EDUCATION: Do Thank-Yous Work?

Apparently, high school students are worried that a high GPA, good SAT scores and extracurricular activities aren’t enough to get them in to college these days. According to a New York Times article published on October 9, more and more college applicants are sending thank-you notes to admissions officers and interviewers, thanking them for their time and consideration. Patrick J. O’Connor, director of college counseling at the private Roeper School in Birmingham, Mich says that “it seems like a small thing, but I tell my students that every contact with the college contributes to their perception of you.”

But Woody O’Cain, the admissions director at Furman University in South Carolina says he realizes many of them are strategic. And schools like NYU, Johns Hopkins and MIT simply throw the notes out without even reading them. According to the New York Times, Barbara F. Hall, associate provost for enrollment management at N.Y.U., said writing a note was “a very polite thing to do.” But, she added, the university does not keep the notes, because “with our reading files twice, we don’t need extraneous material, and that is extraneous.”

At some schools, however, the notes are placed in students filed. “Is it necessary to write a thank-you note?” said Janet L. Rapelye, dean of admissions at Princeton. “No. But I’m still in favor of them. Expressing gratitude is a lovely quality.”

Whether or not thank-you notes are kept or remembered is obviously up for debate, but I think the idea is an interesting one- especially from a PR standpoint. Students feel like sending the notes adds to their character and builds a positive image that colleges will respond to. But I can’t help but wonder if it actually works or if just makes them seem desperate. Shouldn’t their application say enough?

-Lisa Rassenti