<p>I only got one likely letter (Dartmouth) but lots of people at my school got them this year. At my top boarding school, the number of LLs this year was at least a 200% increase.</p>
<p>Considering I got seven likely letters and early writes, this may be true.
(Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Fordham, Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst)
I didn’t think I was a good applicant.</p>
<p>I prefer when a particular college notifies every applicant at the same time (with the exception of ED and EA). I think these other methods, such as likely letters, add another layer of anxiety to an already anxiety-ridden process, particularly for those who don’t receive such letters (and yet, may be admitted on the regular date).</p>
<p>I feel that there were definitely more likely letters this year. Perhaps because of Harvard and Princeton’s reinstatement of SCEA?</p>
<p>I agree with @soozievt. If the Ivies have agree to notify on a set date and time, then the likely letters undermine the process. There is a double standard. The colleges make the students commit to ED or SCEA rules, yet they don’t even follow the rules they set for themselves to notify on the same date. </p>
<p>Why should @lolToasty receive 7 likely letters, when poster self reports, to be not a strong candidate, while other applicants must sweat it out to March 29th? Do the schools have no consideration at all for the other applicants who must wait 3 or more weeks? Don’t they realize how angst filled this process is already? </p>
<p>The AdComs have just come up with a way to make the process even it worse!</p>
<p>Just a quick question: what do these likely letters entail? I mean, is it the university openly saying you’re a shoo-in, or is it a more subtle encouragement? Because I may have gotten a likely depending on which one…</p>
<p>A likely letter is typically saying you are going to be accepted. It will say so in no uncertain tones.</p>
<p>@Sojaded</p>
<p>The poster said HE/SHE didnt think the application was strong. Obviously those colleges thiught otherwise lol.</p>
<p>People on this thread, are you guys serious?
3, 5, 7 likely letters?
All I can say is WOW</p>
<p>I am betting that the moment Intel talent search results came out, a bunch of likelies were issued by all top schools. Same can happen when the college has an applicant and some major award is announced.</p>
<p>I think @CornellArk is a possible ■■■■■. 17 likely letters? Really!</p>
<p>He’s joking lol 
Who would get a community college likely?</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn’t feel like I was a strong applicant, but I guess the others thought otherwise.
LL’s are nice and all, but they seriously make me worry about HYPS because, well, I got sooooooo many likely letters but not from them. Really adds more stress, but I guess without them, I’d have more stress, no?
Also, bump the count up to eight for me haha. I got an early write from Amherst.</p>
<p>As much as I agree that NOT getting a single LL has driven me to the point of perpetual paranoia, I feel we can’t really berate schools for such a practice because ‘its harder on the other applicants’…</p>
<p>Instead, I think it gives a level of security to those applicants who were clearly ‘no-brainers’ for them, and who obviously deserve some reassurance for their accomplishments. So lolToasty can be as modest as he/she likes- no one can say the seven LLs weren’t ‘well-deserved’. </p>
<p>In any case, if I ever felt like I was worthy of applying to an Ivy League university or a Top 20 school, then I guess a modicum of patience and level-headedness is not too much to expect of me. </p>
<p>I mean, why else do you have CC? :P</p>
<p>Sorry to be a bit of a dissenter here, but I think early-writes and likely letters are enrollment management tools, and are less about “Star” applicants than one might think. It really does seem that the vast majority go to URMs and athletes. And while colleges are surely entitled to select those students, I think it adds stress and stratifies the admissions process in a very unfortunate way. I am particularly disappointed watching the process at one of the schools my S applied to. It seems very clear what admissions is up to, and frankly has made me think less of the school. S has already been accepted to 2 great schools, 1 SCEA and another yesterday RD, so it’s not sour grapes, just a bit of shock seeing how things really work.</p>
<p>@lolToasty,
First, why do you think you have received 8 likely letters? </p>
<p>Next, I understand you are holding out for HYPS. But in the end you can only attend one school. Presumably you have a favorite among those 8. Wouldn’t it be upstanding to notify 7 of those 8 that you are no longer interested so that space can be made for others who would actually be eager to attend the other 7 schools?</p>
<p>I entered the college application process believing I was an informed parent. Boy, was I in for a shock! My daughter, with a 4.0 UW GPA from a very competitive high school, 32 ACT score, very good ECs, finds herself on 4 wait lists, with 8 more schools to hear from. She has been admitted to two schools, her 2 “safeties,” which are just that, schools whose academic rigor and standards don’t match her abilities. Needless to say, this experience has been stressful for all in the family. And the whole business of likely letters has only added to the stress. Every day earlier this month, she’d come home from school, hearing about kids with lower stats, receiving likely letters from the LACs and Ivies that she applied to. Also, she’d read about kids getting likely letters on CC. My daughter is so despondent at this point, having absolutely no faith in the system, which desperately needs a major overhaul to bring it back into line. As someone on the Amherst forum said, why bother with formal notification when so many kids are notified through likely letters, emails from diversity deans, “glitches” on portal screens that hint at acceptances through financial aid packages?</p>
<p>SoJaded: uh, because he/she hasn’t received financial aid info yet (you don’t get that with a LL), and that can be kinda important in deciding where to go?</p>
<p>I’ve gotten no likely letters from anybody (unless my parents threw them away accidentaly), but I’ve gotten two great acceptances.</p>
<p>@FyreCracker - “My daughter is so despondent at this point, having absolutely no faith in the system, which desperately needs a major overhaul to bring it back into line.”</p>
<p>I feel for you. My S is in a similar situation and feels the same way as your daughter. I don’t know if that is comforting or not.</p>
<p>I have to agree about Amherst. The way they are conducting their “early” preferential admissions really makes a mockery of the whole process. I am so disappointed. I hope someone in admissions realizes that the candidates left out of these processes feel extremely alienated by them. I think my S, who loved the school, has a completely different feeling about it now. What does Amherst gain from doing things this way? A school that purports to be about leveling the playing field and encouraging diversity and fairness ought to take a careful look at how they are trying to achieve their goals.</p>