Demonstrated interest shows how eager you are to attend a college. Demonstrated interest allows colleges to see which students are genuinely interested in their school.
Why Demonstrated Interest?
A 2017 report from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling found that around 40 percent of colleges surveyed said that demonstrated interest had some level of importance on their decisions. Furthermore, with the use of the Common Application, it is becoming increasingly easy for students to apply to multiple schools. Tracking demonstrated interest allows colleges to differentiate between two almost identical applicants.
How You Can Demonstrate Interest
Test score, GPA, and extracurriculars are all things you can explicitly put in your application, however, demonstrated interest is not. Instead, you have to show you are interested in a college during the application process. Let’s look at some of the ways you can demonstrate interest.
Online event or webinar
As many on-campus tours are canceled due to COVID-19, online events or webinars are an easy and safe way to demonstrate interest from your own home. If a college you are interested in offers a webinar or any other online event be sure to sign up. Check out these virtual fairs conducted by NACAC.
Added to admissions mailing lists
Most college websites have online forms that you can fill our to get added to their mailing list. Once you began to receive these emails, be sure to actually open them! Many colleges use software that tracks if you open an email, read it, or click any links whiten the email. And take some time to click on those admissions emails.
Campus visits
Currently, most college tours have been put on hold due to COVID-19, however, once these tours begin to continue again they are a great way to demonstrate interest! Campus tours give you a first-hand look at what a campus is like, interact with current students, and meet with an admissions representative. If you managed to do a walk through on your own, reach out to the admissions office and let them know you stopped by to get a sense of the campus. MeritMore has linked to hundreds of virtual tours and videos that you can use to get a good feel.
Local open house or school visit
Local college events are a great way to meet with college admissions representatives face-to-face without having to make travel arrangements. Your high school counseling office likely has information about what colleges are visiting your highschool. These college fairs are also held at a local library or community center, be sure to keep track of dates and attend these events
How to Track Your Demonstrated Interest
Keeping track of which schools you have shown demonstrated interest can be difficult. With MeritMore you can easily keep track of which schools you have shown demonstrated interest. Using our application task manager you can get access to a checklist for each college to see what demonstrate interest you have shown and where.
Below we listed some key colleges which do ant don’t consider demonstrated interest. While this list does not include all colleges it is a great starting point when considering where certain colleges stand on demonstrated interest.
Demonstrated interest is important
Baylor University
Chapman University (somewhat)
Furman University
Franklin and Marshall College
Westmont college
American University
Bates College
Dickinson College
Wellesley College (somewhat)
Wake forest university (somewhat)
Trinity College (somewhat)
Rice University (somewhat)
Skidmore College
Smith College
Demonstrated interest is not important
University of Southern California
Cornell
Barnard
Clairmont Mckenna
UCLA
Carnegie Mellon
Northwestern University
Miami University
University of Georgia
Yale University
Princeton University