Every fall, I have a few students who come into my office super excited because they have been designated a “Preferential Applicant” or member of a “Selective” Group that has been invited to apply to College X. They get their application fee waived, they may not have to even write the typically required college essay, and they get their decision in a mere week from applying. Kids feel really pumped about this sort of thing, because feeling special as a teenager is paramount.

Except…its a marketing technique at best, ploy at worst. As chronicled in today’s New York Times article, schools have these sorts of programs to increase application numbers. After all, if its free to apply AND you don’t have to write an essay, its no big deal to many kids. When a college gets more applicants, it typically rejects more students (assuming it wants the class size to remain the same) and so, its acceptance rate goes goes down, making it appear more selective. And increased selectivity leads to higher rankings – even if the only way it became more selective was to hand out free applications.

The worst part, is that these kids who thought they were “Preferred Scholars” often get rejected, because schools do have to reject students to get to their ideal class size. But the way some schools write the literature, it sounds like the kid is already in and has to simply sign on the dotted line. As I like to think of colleges and universities as institutions of higher learning, this marketing technique is like pulling a fast one. Granted, not all schools do it (by any stretch) but those that do should really think about the message they are sending to students, parents and college counselors.