Showing Colleges Love: the Importance of Demonstrated Interest

Someone in my extended family recently began a new relationship, so I’ve observed a lot of New Relationship Energy lately. Lots of hand holding and affection. Lots of joy and stars in the eyes. Lots of calls and texts. My family member is clearly interested in this new person, and it shows through their actions.

There are colleges who want students who demonstrate that New Relationship Energy for them. These colleges want students who show, through specific actions, that they are interested in attending— not just applying as a “safety” or backup school. In college admissions, we call this Demonstrated Interest (DI); it’s an important nonacademic admissions factor to understand.

What is Demonstrated Interest?

• It is a measure of a student's engagement with and interest in a college as they research and apply.

• It includes things like:

  • signing up for and clicking on links in emails

  • attending a virtual or local event

  • taking a campus tour

  • talking with an admissions rep at a college fair or high school visit

  • doing an interview

  • completing optional application essays

  • applying Early Decision (if advisable).

Colleges that track DI use it to gauge how likely a student is to enroll if accepted. This impacts a college's yield-- the % of students who accept an offer of admission. This is a critical statistic for colleges. Yield too low = unrealized financial targets (too few tuition dollars coming in). Yield too high = strain on limited resources like class seats and housing (ex: Virginia Tech in 2019).

Pro Tip: How do you know if a college tracks demonstrated interest?

1. Google “Does [insert college name] track demonstrated interest?” Easiest method but sometimes subject to outdated/bad results.

2. Google “[insert college name] Common Data Set”, then open the most recent results and head to section C7. You’ll see a chart like this:

Demonstrated Interest will never outweigh academic performance; 18 emails to an admissions rep and 5 campus tours will not cancel out a low GPA or course rigor. However, when tracked, DI can absolutely play a role in an admissions decision-- no college wants to be somebody's backup. Many of these colleges will outright deny an applicant who they feel has little chance of enrolling; this also pushes down acceptance rates (something else colleges are sensitive to).

As students engage with colleges, they’re gaining valuable information about whether or not each school is a good fit academically, socially, and financially. This is the case at all colleges; at those that track Demonstrated Interest, engagement is also a smart and strategic part of applying. Particularly in an era of continually rising application numbers, it’s important that students “show love” to each college on their list that tracks DI.

Looking for help with college applications and essays? Check out our packages for the Class of 2025 and 2026 or book an initial consultation to learn more about our services and approach.

3 Things Juniors Can Do in May re: College Applications

Standardized testing, class projects, final exams…it’s the final push before a well-deserved summer break. While May is busy, there are a few key things juniors can do this month related to their college applications:

1. Request Letters of Recommendation (LORs). A good LOR gives insight into a student’s character, potential, strengths, and personality. Many teachers work on LORs over the summer; requesting them now gives teachers a heads-up (and beats the early Fall rush). At least one recommender should be a teacher in a core subject, while a second academic LOR can come from a wider subject range. Pro tip: We encourage students to think about when they demonstrated their best abilities and skills, not just a class in which they got the highest grade. A challenging class that required extra effort can highlight persistence and resourcefulness, for example.

2. Start working on Common App. Common App is the platform that students use to submit many/all of their college applications. While the 2024-2025 application cycle doesn’t officially start until August 1st, juniors can create their account now and work in the Common App tab. This info will be rolled over into the new application cycle, so there’s no reason to wait! Pro tip: We recommend our students complete the college-specific questions after August 1st since these may change as colleges adjust over the summer from the previous application cycle. Nothing’s more frustrating than doing work you eventually have to redo.

3. Brainstorm for their personal statement. This is the 650-word essay that will be a part of almost every college application a student submits. There's a few qualities of a productive personal statement:

   • It highlights something that is either not evident or explained elsewhere in the application.

   • It includes insight into the student's values, skills, qualities, and/or interests.

   • It reflects the student's voice and personality.

   You can read some of what the Endeavor Class of 2024 chose to write about here. You will notice a wide variety of topics! We help students find the story they want to tell and then determine the best theme or prompt for framing it. In our experience, this approach makes for more interesting, reflective, and inspired writing. Pro tip: One of our favorite brainstorming activities to use with students is this one! In our experience, it leads to unexpected topics that often turn into fantastic essays.

By focusing on these 3 things in May, juniors will be well-prepared for their fast-approaching college applications.

Are you interested in college advising for your rising senior or rising junior? Check out our services here. Package prices increase June 1st, so contact us for a complimentary initial consultation now to lock in current pricing.

Hurry Up and Wait: 5 Things to Do if You've Been Waitlisted

College waitlists are a source of frustration every year for students, families, and definitely us counselors, too. Being waitlisted can make the college application process drag on, leaving students and families with prolonged uncertainty and stress. Here are 5 things to do if you’ve received a waitlist offer:

1. Decide if you even want to join the waitlist. Joining a waitlist is not required; perhaps you’re ready for the uncertainty to be over or you’re no longer interested in that college that put you “on hold”. These are totally reasonable decisions! If you do want to join a waitlist, carefully follow the instructions the college sent. Colleges require students to opt-in, so if you do nothing you will not be added to the waitlist.

2. Understand how colleges use waitlists. Colleges put students on a waitlist for a few reasons:

   • To have a pool of qualified students available to pull from. This allows a college to easily extend additional offers if their yield (the number of accepted students who actually enroll) is lower than expected.

   • To be able to “fill in holes” they see in their incoming student body. Did exactly ZERO students from Kentucky enroll? Guess which state’s students will be getting a call. Fewer geology majors than expected? Johnny with his geodes has a strong shot at a spot on campus. Colleges use their waitlist to craft the class they want in terms of geographic, demographic, financial, and academic factors.

   • To “courtesy deny” students (aka not say “No” but not say “Yes”). This often happens with students from high schools with which a college wants to maintain good relationships or to an applicant with legacy status. Sometimes it happens when a college wants to encourage applications from a high school that doesn’t typically see many students apply. It’s akin somewhat to pulling a Band-Aid off slowly vs. quickly. Which is better? I know which one I prefer (the latter).

3. Look at data while remembering results vary greatly. To borrow from investing terms, “past performance does not indicate future results”. Some colleges, like Virginia Tech, post historical waitlist data, while others are more elusive about sharing their numbers. If you Google a college + “Common Data Set”, you can find how many students were waitlisted and how many were offered a spot in the previous admissions cycles. The difference between these two numbers is often very large. If you see that typically only 2% of students tend to get off the wait list year after year? Perhaps rethink if you want to prolong what will likely be a final “No”.

4. Enroll at a college you’ve been accepted to. This is SO IMPORTANT, it should really not be #4 in any list (but here we are). If you decide to join a waitlist, make sure that you have paid the enrollment deposit at a school to which you’ve been fully accepted by the enrollment deadline. This is the only way to guarantee that you have a spot somewhere.

5. Mentally commit to that college you enrolled at. Spring of senior year is an exciting point in the college admissions process— all the hard work’s over! It’s time to buy the merch, plan the parties, and start looking forward to all the amazing opportunities ahead. The WORST thing about waitlists, in my opinion, is that they can make students hold out hope for something that probably won’t come to fruition when they have ALL the reason in the world to be happy about and focus on the option(s) they DO have. Get excited about where you are going, even if you decide to wait to see if you might go elsewhere. Your freshman Fall self will thank you tremendously for it.

Interested in how Endeavor Advising helps students navigate the entire college admissions process, from research to applications to the final decision? Learn more about our services here.