Demonstrated Interest: How to Leverage Your Digital Footprint for College Admissions

For most students, they don’t consider their digital footprint until they are starting the college application process. However, universities are collecting data on potential students more often than you think. From TikTok to Instagram, universities review this data and may use it as a factor to consider for college acceptances. So before we talk about leveraging this process, let’s consider what demonstrated interest is.

What is demonstrated interest?

Demonstrated interest comprises the automated ways in which potential students interact with the colleges through campus visits, virtual information sessions, newsletters, and more. Some schools like the University of Wisconsin-Madison offer live and pre-recorded virtual events while other schools like Rice University offer cartoon-like maps. 

Do Colleges track demonstrated interest? Why or why not?

Yes! Colleges track demonstrated interest to varying degrees.Their main reasons in doing so is to either measure the impact of their recruiting efforts and to monitor applicant engagement and likelihood of enrolling once admission.

Which colleges and universities care the most about demonstrated interest?

Oftentimes larger and more renown universities do not place as significant emphasis on demonstrated interest because they have a wide influx of applicants each year. However, there have been cases of colleges that rejected students because they unsubscribed from the school newsletters (notably, institutions like Case Western Reserve University). To play it safe, we suggest you do not unsubscribe from any institution-related message. 

How do colleges track demonstrated interest?

Most institutions have a Customer Relationship Management tool like Technolotions where over 1,400 colleges and universities use their program to manage and track student data. But how did they get student data? When students attend college fairs, campus visits, virtual information sessions, mailing lists, and even browse the college website the data bases will collect information that students fill out. The most common place students have their data tracked is through the College Board when they are asked to opt into information on schools and scholarships. This is also the same reason why students may receive letters in the mail or emails about certain college programs when they don’t remember subscribing to anything in the first place. The College Board actually profits from selling student information to colleges and universities and the most common way students are typically tracked is through their email address and birthdate.

What are the most common ways colleges track demonstrated interest?

The most common ways that institutions track demonstrated interest are through the following:

• If you initiate contact with the university yourself (visit in person, attend a virtual tour, attend an information session, attend a student panel, etc.)
• If you sign up for any of the items listed above 
• If you attend a college fair where the college was in attendance
• If you opted for an interview (if offered)
• If you opened an email sent by the college
• If you clicked on an embedded link and/or watched a video sent by the college
• The date, time of day, and how many times you opened an email 
• If you responded to an invitation sent in direct mail to request additional information
• If you responded to a text sent by the college 

How can I indicate and leverage demonstrated interest?

As a high school sophomore or junior, the best way to indicate demonstrated interest is through connecting with the institution’s clubs and organizations, professors, admissions representatives. You can also do any of the items in the list above. Then, as a senior, you can raise your demonstrated interest by applying during the binding Early Decision round and writing about your genuine interest in your supplemental essays. In those supplemental essays we suggest you write about how your academic and community values and work aligns with what you want to do at the college. Here, you can speak about your connections with university students and faculty to demonstrate this interest.  

Key Takeaways

• It is always best to reach out to the college first through calling an admissions office, opting into college fairs and newsletters, and more.
• Never opt out, unsubscribe from messages sent by the institution because they can see and interpret that as disinterest 
• Demonstrated interest is a part of your application and we suggest that you demonstrate interest early on better than later