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- The college mail starts streaming in soon after taking the PSAT. Simply by filling in a few bubbles and signing your name, you’ve gotten yourself into something much more than you bargained for. When you gave the College Board permission to distribute your information to schools at the beginning of your PSAT, you really weren’t thinking that there would be any consequences. The decision that indicated your top choices for a future career are now dictating your mail and emails for at least the next two years, even though chances are your selection of brain surgeon or park ranger were completely on a whim.
- At a time when you’re constantly questioning whether you can even get into college, it’s great to come home to a stack of envelopes of colleges claiming that they’d be the perfect fit for you; that you are the type of student they are looking for; that they would be honored to have a student as fabulous as you attending their school. While it’s nice to get a self-esteem boost everyday, you begin to realize that you’re not the only one these schools are pursuing, and you feel a bit played.
- Once you get past the initial self-esteem boost, you realize that an entire forest must be being killed in your name. Almost every single piece of college mail I get, I recycle, but the waste is still incredibly excessive. Especially when they send the same letter via email: who do these colleges think they are to generate so much waste? This is the 21st century; we all have an email, and many of us would like the rainforests to stay intact.
- College mail gives no relevant information. It tells you to check your email for tips and tricks and maybe a survey. Where is the stuff I care about, though? How about tuition, average financial aid, a breakdown of the ethnicities of the student body, or the school’s ranking, just to name a few pertinent facts that may actually influence me if I’m interested in a school?
- If a school is of interest, I will Google it. I most likely won’t even open the envelope, as the choice of which schools I Google is purely based on the name, font, colors, or picture they use. In the case of colleges, it’s all about the name and location. A letter isn’t necessary; if I’m interested in your school, I’ll find it on one of the hundreds of lists available online.
- College mail is the equivalent of that obnoxious friend who asks you every day for the homework (as if you’ve done the homework) or in this case, as if you are going to read every “5 tips for standing out to admission officers” that colleges send you. Please chill, @allcolleges.
- During junior year, I’d prefer not to be reminded daily that I have no clue what I’m doing with my future or my life after high school. College mail is really great at ignoring this fact, and has no problem piling the pressure on.
