Throwaway account. I'm currently working on college applications, and found pretty annoying. I've been getting well over a dozen e-mails a day as well as two or three items of physical mail every day, all on colleges, all for the past three months. I've been getting a lower level of the same thing since early high school when I first took the SAT. I made national merit scholar and did well on the SAT; that's when it really picked up. None of them have really convinced me to apply (except for Vanderbilt; they put their financial aid stuff right up front). However , I did get a few useful ones. Most of them were notifying me about info sessions for the colleges. There's also a box on the SAT where you check whether or not you want this or not, though I don't remember if it's opt-in or opt-out.
Most of what I get is useless (though as national merit results get processed, I've started getting serious scholarship offers). What I don't like is that most of them are just send stuff to drive up application numbers and drive down acceptance rates, because yes, that's a thing (even though it sounds horrible, and every rejection makes a kid feel like garbage). Mail is cheap, I guess, but I wish colleges would relegate their communications to those they actually wanted.
(Throwaway because I don't like talking about college application process).
If it's any consolidation, it's been like this for at least 20 years. I'm 33, and when I did well enough on PSAT to become National Merit Finalist, I got similar amount of inbound mail from colleges. By the end of the process I had 4 banker boxes full of the stuff. It's very similar to what happened last year when I went for a car quote...
I ended up taking a full ride at a state school. While the school wasn't the best experience and I've gotten some "why didn't you go to an ivy league school?" comments, not having any college debt has been worth it. I don't regret the decision at all.
This is consistent with my experience, tons and tons of identically formated mail from random universities I'd never talked to. I've really come to hate university administration.
The administrations are only partly to blame. It's something of an arms race, and anyone who doesn't participate gets left behind. When one school starts something, it's initially a competitive advantage. After a few years, other schools pick up on it and it becomes less valuable. After that it becomes almost compulsory because what used to be a competitive advantage is now status quo, creating a sort of negative Nash equilibrium.
The identically formatted materials are because there are a dozen or so higher ed marketing companies that serve most of the market, and they are themselves competing with each other in a similar way, converging on a handful of templates they've tested to be the most successful. Once one of them comes up with something more innovative, the very next marketing cycle will see their competitors mirror it.
Whether or not you checked that box to opt-in/out, you can still get lots of these marketing materials. The SAT is not the only source that colleges and universities use, many or most purchase lists from other sources as well. For example, if you ever sign in to Peterson's or any of a dozen other "help me search for a college" services, you're probably on lists being sold for this purpose.
(Throwaway account to respond to your throwaway account) If you’re interested in CS, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, with National Merit, check out UT Dallas. They have a full ride for National Merit, and especially if you’re interested in computer science, there’s a honors program just for CS. Its not a top school or anything, but if money is at all a concern, definitely look into it.
I went to UT Dallas, and I got a full-ride scholarship without even having to apply for it. I had no extracurriculars to speak of, and my grades were good but not the best (I was in the top 10% of my class, but nowhere near the top of that).
IIRC, it was the third-highest scholarship tier they offered at the time (started Fall 2003). Tuition + mandatory fees + a few hundred a month (forgot the exact number) credit for Waterview rent. No stipend, though, that's only in the two highest tiers.
I unfortunately just saw this, but need to tell you: please don't post regional flamebait to HN. It leads to flamewars like this one, which we emphatically don't want here.
We've already had to warn you before about not breaking the site guidelines, and unfortunately it seems like you've been breaking them a lot. That leads to getting banned here, and I don't want to ban you, so would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use the site as intended from now on? The idea here is: if you have a substantive point to make, make it thoughtfully; if you don't, please don't comment until you do.
the hot thing is true but as someone who was born and raised in Texas and spent 28 years there I do think that you're somewhat exaggerating with that other bit
I think a lot of people will find Texas (and many other states, with a few exceptions) to be very American, for lack of a better word.
This globalized world seems to give many an international perspective on things, and it's hard not to want to live in a place with cultural diversity and influences. Places like New York, Seattle, LA and SF feel way more international and diverse, and once you're there, you don't imagine yourself going back to, say, a place like Dallas. Nothing intrinsically wrong with it, but different strokes for different folks. I'd personally feel like I had traveled back to the 20th century if I had to move there.
Dallas is one of the most diverse parts of the US. The sheer amount of different ethnic food I regularly eat here is mind-boggling, and it actually made it very hard to pick a place when I was considering moving a few years ago (I wanted a place that was both just as diverse and just as suburban as Dallas; I ended up deciding I'd pick Vegas in case circumstances drove me to leave), and I've interacted with so many people from so many different countries and cultures.
There was a tweet going around about the recent ALCS to the effect of “The Yankees are losing to Houston because it’s the most diverse food city in the country and New York has 23 chains named Sweetgreens”
NYC is an unbelievably diverse food city though. You can get anything here. So that tweet doesn't really land. I'm not saying Houston isn't good either (haven't been), but NYC is great by that metric.
What a shortsighted, useless comment. I live in Austin, life here is wonderful and predominantly liberal with no income tax and high salaries for a software engineer. I wouldn't live anywhere else.
People are leaving California and NY to live in Texas for a reason.
My girlfriends parents are hyper liberal beach bums from California who moved to Dallas and said they will never move back.
Austin is an exception to the rule. Would you live in any other cities in Texas? I wouldn't. It's so freaking hot, and it's mostly an ugly state to look at.
Not trying to be mean to Texas :) I just like green trees and plants, and sub 100 degree summers! Only my personal preference, I get others preference differs. I don't fault people who enjoy Texas :)
Yes, Dallas and Houston are both pretty decent and diverse cities for tech. Dallas still has some old country money people, but has become much more liberal these past few years as people from out of state are moving there.
I agree austin is an exception, but dallas will be soon as well. I can't count the number of insanely liberal people I know who moved from California to Dallas.
Austin is cool... enjoyed the time I spent there. Anywhere that has a great live music scene I think I can be happy!
Was only in Dallas briefly but I wasn't very impressed. I didn't get a great feeling there.
Never been to Huston, but a friend of mine grew up there and always spoke highly of it. I just have a hard time with super hot climates, I enjoy a more moderate temp :)
I live in Texas and am quite happy here. I don't appreciate your needlessly-disparaging remarks. Why wouldn't I want to live here? Lots of jobs, low taxes.
The interesting thing I'm experiencing now after having a similar experience to you is that now the same colleges have begun emailing me with graduate school offers. I've begun to identify which schools use which contracting company to send emails and mail by the style of these messages.
FWIW, I'm not sure national merit made any difference to the amount of mail. I made it, my sister didn't (late 00's) and the amount of college advertising spam we got was indistinguishable.
> I've been getting well over a dozen e-mails a day as well as two or three items of physical mail every day, all on colleges, all for the past three months.
> Most of what I get is useless
That’s basically a fact of life these days. Better get used to and learn to cope with it.
I wonder if there is any trick for old people (30s) to get into college for free for a Bachelor's or a Masters. I am guessing they don't care about SATs at that point.
What are you looking for to pursue? While not free, community college is a great resource to look at to get a lot of the core requirements out of the way, and they try to hold a lot of evening classes for working individuals.
In addition, it wouldn't surprise me if there are some sort of merit and/or other type scholarships for folks wanting to go back to schools. You just have to look.
Why would there be? It tends to be the opposite; if you're coming back to school in your 30s, you're presumed to have some savings, and likely interested in school to increase your earnings.
That said, SF residents can get a Associates from City College for free. Elsewhere I know less about it, but there community colleges are still very cheap in some places.
Most of what I get is useless (though as national merit results get processed, I've started getting serious scholarship offers). What I don't like is that most of them are just send stuff to drive up application numbers and drive down acceptance rates, because yes, that's a thing (even though it sounds horrible, and every rejection makes a kid feel like garbage). Mail is cheap, I guess, but I wish colleges would relegate their communications to those they actually wanted.