College Mail PSA
college and career
By Daniel Ein Alshaeba, 2025
Published 12/6/2023
A few weeks after taking the PSAT, freshmen and sophomores may begin to see letters from colleges with their names. Most of these letters are from lesser-known schools and liberal arts colleges, however, there may occasionally be an enticing letter from a top-20 school. As exciting as a letter from Harvard may be, it unfortunately is no guarantee of admission. In reality, this mail is often little more than an advertisement. Colleges that are part of the Student Search Service do not even see the exact score a student receives following a College Board exam. In reality, they see less specific metrics, such as percentile and what score bracket a student lands in. The chief goal of many of these colleges is not necessarily to imply guaranteed admission but to leave the college lingering in the minds of a student.
Standardized tests themselves are playing a diminishing role in college admissions as well. In addition to becoming test-optional, an increasing number of highly-competitive colleges are giving standardized tests a lower priority than other enrollment criteria such as essays and letters of recommendation, according to their common data sets, which universities publish to give detailed insight on information such as
This by no means implies that the score is meaningless, however, as strong SAT performance, which can be foreshadowed by a good PSAT score, can somewhat help in the college application process. Regardless, there are a plethora of other ways to impress colleges during applications. Grades and classes, for instance, are arguably the most important factor in college admissions. To add, involvement in extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs, or school newspapers, are all ways to demonstrate commitment outside of the classroom. To some colleges, students' demonstrated interest can play an integral role in acceptance. This can be shown by signing up for a college’s email list and attending virtual events, directly emailing admissions officers with questions, and going on college tours.