Daughter got her first college acceptance, yay! It’s from a small LAC. I was so impressed though b/c on the acceptance letter that was mailed there was a handwritten note about her essay that showed they actually read her essay and it was such a thoughtful note. We never expected that and just wondering is that common at the smaller colleges or not?
Nice. Every school does things differently. My D’s LAC referenced her ECs and essay in their typed acceptance letter which we all thought was a personal and thoughtful touch.
Congrats on your D’s acceptance.
The University of Rochester did this for me in the typed letter, and as @happy1 points out, this tends to be more common among LACs or small schools (Trinity U, Southwestern U, and Juniata College handwrote some info about my app off of the top of my head.)
From having watched college decision reactions on YouTube, some of the uber-selective schools (Columbia, Stanford etc.) do have AOs that will handwrite comments on your physical admission letter, though this is probably an individual decision and only done for the applications that truly spoke to the individual AO.
Harvard and Stanford had handwritten notes on my acceptance letters. But seems more common for LACs
Colgate also includes a personal handwritten note. D20’s was not about her essay but about something written in one of her recommendations.
Honestly though, especially if it’s your dream school, the acceptance letter itself is what matters----whether or not it has a handwritten note on it.
I know a small LAC where the Vice President for Enrollment Management writes a brief note on the typed admission letter.
My younger son got one with a holiday card from U of Chicago. It was nice to know they appreciated his humor. (His essay which started off listing all the reasons why UC was wrong for him.) I think there’s a bit of marketing going on here, but still nice to get.
Both of ,our kids had comments about their essays on some acceptance letters.
DD was accepted to 4 of the 5 she applied to…and had a comment on two letters. Her comments were detailed and clearly showed the person read and enjoyed her essay.
Ds was accepted to 6 of the 7 he applied to…and had comments on 2. His comments were more generic…but still nice.
In both cases, these were smaller schools.
My son’s small LAC added personal comments in his acceptance as well. He also got a postcard from the student he interviewed w/. It’s a really nice touch!!
More common at LACs, my son had been admitted to a handful of LACs where he had interviewed and visited each several times as a recruited athlete. He received handwritten notes with his acceptances from a number of schools, commenting on his essays and/or how he would contribute to campus community. A lovely, warm touch from Admissions that certainly helped the process feel more humane!
As a parent, I have to admit I was even more impressed by one school where he received a postcard from his prospective teammates urging him to choose their school. I figured any coach who could get a bunch of 18-22 year old guys to write a post card to a 17 year old could do just about anything they set their mind to! My kid did not choose that school, but I was impressed at how devoted the players were to their coach.
Son got a handwritten note on his acceptance letter from Yale. I was so proud, until I realized that many (if not all) acceptance letters had a handwritten note 
Still, kudos for going the extra mile foot for Yale AO.
Columbia, Whitman, and Reed’s admissions officers wrote my daughter personalized notes. I became teary-eyed when reading them, especially Columbia’s, because I felt as though they “got” her.
Congratulations to your daughter, Peachpie! It is definitely a nice touch and makes everything feel more personal. Only a handful of schools had handwritten notes for my kids. I recall the AO from Harvard wrote one of my kids a separate handwritten note on a notecard mailed separately but not the other kid ;-). I also remember a note on the acceptance letter from Middlebury, because it was funny (in a good way). While I totally agree with Pikachoo that the acceptance letter itself is what matters, it was a good reminder to me and my kids that it’s always worth going an extra step to write nice thank you notes, etc etc because it sure does make people feel extra good. I have no idea if they write only to their top choices, or kids they think they may lose, or their particular personal favorites, or if it’s more a matter of having a few hours of free time and the first 200 in the pile get a note! But I agree it’s a nice touch, and a reminder to us that there are real people behind these decisions.
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My D had many handwritten notes from state schools.
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Not handwritten, but typed within the body of the acceptance letter from one school (small LAC) was a reference to the topic she wrote about in her essay. It was a nice touch!
S19 had two handwritten notes mailed directly to him from alumni of Penn State after his acceptance. They each noted S19’s interests (which were clearly mentioned in his essay). He still keeps in touch with one of the note writers.
He also received a handwritten card from a student at U Del mentioning their encounter at an Open House.