<p>This might have been discussed already, but...do acceptance letters come in normal envelopes at all? I applied to a bunch of ivies and top tier schools, but so far, chicago and michigan have both given me packets, and my MIT defer was a normal envelope, so i never got the suspense of opening a letter and not know what was inside. If i choose to get no online decisions around april, will they be in envelopes, or big huge packages that will ruin the surprise? lol sillly question i know, but enlighten me</p>
<p>the reason i wanna do this is, i want to stack up all my letters and open them all at the same time. I feel like this'll be a better way than online decisions</p>
<p>Lol, but what if they're all rejections? That would be crazy painful. Opening rejection after rejection after rejection... I'd rather get them online as soon as they come out.</p>
<p>Basically, if it's a big envelope, it's an acceptance. No surprise. If it's a small one, it's probably a waitlist or rejection. Some schools send small envelope acceptances (I know a friend of mine got her Cornell ILR acceptance in a small envelope, before the official Ivy decision release date so it was a surprise), but not too many, I think.</p>
<p>If it's a big envelope, I'd venture to say it's an acceptance, simply because I can't imagine a school that rejects you would have much to say to you (beyond we're sorry we couldn't take you, good luck with life, bye).</p>
<p>If, however, it's a small envelope, I wouldn't necessarily take that to be a rejection or waitlist... my brother's Cornell acceptance, as la montagne said, came in a regular envelope (although that <em>was</em> the official Ivy decision release date, for him). The big packet with all of his enrollment information came a week or two later, I believe. I'm pretty sure that scenario held true for a good number of his friends. So don't panic if it's small! ^_^ I mean, we still have a good four months to ponder it, I guess...</p>
<p>I've heard more and more schools are sending acceptances in small envelopes (with enrollment materials to follow in a later mailing) so that people don't see the small envelope and get depressed and throw it away right away.</p>
<p>Not kidding. When one school e-mailed me to confirm the receipt of all of my materials, there was a line to clarify that "All notifications, whether acceptance, deferrals for consideration with the regular admissions pool, or denial, will be sent in regular #9 window envelopes."</p>
<p>Some schools send just the acceptance letter and the reply postcard, and don't send the rest of the forms and info until you accept your place in the class. That saves them a significant amount of money in copying, postage and administrative costs.</p>
<p>Yeah Georgetown's acceptance letter is exactly the same size as the rejection. just slightly thicker (3 pieces of paper vs. 1). it killed me. they should tell you these things before hand.</p>
<p>I knew Georgetown's letters were standard size for all, and that acceptances were supposed to be thicker. When I got my envelope however, I was initially sad because I didn't think it was thick enough. Happy surprise though :)</p>
<p>My acceptance letter came in a small, innocent looking envelope. It was a better quality envelope than most though, some kind of cotton or w.e they make it out of.</p>