<p>There's a lot of anxiety on this site about the dearth of likely letters. It got me wondering. Are they even proper? (Disclosure: D got one in 2009 and it was wonderful to receive, but we'd never heard of them before then -- much less worried about not hearing from the College before the official date, and I was really surprised by it and had this same question.) Why have a set date when acceptances go out if schools are going to "accept" people in advance?</p>
<p>They do it to keep matriculation of the most qualified students higher. If the college makes it seem like they are truly interested a particular student by sending them a likely letter. Said student will have a higher chance of attending the college because they feel like the school that sent them a likely letter truly wanted them to attend.</p>
<p>The genesis of Likely letters was for recruited athletes not to be fluttering in the wind. Yesterday was Nat’l Letter of Intent day. Imagine the pressure the kid would have with non-Ivy schools, showering tons of money etc. on them and all they had was the verbal “promise” from the Dartmouth Football or Women’s Field Hockey coach. With an official LL, it would put the student and his/her family at rest – that they could bank on a Dartmouth accept come “Ivy Day” – the date which is set in stone (unlike the other schools who might be courting the athlete). I see nothing wrong with this and all eight Ivies and a few other private schools, use them.</p>
<p>As for the anxiety of students about the whole thing: this is the same pool who avg 3.9GPA and above yet fret if they hit the submit button 5 seconds after midnight, who wonder if (despite colleges accepting Jan SAT scores) the scores they sent in December will arrive in time, who wonder if one word cut off from the Common App essay will diminish their chances, who consider emailing all schools b/c they placed 5th and not 6th in some competition— there’s no hope for some of these kids. </p>
<p>The anxiety should be (and often is) corrected by knowledge of what a LL is and who gets them (about 1% of applicants – 2/3 of whom are athletes). If they still want to pine away in anxiousness after being informed of that stat, I haven’t an iota of pity for them</p>
<p>I slightly disagree w/Starter. Non athlete Likely letter recipients are just as likely to receive multiple LLs. Then what? Everyone I’ve met for my alma mater, also had one or more from other schools.</p>
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<p>True, during my D’s cycle (2004) she received 4 LL before the end of february (yes, she was one of those who pulled the trigger on her application 12/31).</p>
<p>Thread is old, but likely letters are nothing new</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/624241-list-colleges-send-likely-letters.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/624241-list-colleges-send-likely-letters.html</a></p>
<p>And to close the loop on athlete Likely Letters, in almost all cases, the athlete agrees to attend if the LL is given, and do not receive more than one. Coaches have a limited number of LLs to grant, and can’t sprinkle them around. The conversation is something like, “if I ask for a LL from admissions for you, and they agree to grant one, will you agree to attend?” Very rarely, a student athlete will be offered a LL with no strings attached, but that only happens for the very very top athletes (top 10 in the nationish), who are also academically qualified.</p>
<p>Okay. I withdraw my question in light of this: <a href=“http://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/2013IvyLeagueStatement.pdf[/url]”>http://admissions.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/2013IvyLeagueStatement.pdf</a> (could not find it on the Dartmouth site but many of the other Ivies make it easy to find). It seemed to me that likely letters were jumping the gun on other schools (sort of like the now-defunct plan on law clerk hiring for federal judges, since the judges kept cheating on each other), but that premise was false, since the eight schools have all agreed on the controlling principles.</p>
<p>Each school seems to have a different reason for issuing likely letters for non-athletes. </p>
<p>I believe most if not all of them issue one if they find some major scholarship recipient in the midst (there are only so many 50k to 100k scholarship winners in each batch). </p>
<p>Yale seems to issue a bunch for STEM each year because this is their new focus.</p>
<p>Columbia issues them when they identify who they want to name as their scholars in each area and may be more when they find more scholars than they can accept but find them admit worthy.</p>
<p>Penn likes to identify some top students applying to each school and send out letters with a lot of hoopla. They usually have a video on the website with song and dance if I am not mistaken.</p>
<p>Dartmouth - not sure if they have any specific policies other than just telling some people upfront to increase the yield.</p>
<p>Not so sure about academic likelies at other Ivies.</p>
<p>Likely letters are great for those who get them…
For those who don’t, it’s just another reminder that your college application is still being discussed… hence, where the anxiety comes from!</p>
<p>I don’t expect to get a likely letter from any of the schools I applied to, but it’s just a bit disheartening when others hear from your favourite schools and you’re still left hanging :’)</p>
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<p>here you go…</p>
<p>[Common</a> Ivy League Agreement](<a href=“Apply to Dartmouth | Dartmouth Admissions”>Apply to Dartmouth | Dartmouth Admissions)</p>
<p>Thanks. “Fine Print” is not where I would have thought to look for it, but I often find the Dartmouth site counter-intuitive and hard to navigate.</p>