I got a likely letter!

<p>when Yale was ED, they had about 2000 early applicants...with EA (last year) they had 4000. Plus, if you do early, it should CLEARLY be your first choice. If the financial aid is not enough, you can always get out of ED. Thats why I wish Yale were ED.</p>

<p>you only apply early to your first choice school. or unless your first choice school is say mit and you are intl and u cant apply early. then it make sense for you to apply ea to a school. but if you applied to a school and its not ur first choice, then whats the point of applying early there? why not to your real first choice school? don't tell me you dont have a first choice school. then you should probably do more research on all the big names.</p>

<p>There are lots of sources out there that say you need to apply SOMEWHERE early, even if you aren't sure what your first choice is (ie: The Early Admissions Game). The statistics show that chances of getting in somewhere regular decision are significantly lower than if you apply early. If you don't have a clear first choice, it absolutely makes sense to apply to an EA or SCEA school. </p>

<p>I'm not saying that Yale isn't my first choice (it absolutely is). My point was simply that its not the first choice for everyone that applies there SCEA.</p>

<p>although,...Yales EA yield last year was 88%...which shows it was the first choice to most all who applied...or maybe they only accepted those who they thought for sure would matriculate? probably not....</p>

<p>That's a valid point. However, also remember that last year there was a dramatic increase in early applications to Yale. I really don't think that its a coincidence that the increase coincided with Yale's change from ED to SCEA. </p>

<p>Additionally, its not an unheard of admissions strategy to admit applicants that are more likely to matriculate. </p>

<p>All I said was that not every applicant that applies to Yale early considers Yale their first choice. With SCEA, they don't have to make any commitment to Yale as they would have with ED. I'm not sure why that's such a revolutionary or controversial idea.</p>

<p>yeah, im applying Yale reg, but i applied to Stanford EA, but loopholes allowed me to apply to three other schools also - im not really sure what my first choice is yet. haha.</p>

<p>where else did you apply? were the other schools rolling?</p>

<p>this might sound dumb, but would someone explain rolling admissions to me?</p>

<p>Rolling admissions mean that you can apply at anytime and they fill the class as the applications come in. It's beneficial to get your application in early when there are more spots open in the class.</p>

<p>I agree that it makes perfect sense to apply EA to a school that isn't your first choice. However, it's sad that some of those who get in EA may not actually want to go there (and may end up turning it down) as badly as some of us!!</p>

<p>Yeah, I was so bummed when I didn't get a likely letter from Yale after likelies from Cornell and Dartmouth. I didn't even expect to get in RD, even though common sense dictated that not every acceptee was going to receive one.</p>

<p>I certainly agree, wmgan. That's why I wish Yale still had ED.</p>

<p>Was Yale's acceptance rate much different back when it was ED?</p>

<p>In the early round, it was practically double.</p>

<p>gianivve,
20 people got them for RD as reported on the Yale Daily News or Yale Herald. Can't remember which. Definitely not 10% (that's like 200!)</p>

<p>thanks for the answers. I guess I wish it would be ED too then. I'm sure you're right that it's not a coincidence that the early applications doubled wilth the change to EA. Seems like there should be some little reward for committing to the school early.....like having your chances increase a little bit...no matter how small. There would be a lot of comfort in that.</p>

<p>the loopholes i had were public university, rolling admissions and scholarship program deadline forcing me to apply early</p>

<p>Yale does send out "likely letters" for EA applicants. Ivy League schools use "likely letters" for EA/ED applicants because the DI early National Letter of Intent signing period for scholarship schools is November 10th to the 17th. The "likely letter" helps Ivy League schools secure athletes who might otherwise have signed a NLI with another school.</p>

<p>I am looking at my likely letter for Yale EA right now (with a great sense of relief) it states : "It gives me great pleasure to tell you that we have completed a preliminary review of your application and are awarding it a "likely" rating." The letter is about half of a page and it came as a nice relief. If more details are wanted just ask!! Oh and its a nice bonus that it is signed by the dean of admissions with a hand written "come to yale!!"</p>

<p>lucky lucky. why do you think you got it? sports? great grades?</p>