For the love of God, stop sending me letters!
February 23, 2007The stack of unopened envelopes on my desk continues to grow.
By bubbling in on my PSAT what I thought was an innocent request for a little bit of information from a few colleges, I have personally caused the destruction of several acres of pristine Amazonian rainforest.
In no particular order:
Colorado College, Whitman College, Drexel University, NYU, Williams, Washington University in St. Louis, Swarthmore, Fordham, Washington and Lee, U of Delaware, the Princeton Review, U of Oregon, Franklin, Macalester (a very large envelope), Pitzer, Dickinson, Grinnel College, Santa Clara U, St. Mary’s, U of Miami, Tulane, Champlain, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Kenyon, Emory, Middlebury, Hamilton, Duke, Columbia, Lewis and Clark, Brown, Rensselaer Polytechnic, Rice, the Princeton Review (again), List College, USC, Caltech (attractively decorated with vector arithmetic) and last night, a lengthy letter from the University of Chicago about how it is “ironic and a little bit sad” that they should have to send me a lengthy letter in the mail.
Ironic and sad indeed.
One would think that in this marvelous age of email and high-speed internet colleges would be able to rely solely on email to communicate their message. Instead, they send three emails and follow it up with the envelope.
It just strikes me as incredibly wasteful – pathetic as it is, if I can’t be troubled to skim their email, what are the odds that I will go to the trouble of opening the envelopes from more than the few schools whose names I recognize? The thought of the thousands of pounds of paper that go directly from the post office to the landfill is enough to turn my stomach.
Let this be a warning to future test-takers: no amount of curiosity about colleges is enough to merit the flood of mail that you set into motion by filling in that little bubble.
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I hate this too! Especially since most of the letters actually give ANY information about the school. Unless you count the fact that I’ll “fit in” or they have good classes. (a list might be nice)
On the plus side if you actually read the emails they have an unsubscribe link in them. I’m not sure if clicking the link will stop the letters, but it might be worth a shot.
dosnlinux — February 24, 2007 @ 6:44 am
ha you took psats again. ahhh see, last year i was as innocent as you… and you should basically see our recycle bin. they never stop! never! augghhhhh its like a frickin nightmare!
Monishita Ray — February 26, 2007 @ 7:09 pm
I CERTAINLY know what you mean. Just wait until you come back from your college visit. Somewhere in your house, there will be a stack at least 6 inches high of the schools that sent you letters over the week. I still haven't gotten to the one sitting on my kitchen table from over Ski Week.
Sam Bernstein — March 2, 2007 @ 11:15 pm