Demonstrated interest may be a term that you’ve heard before when it comes to college admissions decisions. Some schools consider demonstrated interest, or a student’s overall interest in their school, when making admissions decisions. So how exactly do you show your interest, and how can you make sure to demonstrate it well before you send off your applications?

What is Demonstrated Interest?

Demonstrated interest is exactly what you would think — prospective students showing their interest in a college or university. Considering the interest level of each applicant is one of many ways that some colleges assess prospective students who have applied to their school. Whether it is important to demonstrate interest and the level of importance interest holds will vary from one school to the next.

Do all schools consider demonstrated interest?

No. All colleges do not consider demonstrated interest when they compare applicants and decide who to accept. For this reason, it can be wise to do some research into the demonstrated interest policies at the schools on your list to determine whether this will be a considered factor.

How do I know if the school I’m applying to takes demonstrated interst into account during admissions?

There are a few ways that you can go about obtaining this information. For one, you could ask the admissions team or your contact at the school if they consider demonstrated interest as a part of the admissions process. Secondly, you could search for the school’s policy online. Sometimes the school will confirm or deny if they are a demonstrated interest school right on their website. Another option is to look for the institution’s Common Data Set reports. Common Data Set gathers data from many colleges and universities each year through surveys to help make some of the processes used within higher education institutions more transparent.

One of the many items that Common Data Set asks participating institutions each year has to do with what factors play a role in their admissions decisions and just how important each of those factors is. One such factor is demonstrated interest. Below is an example of the data that was provided to Common Data Set by the University of Florida in 2020. You’ll see that the University ranked six total factors as “Very Important” when they consider who to admit to the school. The item at the very bottom of the list — “Level of applicant’s interest” — is demonstrated interest. You will see that this school does not put weight on the amount of interest that a prospective student shows them, so demonstrated interest should not impact the likelihood of admission.

As you can see, the information provided by Common Data Set can be quite valuable. If you had UF on your list of schools to which you want to apply, you would want to focus more on the rigor of your coursework, maintaining your GPA, and crafting strong application essays rather than spending a lot of time demonstrating your interest.

How do I show demonstrated interest?

The way that you actually express your interest can take many shapes and forms. Perhaps the most common is the standard campus tour. By signing up for a campus tour and showing up to be walked around campus, you are telling the college that you are at least somewhat interested in their institution. But there are many other ways that you can demonstrate your interest as well, even if you can’t find the time or can’t justify the cost that it may take to do an in-person, official tour.

Here are some examples of other ways that you could demonstrate your interest besides just a campus tour:

Follow colleges on social media (and interact with their content!)
Put your email on their various outreach lists — marketing, events, campus updates — and actually OPEN the emails! (Go one step further and actually click on links in the emails — remember that there is software that tracks how much you engage with the emails you receive, so that is something the schools can see.)
Take a virtual college tour — in the wake of COVID, this has become a very common, efficient offering on most schools’ websites
Attend info sessions and webinars — you will probably find many of these events if you snoop around on the school’s website or social media accounts
Email an admissions officer or connect with one at an event — if you have genuine questions that you would like to ask someone, don’t hesitate to reach out to an admissions officer. But refrain from reaching out just to say hello - that’s probably not the most strategic way to show your interest.
Apply Early Decision or Early Action — At the end of the day, applying Early Decision is the ultimate way to demonstrate interest. By applying ED, you are telling that one school that you love them more than all others and promise to be their student if they accept you. While this makes for a very strong addition to your demonstrated interest score, I highly recommend that you make absolutely sure that you want to go to the school wholeheartedly and that you understand all of the fine print before making the decision to apply ED.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, there are many different ways of demonstrating interest that will be very valuable to you as a prospective student, even if the school does not consider demonstrated interest when making admissions decisions. Things like visiting campuses and touring schools will show your interest while also helping you assess the different schools on your list. Talking to admissions officers and staff at the schools will help you gather more details and information that will help you pick the school that is the best fit for you. Being on marketing and event email lists will help you get a sense of what each school is proud of and get a feel for the vibe and what’s happening on campus. Ultimately, I recommend taking these steps regardless of whether the school you’re looking at considers demonstrated interest as they make admissions decisions. However, feel free to ramp up your demonstrated interest if you find that a school does, in fact, look at overall interest level of each applicant. Go tour the school a second time, follow them on social media, reach out to the admissions team with questions. These steps certainly won’t hurt your application, and they may even help to tip the scales slightly in your favor.

Good luck, and happy prepping!

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College Prep: How & Why to Demonstrate Interest