How To Show Demonstrated Interest With Colleges
Written by Lynne Fuller
When applying to college, many schools track demonstrated interest through a variety of modalities: email tracking and ping data, college visit registrations, high school visits, and college fairs, inquiry cards, interaction with your local admission counselor, and your application.
Many articles explain how to engage with each of these elements, but, in this piece, I wanted to show students how to authentically communicate their whole selves to a school rather than simply write contrived emails to admissions counselors or share their excitement for a school that was manufactured….after all learning about a school benefits you to really lean in and learn more.
Step One: Research
The first step is to spend time on the college’s website researching news articles that relate to your interests. Here you can witness the latest information about the community environment and the success that a school is having with its graduates.
When you click on the page it will generally ask if you accept cookies; say yes! This is part of the ping data that they will collect on you in order to see what you are engaging with.
Thereafter you want to head to majors and look for areas of interest that you wish to pursue, click and explore for more specifics looking into where students intern, study abroad, what companies hire graduates, and what news is coming from that program. It is also important to click on the course progressions to see the specific lessons and learning outcomes that they hope for you to achieve, the harder a school makes it to see your learning outcomes feels like a sign.
Step Two: Information Sessions
Once you have learned initial information about the school and potential program opportunities it is time to sign up for a virtual information session. It takes time and money to physically visit a school, so this is the best way to learn about an institution before making a deeper commitment to step foot on campus.
During these sessions, admissions representatives will offer overviews of student life, career services, scholarship opportunities, research, and other programming. It is important to pay attention to the talk and evaluate if the programs offered and opportunities discussed connect with your aspirations.
Step Three: Creating Connections
It is even more vital to grab the attention of the speaker at the end of the talk…why?…because you want to try to connect with students who align with your interests and hear from them. This is a terrific opportunity to follow up with an email, thank the speaker for their talk, discuss what you are interested in pursuing, and share how you foresee yourself engaging in their school environment, but it is also an opportunity to connect with a similar profile student to understand their firsthand experience.
Asking to connect with a current student is the million-dollar question because it demonstrates your interest to genuinely connect rather than rely on connecting with colleges on social media like Google, Instagram, or TikTok. Your gut will help guide you that you are connecting with a space or place or not, so use this opportunity to forge a relationship and determine if the campus hits the points you are looking for.
Step Four: Create Your Values List
After researching a few schools, it is important to make a list of your needs: housing, social life, internship opportunities, study abroad, activities, school spirit, proximity to a town or city, and where is your closest Trader Joe’s. When you make more personal connections with schools, you will have your values list to help guide you on whether a school meets your needs.
Screenshots from reels you watch or real life photos can also help capture your feelings about a school. Now when you set up tours and campus visits you will have notes from your initial research, details from the virtual information session, and details from your in person tour to guide your thought process.
Step Five: Prepare to Visit
Remember that student you asked to be connected with? Reach out to them before ever stepping foot on campus to learn more about their experience.
Here are some thought starter questions for that conversation:
What were some of the factors that drew you to X university?;
When you were making your decision what stood out to you about the faculty, student body, and opportunities you would have on campus? Tell me something that you have had to navigate and find a solution for (remember no school is perfect, you are seeing if the student and school are solution-focused)?
If you had to rate your transition to college and first-year experience what were some of the unanticipated bumps in the road that you had to navigate? After having this conversation, thank them for their time and ask if it is possible to connect once more when you visit campus so that you can take them to coffee and just gain a little more insight as you see campus life in full swing.
If you are invited to open houses, college fairs, or info sessions at your school, you can now speak about the campus from your perspective and demonstrate the insight you gained in doing so. If you feel that the school aligns with your needs and wants, that authenticity will come through in your future interactions with college or university representatives and translate into your supplemental essays thereafter.
Conclusion
This progression makes me think of a student from this past admissions cycle who connected with a regional admissions representative of a large public university, they had amazing banter in which both signed off with “Go Birds.” They found a shared way to address one another in an endearing manner that allowed human connection to enter back into the admissions decision process.
That is the fundamental goal of demonstrated interest -- the university gets to reveal itself completely and the student spends time genuinely getting to know the school; it is an authentic slow approach to making a huge commitment and one that offers intentional steps along the way.
If I had to sign off with one final tagline, it would be: look for the courses you want to study, look for your people, be yourself, and stay human.
