consistently browsed the website, indicates to the admissions department that the student has a high level of interest in the school and is likely to enroll if accepted.
Long story short, if you are interested in a particular college, check out whether or not they factor demonstrated interest into their admissions decisions. If they do, get on their mailing list, read their emails, ask the admissions department questions, visit the campus if you can. All of this goes a long way to showing that they are the college for you.
