Demonstrated Interest: Showing Colleges the Love

You've found your best match colleges, filled out the applications, and written thoughtful essays. You've sent your test scores and transcripts and gently nagged your harried teachers until they submitted their recommendation letters. That should be it, right? Check those things off your list, and your college application work is done.

But some colleges are interested in more than your academic and personal accomplishments -- they want to know how much you like them. They track what's called demonstrated interest, or the different ways you show just how much you care about becoming a student at their school. This can be useful information for colleges, because it benefits them to accept students who will will seriously consider attending if they are offered admission.

Demonstrating interest might feel like one more task in the already crazy and complicated process of applying to college. It's definitely work, but it's an opportunity to communicate to your favorite colleges that you are serious about becoming a part of their community.

So how can you show colleges that they're not just an afterthought you decided to throw on your Common App at 11:55 on the night of the deadline? You don't need to overdo it, of course, but if a college is high on your list, here are some ways to communicate your true feelings.

Super Quick & Easy 

• When a college you care about sends you an email, open it. It seems a little creepy, but yes, they are keeping track of your opens. 
• Take surveys they send and watch their videos. Again, creepy, but they're paying attention. 
• Social media. Follow and like.  

A Little More Effort

• Reach out to admissions offices by email to ask questions (but make sure they're genuine and not just things you can get answers to on the website). After you've established a connection with someone, be sure to send a follow up message when you apply, thanking them and letting them know that your application is headed their way.
• Have a major in mind and want to know more? Contact academic departments with your questions. Office staff (and sometimes even professors) are happy to help. Do the follow up thing here as well. 
• Want to make a real impression? Use the telephone to make your contacts. A conversation often feels a lot more personal than an email and will help people at the college really see you as a human who has the enough genuine interest (and courage) to make actual live contact. 

Really Going for It

• Go meet admissions officers in person. Most colleges share their travel schedules on their websites. You can often meet them at college fairs in your area or at info sessions at your high school. Be sure to introduce yourself, ask any questions you have, and get their cards. A follow up email or call can help them remember you when application time rolls around.
• Visit campuses. Of course, this can involve a lot of time and money, and colleges certainly don't expect that you can make these trips. But if it's possible, an extended campus visit where you take a tour, attend an info session, sit in on some classes, meet admissions officers and students, and experience the life of the campus and surrounding area is the best way to figure out if a college is right for you. If you can make a visit happen, be sure to sign up for the tour and info session online ahead of time or at the start of the tour...because (no surprise) the college is keeping track. Side note: If a college is within two hours' driving distance from your home, there's no excuse not to visit. You'll just seem lazy and indifferent, which is not attractive. 

Once you've demonstrated that interest, how do you make sure the colleges know about it? Personal connections will obviously be remembered (and noted in your application file), and the wonders (terrors?) of technology monitor most of the other contacts. You might also be given the option to list your "contacts" with a college on the application itself by checking off the ways you've learned about the school and noting the dates of visits and names of connections. Craftily working your efforts into an essay response is another way to provide evidence.

Not every college tracks demonstrated interest (large state college systems like the University of California and California State University, for example, can't be bothered), but increasing numbers of private and smaller colleges are eager to figure out how much they mean to you.  

So if you really do love a college, go ahead and show it; those clicks and calls could play an important part in bringing the two of you together.