<p>Has anyone gotten letters from the schools they are applying to? Others than letters and catalogs from the "request informaiton"?</p>
<p>It’s marketing to get more people to apply. The number of admits from year to year is relatively fixed. If more people apply for a certain number of spots, the admission rate goes down. Admission rate is one of the factors used by US News&WR to rank colleges.</p>
<p>Only Likely letters matter. Anything else is just a way to get more applicants/lower admission rate/raise USNWR rank/get more money from application fees.</p>
<p>i see. when do schools usually send likely letters? are they frequent?</p>
<p>^no they’re not. And I dont think most schools send them. </p>
<p>anyway, all these letters you’re getting? they mean NOTHING. They just want as many applicants as possible. Don’t take them to heart.</p>
<p>Generally, all of the “low income students” using fee waivers with “decent stats” won’t even be admitted or seriously reviewed, so they benefit greatly from the decreased admissions rate.</p>
<p>really? are they those who raise the number of applicants to top schools every year?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The Ivies can use Likely Letters between Oct 1 and March 31. However, only a smallish percentage of the admitted class ever gets one. Don’t stress if you don’t (e.g. Yale sends out about 200-300 out of the 1950 they eventually admit). Some non-Ivies also use the Likely letters.</p>
<p>Versii: where do you get this notion about “fee waiver” students with “decent stats” are automatically worse off than not? Given that many of the eight Ivies have need blind admissions, your statement seems counter to prevailing practice. At least for my HYP alma mater.</p>
<p>I also resist the notion that the USNWR rankings force marketing decisions by the tippy top schools. Some people believe that they take actions solely to protect or improve their rankings – get more apps, admit rate goes down, prestige increases. Their marketing practices to get their name out in front of the best students has been long going and doesn’t change much year to year – regardless of the USNWR stuff. Why is it surprising that many more students today seek an Ivy admission given 1) more info about their inherent attractiveness, 2) common app and 3) fantastic financial aid.</p>
<p>Being an Ivy alum, I can attest that this so-called prestige that others convey to the Ivy schools – isn’t much thought of by us frankly. I’ve never met a fellow Ivy alum who voiced much concern about this. Nor do I care either. It’s mostly outsiders who place so much emphasis on such shallow tools as the USNWR list. For us, it’s “been there done that” and many of us have learned to value deeper things than lists. And that there is much to be valued in others beyond what school conveyed their diploma. I’ve worked in the NFP sector most of my adult life. I don’t give much of a flip what degree if any, my associates have. I hope to think that I value things of more substance.</p>