<p>While I don't know much Columbia's use of likelies, I read in a quote from the Harvard Dean of Admissions that Harvard sends academic likely letters to applicants "who might not think Harvard was even in the cards." I recognize that Columbia is in a different situation with attracting people who have top academics, but I almost feel that with Columbia's selectivity the letters may play a similar role. Does anyone have any insight into this, and how many of these letters actually go out? I have seen conflicting numbers on these forums. </p>
<p>One other thing…</p>
<p>Are academic likely letters at all related to the Named Scholars program? </p>
<p>No one can possibly know the answer to that either than the Columbia admit staff, and I’m doubting they’d tell you beyond the generic response. From my perspective, academic likelys at Columbia seem to be used to lure the students they really want away from the other ivies early on. It seems that they believe the applicant may have a good shot at HYPSM, and since (from their admission staff’s perspective) the same hyper-competitive schools are going for the same kid, they want to get to him or her early on and make the student fall in love with Columbia, so if those HYPSM acceptances roll in they already have their heart set on Columbia. From a second perspective, it’s plausible they use likely’s to attract specific students who fit well with majors they want to expand or niche’s they want to see filled. In terms of numbers, a columbia rep told me offhand once that “a few hundred, max” go out every year, and a chunk of those are athletic, so it seems to be a fairly low number. I would think it would fluctuate from year to year as well, and especially from school to school. Off the likely letter itself, it reads: “which only a small percentage of our applicants receive” when referring to the likely. Lastly, it’s likely to be a correlative effect between students who receive likelys and named scholars. Since the student’s with likelys are already who Columbia considers to be its strongest applicants, it’s probable that many of these students will also get the scholar designations. These titles may also help to entice the students to the university, which may up from a correlation to a causation, but I’m just speculating here. Anyways, sorry for the long winded comment but I do feel that it is more for academic reasons. Personally, I received a likely this week, and while I certainly didn’t think there was any guarantee (ivies are a reach for everyone) I did think I had a decent shot at admission (4.0UW, 2390, interesting/prestigious science internships, leadership ECs, great recs, etc.) Feel free to message me if you want to talk more about it. </p>
<p>… very similar situation… </p>