The difference in sound is what gives it away. Instead of the clear cut sound of shuffling paper, the edges catching on each other and then being put down with a humph in one pile. These letters outsource a sound of all their own. Some of them are shiny and metallic so when they rub against each other they have a distinct scritching and scratching noise. Others come in giant folding pamphlets, laying out their information in such a concise manner that it is evident that their recruiting budget is in the millions. These such letters, mixed in with the daily mail, give off a distinct humph as they are thrown in a pile all their own, separate from the important bills and magazines.

These letters that belong in a category that we will all be familiar with, at some time our high school career, are completely useless and astonishing amount of mail that colleges send to students.

Starting sophomore year students year get bombarded with useless mail from colleges in the form of pamphlets, letters, folders and postcards. One school mailed out a giant orange pill bottle with a note inside urging an application to pharmacy school.

All of these measures are ridiculous and extreme as in addition to this printed affirmation that blank college is the perfect match. Students also receive an e-mail from the same school telling them the exact same thing. What these schools don’t know is that high school students throw away most everything we get in the post from colleges.Let’s be honest, we are not going to apply to your school. If I was going to apply I am a Sion student so that means I have already requested the information my freshman year.

The biggest problem with this postal mail that colleges send is that it is not cheap. Colleges send these letters to thousands of students across the nation. This means that the fully color printed, 8-inch-by-11-inch foldout diagram depicting why they are the best fit for you costs a lot of money. The budget that some colleges must give to their admissions and recruiting departments has to be astronomical as I receive on average about eight full color printed, 8-by-11 inch papered diagrams everyday majority of the week. They even send repeats. This money literally thrown in the trash at peoples houses is what makes this upsetting. Why do colleges continue to send information in the post when the majority of students throw it away. The money that is wasted in sending these recruitment mail could go to something way more important, like scholarships. The logic is just not there especially when they send an e-mail  that literally says the exact same thing. I know, I got the picture that your college is the best thing that has happened in this world. Just stop sending mail telling us what seven other schools also boast.

A more economical and less pestersome alternative to this unreasonable amount of recruitment mail would be for colleges to just send students e-mails. This alternative, that is already practiced by many colleges, would be more economical and more ecological. Think of all the paper they would save. In addition, colleges should use the money they would save on this new mode of recruitment and put it towards student scholarships. Because in the end are students really going to go to a school that has the best pamphlet, or are they going to go somewhere that they get a scholarship to?