How Important Is Demonstrated Interest?

[socialring]Demonstrated interest: How interested are you in a college, and how have you demonstrated that interest? Say you are a junior interested in College A. You filled out a form online asking a question or for more information. You followed it up with a visit. During the visit, you asked if you could stay for a bit and chat with the admissions rep who handles your region. Months later, that rep visits your high school. You go to that visit, ask a question, and go up to the rep and remind him/her that you met before. You apply to College A. You take advantage of the alumni interview in your area that College A offers. When your application is received, College A sends you confirmation, and a link to open an account to track your application. You open the account, and go back and check it often.

This is demonstrated interest. Many schools track it; most love it. In fact, about half of all institutions attach “considerable” or “moerdate” importance to demonstrated interest in their admissions decisions. In a recent webinar for members of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), Lafayette College regional admissions director Ed Devine answered questions about the purpose of and importance of demonstrated interest.

First, let’s note who doesn’t measure demonstrated interest in the least. It will not surprise anyone to learn that the highest-tier schools in difficulty place no importance upon it: Ivy League schools, Stanford, Duke, and the ilk. Clearly, everybody who applies to these schools has a high degree of interest. The other category of schools that doesn’t track are the large state schools. U-Cal-Berkeley had 82,000 applications this year; with UCLA in the same ballpark. The UC’s and other mega-schools are not able to factor in number of visits and don’t offer interviews. International universities also do not factor in demonstrated interest.

But this does not mean that very selective smaller schools don’t take it into account—Devine, whose school, Lafayette, is in this category, said that they do.

Here are some of his tips on how to make demonstrated interest count:

• When they send you an email, open it; many measure this
• Don’t overdo your interest by sending repeated emails or becoming a stalker
• Do treat every college on your list as if they were number one on your list
• Schools are looking not only at yield (whether you actually come once admitted) as well as freshman year retention: Devine says those who are more engaged in the process show the maturity to suggest they have the fortitude to push themselves through
• Send follow-up emails to admissions reps as a thank you and a reminder of your interest
• Even though big state schools say they don’t factor in DI, it doesn’t hurt to follow up a high school visit with an email; or let the rep know you have visited over the summer and are looking forward to meeting them at your high school in the fall.
• After a deferral, follow up emails can definitely keep you in the game.