Early writes

<p>No way lol. I just played JV.</p>

<p>

whoa. what little yellow cards? did everyone get those? all I had were 2 white sheets of paper and 1 green one. D:</p>

<p>To answer your question coin, yes it is. So you have to decide on or before the 26th whether you want to go or not, without knowledge of most of your (more highly ranked, im assuming) colleges.</p>

<p>And chibi, I got that yellow card as well. They ask you to send it in with the rest of your stuff, so you might want to contact an admissions person.</p>

<p>Brian</p>

<p>Chibi: I got the same sheets as you, with no little yellow card. What exactly is on the yellow card? I live near Swat, so if it has anything to do with travel plans that may explain why I didn’t receive one.</p>

<p>Congrats to the other early writes! Look forward to meeting you guys at RTT :)</p>

<p>I would call Swarthmore and ask about the 3/26 deadline. That is before regular RD acceptances for Swarthmore even come out…</p>

<p>OMG i got accepted already too YAY lol</p>

<p>Got mine too! NorCal. Congrats all!</p>

<p>Can those who received the early letter maybe post their stats? I didn’t get one and it’s kind of worrying me.
Anyway, epic congrats to you guys.</p>

<p>Don’t worry that you haven’t gotten a letter. Most of the RD acceptances will go out later this month.</p>

<p>Elanorci,</p>

<p>No need to worry if you did not receive an early write. The MAJORITY of students DO NOT receive one! </p>

<p>Early write letters usually go to students that the colleges feel are likely to be offered admission at a number of equally selective schools and the college wants to make sure that the student knows that he or she is wanted at the institution, usually because they fill some sort of niche. It could be a viola player, a fencing champion, a member of an under-represented group, usually someone who somehow rounds out the population of the college. The colleges want to make an impression upon the student by letting them know before the students are bombarded with acceptances. - - So take a deep breath and just wait patiently. (I know, I know, easier said than done!) </p>

<p>Swarthmore asks in the letter that students refrain from sharing the news until the regular decisions are received in order to avoid what is happening to you and the majority of other applicants who will not hear until the end of the month. I realize that it is exciting to receive one, but it is very un-Swarthmorean that so many students are ignoring the school’s reasonable request and posting their great news before the regular decision letters begin to arrive. The climate at Swarthmore is one of cooperation and modesty. Posting before RD letters begin to arrive is just not in keeping with the spirit of the school…</p>

<p>^Interesting that Swarthmore makes that request; I haven’t seen it in any other likely/early write letters (though I’ve not received any myself, I have read friends’ from various schools).</p>

<p>Keilexandra,</p>

<p>The request is probably rooted in Swarthmore’s egalitarian culture which is permeated by respect and consideration towards others. </p>

<p>Unlike other schools where grade obsession and competition are the norm, students at Swarthmore tend not only to not discuss grades, but to help one another with academic work. There seems to be very little bragging and students tend to be considerate of each other. The school does not rank and does not report GPA’s. Therefore, asking accepted students to wait before spreading the news would seem consistent so that the other applicants, who are still waiting, do not feel less deserving.</p>

<p>^I wouldn’t say that Swarthmore is necessarily unique in its egalitarian culture, though that culture is one reason why I love it so.</p>

<p>In practical terms, cynical me thinks that it’s useless to make the request… I suppose it would stop people from posting it publicly on Facebook, but it’s unreasonable to expect a happy acceptee to hedge or lie in response to a friend asking whether they received any likelies/early writes (that specific question does happen a lot at competitive high schools).</p>

<p>Also, people have brought up early writes on this board much before people posted that they had received them this year. So those on CC would know they exist regardless…</p>

<p>It seems to me that there is something decidedly un “egalitarian” about likely letters and the request to keep it to yourself. As in lets just keep this our little secret between you & me that we want you more.</p>

<p>coskat,</p>

<p>The likely letter does not mean we want you more. It only means that we are through with your application and we want you to know that you are admitted. Colleges often work until the very end to decide who is in and who is out. The request is intended to avoid the “rub in” attitude of some applicants and their parents who go around posting acceptances as though they were trophies, many times from colleges to which they applied but which they never intended to attend…</p>

<p>^Early writes/likely letters only go out to the most highly desired applicants–those whom the college thinks will receive acceptances from peer schools. This is not a secret. Early writes are certainly not sent out “rolling.”</p>

<p>Keilexandra,</p>

<p>I did not mean to imply that early writes were “rolling admissions decisions.” In my earlier post I stated that the letters were sent to students expected to receive acceptances from other equally selective colleges before they were bombarded with acceptances. </p>

<p>It is a fact, however, that admissions offices work until the very last minute often going back and forth on many of the decisions they are about to make. The early writes, however, are applicants that the school would love to have and about which there is no doubt left.</p>

<p>

contradicts

By definition, applicants that the school would love to have–i.e. not borderline–are those that the school wants more, relative to the rest of the applicants admitted after much discussion.</p>

<p>This is my last post on the matter. You can twist around the meaning as much as you want. I am not debating this.</p>

<p>What I stated was not contradictory. Early writes are applicants about which there is no doubt on the part of the school and who fit some sort of niche. It could be geographic, athletic, ethnicity, academic interest, artistic accomplishments, whatever. There are plenty of other applicants that the school wants, but who are not getting an early letter and who are just as deserving of their admission. </p>

<p>It does not matter whether the letter comes early or at the regular time. The only thing that matters is that a student gets into the school of their choice and is able to attend or that if they do not get into the school of their choice they quickly learn that there are many other wonderful schools where they can be happy. </p>

<p>I only posted because I was beginning to get the sense that the thread was going to get into one of those awful cc listings of pseudo accomplishments and meaningless numbers, that say nothing about the individual and that do more harm than good.</p>

<p>To those of you who are waiting, I wish you all the best.</p>