Demonstrating interest to colleges is extremely important. When you’re single and go on a date, expressing too much interest can be a bad thing. You want to play it cool. You don’t want to give away all your cards right away. You want the person you’re on a date with to wonder: “Does she like me? Does she want to go on another date with me? Am I too boring? Should I have brushed my hair a different way?” It’s that kind of second guessing that works wonders in the dating world. It’s part of the psychology of dating. But this approach does not — and we repeat does not — apply to highly selective college admissions. You cannot leave colleges guessing as to whether or not you actually like them, as to whether or not you’ll matriculate if admitted.

You must demonstrate your interest in colleges and, to do this most effectively, you’ve got to show rather than tell. You need to visit these schools. You need to write extremely specific Why College essays. The Why College essays of our students are, of course, outstanding. Any Why College essay than can be repurposed for multiple colleges is, by its nature, not effective as any admissions officer can see right through that. They know that you can just substitute their school’s name with another school’s name with a simple cut and paste. Sometimes, students accidentally even leave in the name of another school in a Why College essay. Oy vey is right.

Colleges want students who will attend. Their yield matters to them. We’ve had students who have earned admission to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton who we told weren’t going to get into Penn and Tufts because they didn’t visit. And, sure enough, that’s happened. If Tufts suspects that you will get into a school such as Harvard — and if you’ve never visited Tufts — they’ll deny you admission or waitlist you in the Regular Decision round. It happens all the time. Tufts is proud. And so too is every highly selective college. So show your interest and show it the right way.

We help our students do this all the time. If interested in our help, fill out our consultation form to get started. While we are not currently offering free consultations as the deadline for Regular Decision applications draws near, it’s the way to initiate learning about our services. And, while you’re here, read about the Interest Quotient.