By Amanda Patrick (TAPinto). Demonstrated Interest is a term colleges use to describe how much a student is interested in attending their school. It encompasses every touch point that a student has with a specific college. Touch points can include visiting a school, emailing an admissions officer, sending a thank you note after an interview, completing an information request form on a college’s website, as well as Facebook “Likes” and Tweets about the college. These touch points can improve a student’s chances of gaining acceptance to certain colleges. They can also help to move a wait-listed student to the front of the pack.
There are specific software packages that some colleges employ to track these touch points. This software is used not only to gauge how much students are interested in their school but also to gain insight on how to better market their institution to students and parents given the competitive landscape of today’s search for the right college.
Just how much each college values Demonstrated Interest will vary from being as important as a student’s GPA, to not considered whatsoever. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 50.2% of colleges rank Demonstrated Interest somewhere between “moderate importance” to “considerable importance.” Go to the article
