@iagoboy1 My good friend got a likely letter yesterday. Caucasian female, not a minority. No hook. Columbia College. Biology.
@clueless96 I know so many students that have gotten into Columbia in last 3 years. None have gotten likely letters. They send to about 200 applicants. Out of >30,000. Why do you think that means you won’t be accepted? Judging from your record, you would be. It’s possible they haven’t reviewed your file yet. It’s still February. Apparently there is another wave in March, if you go by last year’s threads. And most accepted students NEVER get one. So don’t read anything into it.
Got a likely letter, am white, no hooks. Applied for physics and classics. Got 2370 on my SAT, and have a couple fairly prestigious ECs, but nothing at all like ISEF/ RSI.
@toofless and @ReadyfortheWind Congratulations so happy to hear!! 5 kids applied ed at our school and the guidance office said my son was the most likely to get in. Columbia accepted 4 of the 5 at ED. My son got deferred, all 4 had hooks of diversity or an athlete so we were discouraged. Classics definitely a major Columbia loves, as someone got in last year from our school with that major. Curious was Columbia your first choice? My son got in early at Chicago but he is not Ready for the Wind.
How Reliable are Likely Letters? The LL is the college’s commitment to the student. Only tremendous student foul ups (grades drop off a cliff, criminal activity, fraudulent application materials, etc.) would cause a reversal. But then again, these would cause a college to rescind a regular admissions offer, too.
@T26E4 - That’s really nice to know. This letter + my family’s reaction have made me paranoid. They assume that it’s what the title implies “likely” but not certain. So, this really is equally as certain as an acceptance? I’d be so disappointed if, come March 31st, I discovered it wasn’t.
I second the question raised by @iagoboy1 … Do deferred applicants (non-athlete) receive likely letters as well? It seems like everyone who has gotten a letter applied for RD.
@aspenz and everyone else who asked this question, it wouldn’t make sense to hand out likely letters to deferred people. If they wanted to give you a likely letter, they would rather have just accepted you ED. The point of a likely letter is to let applicants who they think will get accepted by other top schools that they really want them. If someone applies ED (binding), they would have no reason to send them a likely letter. They already know they are committed to the school. Don’t worry. Very few people get these letters. It is not a reflection on your abilities if you don’t get one.
Anonymoose3- good for you on your LL! I hope that you did the right thing and represented yourself ethically in your race/ethnicity. You also need to be careful in how much info you give out on the Internet in such a public forum. When someone gives out so much info on their stats about accolades, geographic location and private school- well they are traceable. And how someone has posted on public forums may not look favorable later. Wish you well.
