Posted by: pire July 2, 2010
Login in to Rate this Post:
0 
? 
?
Hi,
My experience, as someone who used to get such inquiries while attending a "very selective" school, is that people are unlikely to respond when you tell them you are 'thinking to apply'. They are more likely to reply once you get into it. There is a huge difference between getting into a school and merely thinking to apply there.
Also those who don't reply are not being 'unhelpful': they just don't want to deal with the unwanted attention and unnecessary hassle. Often, undergraduate students themselves are under huge pressure while in school (this is particularly so in Ivy). People tend to have different priorities in life, and we need to respect that.
Having said this, I used to respond to several emails while in the first year. I guess I wanted to be helpful and also be considered as a nice man by others. In the second year, I realized that I needed to help myself first by using my time judiciously, working hard, scoring perfect GPA etc etc. I also didn't have the courage to tell some people that they stood no chance of getting into my school --thereby letting them waste their money and effort. Somehow, I realized that I wasn't really helping people; I was just making some people believe I was a nice guy. I pretty much stopped responding to such emails by the third year. May be there are no Nepali freshman at Brown now:)