There are many things you may expect to find on a busy high school senior’s desk: pencils, binders, transcripts.
But would you necessarily expect an overflowing three-foot pile of ceaseless college mail?
The senior year of high school is infamous for subjecting students to some of the most stressful times of the entire high school experience. As the year progresses, the challenge of balancing schoolwork and college applications only seems to intensify. College mail often serves as a relentless reminder that the very future that lies in our hands also comes with overwhelming choices and ever-looming, strict application deadlines.
A vital way many colleges in the U.S. reach out to prospective students is by sending them a consistent flow of advertisements, typically through mail and email. This allows them to highlight qualities that make their campus unique, including typical class sizes, offered majors and minors, and the availability of housing and scholarships.
However, advertisements tend to be costly; in recent years, universities have been allocating more funding for these efforts. In fact, the news source American Caldwell has claimed that total ad spending is on track to surpass $3 billion in the coming year. Top spenders include Johns Hopkins University, which spends just under $30 million, followed closely by NYU.
These numbers may not be much of a surprise, given that both these universities are highly popular and sought after. However, is the information on their advertisements truly helpful to seniors researching their schools?
12th grader Jillian Vazquez-Perez said, “I think it’s helpful for the colleges that you want to go to. But, I do think it’s a lot. It’s not necessary for the same colleges to send five emails in one day.”
When asked about the specific $3 billion figure, she said, “I think it is excessive. That money could go somewhere else besides advertisements.”
According to Microsoft, the first piece of junk mail was sent in 1978, and as of 2025, about 45% of emails can be considered spam. The impacts of junk e-mails often go unnoticed since it is easier to see when paper mail accumulates into waste. However, junk emails can overwhelm digital servers and waste energy, as sending and receiving emails requires electricity and the use of data storage. How much of this percentage does college mail account for?
12th grader Yik Yi Ally Chen said, “I think it’s quite a lot. Since they’re advertising, they’re not giving us [prospective students] anything important. It just tells you what’s in their school and why you should apply.”
In the modern digital age, many teens are used to the consistent consumption of information that inevitably seeps into their unconscious minds.
Chen said, “I think it’s an issue; since we get tons of emails every day, it’s a lot of information to process.”
One of Baruch High School’s college counselors, Bonnie Phillips, said, “Students have said it’s overwhelming. The process is overwhelming, and that [college mail] makes it more unyielding. When it becomes so much on a continuum, I think students can close it out in terms of its importance.”
It is vital to remember that seniors already have a lot on their plates. When receiving loads of information on a regular basis, it can be difficult to figure out what to prioritize.
Phillips said, “I understand that it’s a lot. Get a system that works for you. Even build up a little portfolio of your own so that you can reference it when you’re ready. And with that type of organization, keep your eyes out for the important emails. Really make sure you’re looking at what needs to be looked at so you’re not missing deadlines, alerts, or requests for documentation. Those are the things that can really trip you up.”
Many students consider college mail to be most helpful when they receive it from schools they’re truly interested in. Given that opening our emails is often a mundane daily task, it can be exciting to see the notification beside a new college email calling to us, “We want you!!!”
Maybe colleges do want you to attend their school, maybe they do not. It is crucial to note that one of their motives in this intense marketing is to maintain a lower acceptance rate, thus making their school appear more prestigious. By better understanding these motives as well as the formulas many colleges utilize in their advertising, students can be equipped to make more informed decisions.
“I think it’s like all things: you want to be diverse in your approach to looking at things and then prioritize what speaks to you,” said Phillips.
