<p>Or is that strictly Ivy schools? I had never heard of them before...but several people have mentioned getting them at other schools.</p>
<p>No, not ND</p>
<p>Explain these to me please.</p>
<p>Likely letters are a ploy Ivy League schools like to use. If you are one of their top schools, they send you a letter saying you are "extremely likely" to be accepted (basically telling you you are in before everyone else) to try to convince you to go to their school. I think it is stupid honestly but oh well.</p>
<p>My understanding is a lot of these schools spend a fortune and go through all sorts of strange rituals, to be able to maneuver the stats to get rankings from college ranking services such as US News & World Report (apparently the most egregious, as far as dependence on statistics, and the ability to make college brass jump through their hoops.)</p>
<p>Two big statistics they want are low acceptance rates--lower the better--and high enrollment rates, particularly in the EA phase. In other words, they send out the fancy stuff to kids they get on lists from SAT, ACT and other places, making them feel special, so they can apply, boost the stats of the applicant pool, and form part of the huge proportion of applicants that don't get in. Harvard and some of the biggies have acceptance rates well under 20%. Seems odd they would spend so much money on people they know they will likely reject--you should have seen the virtual coffee table book Yale sent my son because he had a high ACT, despite the fact they'd not seen any of his other stats and more than likely would not have taken him. If you think courting someone like a lovestruck suitor, only to be able to boost the number of students rejected, is dysfunctional, welcome to the wacky world of college admissions, Ivy-style. They don't do it to be mean, mind you, but because that 86% rejection rate will stand up better than an 84% one when all the numbers are crunched.</p>
<p>Think BCS...college admissions style.</p>
<p>Love, however, is a one-way street in this game, as the ranking services want to see the highest number of kids accepted, who actually choose to attend the university to which they applied. This statistic is best enhanced through the EA process--or, in the case of many of the top-tier schools, the early decision process, which is binding. Obviously, binding early decision is a nice way to boost the stat--if you get in, you are pretty much locked in, thus ensuring a very high percentages of applicants enrolled.</p>
<p>Goofy, isn't it?</p>
<p>Nice thing about ND is that the Ivy's and other academic elites already snub them because far too many of them believe organized religion is the domain of the intellectually inferior. Correction, that's what they think. What they <em>say</em> is that the obvious Roman Catholic identity of the place limits intellectual diversity. Thus, despite how gifted the student body, peer institutions will always do their darndest to keep Notre Dame out of their Ivy club. </p>
<p>Best thing of all, Notre Dame doesn't give a cr**. </p>
<p>One of the many reasons I love the place!</p>
<p>Amen dd. What I hate about a lot of these schools (the worst of which in my opinion, Wash U, I applied to) make a game out of admissions and they forget the students who have to play the game. When you look at admissions nowadays it is so trivial, and unfortunately it only gets worse with graduate admissions. I literally had a professor tell me that he would throw out any graduate Psychology application with a essay that exceeded the word limits because that applicant clearly "couldn't follow directions." Another told me that they would draw a line where they thought the cutoff would be and would only read to the line. It is a game up here in grad admissions and unfortunately at most places it is in undergrad admissions as well. Colleges have forgotten that there are students who care deeply about the decision, and the decision can change their life.</p>
<p>I don't believe Notre Dame plays these games and I am thankful for that. Dan Saracino still personally signs all of the letters, not just the acceptances (I think at least, at least my rejection looks pretty official) and you can tell that everyone here really cares. Dan Saracino rejected his own son (who later transferred in and graduated from ND) because he just didn't have the stats he needed. That still amazes and impresses me. The man lives what he preaches.</p>
<p>Anyways, stepping off the soapbox, I agree that Notre Dame doesn't play these games (other than Malloy I don't know how much we really care about the US News rankings) and I am so thankful we don't. It is important to remember that the people you play games with today are your future members of the Notre Dame family and benefactors.</p>
<p>D attends UNC-Chapel Hill--they supposedly send out "love letters" to the likely prospects--thought that was amusing.</p>
<p>D didn't get in as an OOS freshman despite good grades, legacy, and NMQT comended honors--but did transfer in and is as happy as can be--ND "too cold for her."</p>