<p>perhaps it's just in state college that urms were the only ones to receive likely letters... the most-qualified kids in our school (valedictorian, our student who went to rsi and was an intel finalist, and more really good students) haven't heard yet, but we have urms who have heard. huge numbers from our school apply, so it wouldn't surprise me if they just did that for us.</p>
<p>why would some people receive letters and others not? and why would they send out 'likely letters' so soon before the actual acceptance letters?</p>
<p>those are both excellent questions. I believe likely letters started out as a way to let prospective athletes know that they were going to be admitted, so they didn't commit somewhere else with an earlier notification date. they've morphed into a way to let outstanding students know early, and in the cases of some colleges, are sent to almost all of the incoming class. now why schreyer's would do this I have no idea, especially so soon before the actual letter date. I thought they were above that sort of thing, but obviously not.</p>
<p>My daughter hasn't received a "likely letter" as of yet. Does anyone know approx. how many acceptance letters that SHC sends out each year? I realize that they only have about 300 enroll each year, but they've got to accept a larger number to obtain that result. </p>
<p>Her stats seem to be right in the middle of the SHC statistics:</p>
<p>SAT: 1440 (760M/680V)
ACT: 31
GPA: 4.19w
Class Rank: 1 out of ~400 (Public School)
President of Marching Band / Section Leader
District Honors Band
Elementary School Tutor
Church School Aid
Service work volunteer
Hospital volunteer
NHS
Orchestra Pit for school musicals
Softball
+ other awards & activities</p>
<p>We are hoping that this gets her in. Do you think that they will have all of the acceptance letters out by Feb. 19th?</p>
<p>Does anybody know if the quality of the experience at the honors college differs significantly that at the university in general? My son applied to Schreyer, but is afraid that he'll feel like a number at penn state. How good is this "college within a college" thing?</p>
<p>I do think it makes a big difference. The kids have their own dorms, are more likely to develop close realtionships with faculty; they have nice opportunities for travel abroad. I think the dean and her staff really do everything they can to look after the Schreyer scholars.</p>
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<p>I received a "likely letter" (actually more of a "you're in but we're not sending the official stuff until the end of month" letter) last week, and I'm not an URM. It said that they only sent these letters to about 10% of the applicants, so many more will probably get in without receiving these letters (I gather that they admit around 30%).</p>
<p>wow now i really am nervous about whether I got in or not. may I ask what the basic stats were of people who got "likely letters"? just to give myself an idea of what kind of envelope to expect in the mail next week...</p>
<p>If they sent the likely letters to 10% of the applicants, then I'm going to guess that's about 180 letters. If you're right about acceptance letters going out to 30% of applicants, then that's probably about 550 letters for 300 spots. That sounds a little high, but maybe its correct. I would think that students applying to SHC are also getting good offers from other outstanding schools. I can't find any stats on the web or in the Schreyer literature to support the acceptance letter percentage.</p>
<p>If I was not accepted into the schreyer's college, is there any chance I could take a few honors courses anyways?</p>
<p>I got the ~30% acceptance rate from the "Scholar's Day" program last fall. That was the number given by the directors of the program during the q/a session. </p>
<p>"is there any chance I could take a few honors courses anyways?"
They said that honors courses are made available to Schreyer people first and then to the rest of the student body on a space-available basis.</p>
<p>without lemon? what an interesting sn... that's cool. yeah, the honors courses are available to anyone, and really, if you check the enrollment status enough you should be able to get into any honors course you want, because someone will always drop. everyone I know who's in schreyer's is really happy w/ the program. they have extra opportunites (my cousin is building a plane), and there are a good deal of schreyer's-oriented activities when people aren't off studying. about the whole feeling lost at psu concept- usually that feeling lasts the first year or two, because people can be in huge classes and don't know anyone. honors classes help a lot in that sense, in the reduction of the class size. I'm in an honors math class right now, and we only have 12 or so people in it compared to the usual 50 you'd have in a regular class. in addition, many students who get into schreyer's have a good number of ap credits behind them, meaning they won't have to take many gen eds which often have huge classes. once students get to the 300 or so level courses, the group of people taking the classes will have dwindled, and people will generally find they know a good deal of other people in these sections. in addition, the atmosphere of schreyer's is concentrated in atherton/simmons, as opposed to places like east halls which has fourteen residence halls, which seems to help make campus seem smaller.</p>
<p>You know, this likely letter thing really has me frustrated. Perhaps they didnt expect the word to get out. We sent the application in by the end of November, albeit it was right at the wire. I was told by SHC that it was in time to be considered as meeting the deadline. I think my daughters stats and ECs are excellent and her essays were well written. I would also like to know the stats of those that received letters. Maybe the likely letters just went out to the best of the best.</p>
<p>BTW, is anyone sure that the actual acceptance letters will be out at the end of this week (Feb.19)? I thought that I heard something about them going out later in the month.</p>
<p>bsonln: My S has stats and ECs similar to your daughters's (4.6, 5/435, 1410, 770/770/700, music, job, volunteer, etc) and we didn't get a "likely" letter. He did, however, already receive admission and generous scholarships from some other institutions. I doubt that he will attend penn state if he is not accpted into the honors program.</p>
<p>lkf725: Maybe Im just overreacting due to the stress of waiting. SHC was my Ds first choice, but she has been accepted to Villanova (probably with scholarship $) and we are waiting for answers for Notre Dame and Case Western (probably with scholarship $). If she isnt accepted into Schreyer, then it will definitely make the other schools look more attractive. The problem is, she didnt apply EA to ND and Case, so that adds to the whole dilemma. We should hear from Case by Mar.1 and ND by April 1.</p>
<p>bsonln: My S applied to Case in December, but RD. We just heard that he won a presidential scholarship ($19,400/yr??)...I think Case awards alot of merit aid (see the Case subforum). Other schools have given scholarship money and/or invitations to compete for scholarship money, too. But alas, we are also waiting to hear from some schools, and the waiting is so hard! (Maybe harder on parents than student!)</p>
<p>PS - Good luck with Notre Dame. I know excellent students that were waitlisted or rejected from there...must be very competitive!</p>
<p>rumor in state college has it that they will be sent out feb 15 or 16.</p>
<p>Astro: I hope the rumor turns out to be the real thing. I thought that they wouldnt be sending the letters out until the 18th. </p>
<p>Being a SHC student yourself, what do you think of my Ds chances of being accepted? Her stats are listed a few posts back. There are several other ECs that I didnt list. She is undecided as far as her major is concerned. I didnt know if that would have an adverse affect on her getting in. Penn State and State College provide such a great atmosphere and its only 2hr. 45 min. from home, since we are from an eastern Pittsburgh suburb. Plus the advantages of the small school type arrangement that Schreyer offers really makes it a perfect choice.</p>
<p>did anyone apply for the braddock science scholarship or know when we are notified of other aid?</p>
<p>I applied for Braddock, I don't know when we are notified though.</p>