CONTACT WITH COLLEGES (A.K.A DEMONSTRATED INTEREST)
Student contact with colleges, or the new buzz concept used by colleges to describe it, “demonstrated interest,” has become a big issue in the past few years. Mostly used by private colleges, the term, “demonstrated interest,” is defined as both the quantity and quality of contact students have with colleges, contact that indicates students’ perceived likelihood to enroll should they be offered admission to a college.

Obviously, the ultimate in “demonstrated interest” is applying Early Action Single Choice or Early Decision to a college.

In the old days, colleges simply admitted the best applicants they could, irrespective of any contact the students had with the schools. Turns out that many admitted students turned down less competitive schools for so-called more desirable, competitive ones. That wasn’t such a big deal even a few years back, but in today’s competitive world, it is. Being turned down by students is becoming increasingly unacceptable to colleges because it affects their “yield rate,” (the percentage of accepted applicants who actually enroll in a college compared to the number of acceptances offered.) So a new trend among less competitive colleges is to turn down some of the best applicants they get - particularly if they have not bothered to “demonstrate interest” - for less qualified students who the colleges think will accept their bid to enroll.

adMISSION POSSIBLE® TIP! You want your top choices to know that they are top choices. Some kind of contact with every college to which you apply is a good idea.

THE DEAL ABOUT ADMISSIONS YIELD RATES
Yield rates are used by colleges 1) as important statistics they report to college ranking groups, 2) as highly touted statistics appearing in public relations pieces in their college guidebooks and alumni bulletins, or to share with Boards of Trustees; 3) as a recruitment tool to attract new faculty and administrators. Even bond-rating agencies pay attention to yield rates when making decisions as to how good an investment a college is. That’s why colleges care about yield rates.