<p>I’ve heard of a few students getting emails in the past that basically meant they were admitted but they got them prior to decisions being posted. Anyone know of certain kinds of emails that go out that indicate you’d be accepted prior to these admissions? I’m under the assumption that UCs tend to “recycle” emails and send rather generic ones (since there are so many applicants), but there have to be specific aspects of an email that fit the bill of a “likely” letter.</p>
<p>Btw is one way to distinguish generic letters from likely letters the disclaimer about the email “not constituting” admission? I recognize how foolish the question sounds but I was thinking that could have been somewhat of a generic disclaimer that they just attached to emails as a formality.</p>
<p>For Cal, the email informing you that you won a Regents Scholarship is essentially a likely letter. At least through last year, nobody receiving one was known to not be offered admission. </p>
<p>I hear that UCLA Regents letters are a bit less certain, as some who win the scholarship do not receive an admissions offer on the official notification date.</p>
<p>UCSB will invite the top candidates to a reception prior to official notification. That invitation is a likely letter, as you will be told at the reception that you are going to receive a yes.</p>
<p>UC does NOT send likely letters – they can’t afford the postage stamps. No, an invitation to a Regent’s is not a likely letter, in the sense that schools back east use them - an invitation to a Regent’s is just that, an invitation to apply for a scholarship. But yes they do tell you acceptance has been approved if/when you attend the meeting.</p>
<p>Sorry if I didn’t write it clearly , I was not not talking about an invitation to apply email, but a Cal applicant receiving a letter notifying them they have been selected to receive the scholarship (won it). That has been a likely letter for Cal at least in past years, whether it uses the language or not. </p>
<p>The UC campuses want to win hearts and minds of the most attractive applicants, as do the east coast schools sending out likely letters. To do that, they want to jump ahead of the ‘official’ notification dates. Whether they use sleight of hand such as the modifier ‘likely’, or winks, nudges, or unrecorded verbal confirmations, they all want their top candidates to move to the next mental stage for applicants - sorting schools that accepted them and picking their top choice. When you have a school that you know will accept you, you start thinking in that next stage and maybe learning more about it. Since the applicant doesn’t have to reply until the official notification date, what other advantage would there be to giving out ‘likely’ notices to a subset?</p>
<p>UCSB uses a meeting invitation email and verbal confirmation during the reception, as their ‘likelies’ extend beyond just regents scholarship winners. They invite other very attractive candidates and the entire group are already marked for admissions offers, as they will candidly say during the meeting. Maybe if UCSB takes this extra step and pays attention to an applicant, but a UCSD or UCD does not, the feeling of being ‘wanted’ may push the student into filing a SIR for Santa Barbara.</p>
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<p>ONLY on cc, and the kids who make this stuff up. :)</p>
<p>A likely is a letter from a school that says that we have not yet made an official decision, but we expect that you will receive an offer letter on March xx. In other words, admission is LIKELY.</p>
<p>Cal’s letter says: come visit next weekend and talk to a prof about a scholarship. When you arrive at the meeting, they say, ‘Congrats, you are IN’. It is not “likely” but a firm acceptance.</p>
<p>SD/SB/UCLA Eng do the exact same when they hold early receptions. They are not likelies, but official word from the Chancellor/Dean that the attendees have been accepted. There is nothing ‘likely’ about it. It’s a done deal.</p>