Does Demonstrated Interest Matter?

With the rise of the online Common Application in the 2000s, many colleges faced lower yield rates; the percentage of admitted applicants who actually accepted their offers dropped—significantly. In order to save their yield rates, colleges had to come up with some kind of metric that would give them a better sense of which applicants were most likely to accept offers.

Thus, demonstrated interest became a thing.

Demonstrated interest, as a metric, is exactly what it sounds like: a measure of a student’s genuine interest in attending the college.

A college’s yield rate is directly correlated with its prestige. The higher the yield rate, the greater the prestige.

Not every college tracks demonstrated interest, but for those that do, it’s important that applicants who are serious about attending find ways to prove that they are serious. At one of these colleges, the student who adequately demonstrates their interest will be selected over the student who doesn’t, even if their applications are otherwise equal.

Thankfully, it isn’t difficult to demonstrate interest to colleges. Here are some things you can do to prove that you are serious about attending a college:

1. Join the college’s email list, and interact with every email (i.e. open the email, click links, etc.)

2. Attend an information session, in-person or virtual, making sure to sign in

3. Attend a campus tour, making sure to sign in

4. Schedule an interview

5. Write supplemental essays that prove you’ve done your research (drop course names, unique programs, student organizations, or faculty research that inspires you)

Log in to GradBetter and navigate to the school’s profile tab. If you scroll down, you will come across the the Selection chart, which lists various application components and compares their importance.

As an example, let’s look at my alma mater’s GradBetter page. Here is a snippet of Mount Holyoke’s Selection chart, including the Demonstrated Interest line:

As you can see, Mount Holyoke considers Demonstrated Interest when evaluating applicants, but does not place much importance in it.

If a school does not consider Demonstrated Interest at all, then you do not need to worry about. If, however, they weigh Demonstrated Interest heavily in their decisions, then you must use every available pathway to demonstrate your genuine interest. The other parts of your application still matter (a lot), but neglecting to demonstrate interest will hurt your application at a school that tracks it.