It’s true in 2025, just as it was true in 1993. Call it a rite of passage but come junior and senior year of high school, no walk outside to the mailbox would be complete without returning home with a glossy college brochure.

Many students (and their parents) believe that when a college sends a brochure, it is interested in offering you admission, so they cannot help but wish to jump up and down to celebrate. But do college brochures mean anything?

What Does It Mean When Colleges Send You Mail?

While we at Ivy Coach hate to burst bubbles, we are also well known for telling it like it is. Receiving a brochure from a college does not in any way indicate that the college is interested in admitting you. Instead, receiving a brochure from a college only means that the school wants you to apply.

Why? Because the more students who apply, the lower the school’s admission rate will be, and the higher the school will be ranked in the all-important US News & World Report ranking. That’s right. Colleges — even our nation’s most elite colleges — want anyone and everyone to apply. Mailing out brochures is their little way of expressing this desire.

Do Colleges Send Brochures to Everyone?

They would if they could! Students who take the PSAT, SAT, or ACT and indicate that they’d like to receive college mailings on these tests’ questionnaires will receive college brochures. These brochures could be in the form of postcards, letters, teddy bears — you name it.

While our nation’s most highly selective colleges tend not to snail mail their extensive, thick catalogs as they did 20 years ago (these are costly), it hasn’t stopped colleges from sending smaller mailings in the digital age.

Also, once students complete the ’Personal Information’ section on The Common Application (and add specific colleges to their ’My Colleges’ section), they receive emails and snail mail from those schools. Sneaky, right?

Similarly, when a student attends a college’s virtual information session, completes a college/career-related survey, fills out a college’s online contact form, schedules or attends a campus visit, or submits a college application, this can all trigger a college to send out snail mail, too.

Which Colleges Send the Most Mailings?

Among the highly selective colleges, we’re sometimes asked which schools send out the most mailings. And while we don’t keep data on this subject (why would we?), we’ve got a good guess. The winner?

Washington University in St. Louis! Boy, does WashU love sending out mailings to prospective students. And the runner-up in the category? We award second place to the University of Chicago. Also in the conversation: Duke University, Stanford University, and the eight Ivy League institutions.

How to Turn a Brochure Into an Acceptance Letter

So receiving a college brochure means little more than the fact that they have your mailing address. How does one turn this small gesture into something greater — an offer of admission?

You’ve already made a wise choice by researching college admissions and turning to Ivy Coach. 

Our team of former elite college admissions officers has worked in highly selective offices, splitting hairs between incredibly competitive students, so we understand what distinguishes those who receive the brochure from those who wind up with the acceptance letter.

To get started in optimizing your child’s odds of admission to the highly selective school of their choice, simply fill out our complimentary consultation form. We’ll outline our services for prospective applicants and students of all types, from middle school through high school seniors.