Dozens of colleges are likely visiting your high school this fall to give pitches about their schools and why you should apply.
If you go to a college fair, you’ll probably see over 100 colleges perched behind their tables eager to tell you about their schools.
If you took the PSAT this fall and checked the box indicating that you would like to hear from potential colleges, your mailbox is going to fill with fancy brochures from colleges this spring in the hopes of enticing you to apply.
And if you'd joined us at the National Association of College Admissions Counseling’s annual conference this month, you could have strolled through the exhibitor hall and seen dozens (and dozens) of marketing companies offering their services to colleges to help them reach and attract students. And none of those tables were without visitors.
What do you think that all means?
There are over 2,000 colleges in the country and only about 40 of them have the luxury of rejecting droves of kids with perfect grades and test scores. The rest need the right students to fill their classes and dorms next fall. They’re working—and paying—for the chance to reach you, to interest you, and frankly, to get you.
The only folks for whom this isn’t a buyer’s market are the people who are convinced that the schools with far too many potential customers are the only colleges worth considering.