Likelies:What has Dartmouth sent you?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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<p>Hi Jelomom,</p>

<p>While there is a joint statement of the ivy league schools where they agree not to release RD admissions decisions until April 1 (or in this case march 29 as April 1 falls over the weekend schools that are not part of the ivy league can essentially send admissions decisions whenever they want while all colleges hold to the same national common reply date of May 1), the agreement states that they can also send out likely letters (each school chooses for themselves whether or not they are going to send out likely letters). This year Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell and Brown are sending out likely letters (Dionysus states that variuos members of this forum have acknowledged one from harvard, yale, dartmouth, cornell, and columbia thus far this year. )</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=312229%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=312229&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>On Dartmouth's website it states:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Admissions Offices at each Ivy school may offer some athletic and other candidates a "likely" letter, which has the effect of a formal letter of admission provided the candidate continues to have a satisfactory secondary school experience. Coaches may initiate the requests for these letters, but only the office of admission can issue a "likely" letter.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/apply/admissions/firstyear/fineprint/ivyleague.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.dartmouth.edu/apply/admissions/firstyear/fineprint/ivyleague.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In section 3 of the Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy Group Admission Procedure addresses early evaluation:</p>

<p>
[quote]

As determined by each institution, admissions offices may choose to advise applicants of the probability of admission (e.g., likely, possible, unlikely). Institutions may issue such probabilistic communications only in writing, from the office of admission. Such letters will have the effect of letters of admission, to be confirmed on the common notification date, subject to revocation only on the same terms as letters of admission.</p>

<p>b. Within each institution’s overall admissions process, from October 1 through March 15 an admissions office may issue probabilistic communications, in writing, to applicants who are recruited student-athletes. (such communications given by coaches, whether orally or in writing, do not constitute binding institutional commitments.) An applicant who receives one or more such written communications and who has made a decision to matriculate at one institution is encouraged (but not required) to notify all other institutions, and to withdraw all other applications, as promptly as possible.</p>

<p>d. An institution may send a “likely” probabilistic communication letter to a candidate (whether or not the applicant is a recruited student-athlete) only if the applicant has submitted all of the materials which the institution requires in order to make an admissions decision.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/utilities/faq/Common_Ivy_Statement.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/utilities/faq/Common_Ivy_Statement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
My interpretation from the conversation is that they have made their decisions and notified those people, with a few possible exceptions. If you have received a likely letter, you are in, if you haven't don't count on it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I know this can be very frustrating and it is going to be a long 7 days until official decisions are released a week from today. Keep in mind that Dartmouth only sends out approximately 500 likely letters but will send out about 1800 admissions letters so the majority of the class admitted RD **willl not get a likely letter **.</p>

<p>All i can say at this point is to hang in there.</p>

22

<p>Hello Sybbie719-</p>

<p>Thank you for your letter explaining the individual school's rights to interpret the date as they wish, yet their admission page says nothing other than March 29 as the date notice will be made. Waiting isn't the issue, in my opinion, it's that everyone doesn't have access to the same information.</p>

<p>My point is, why not state that from the beginning? Why should some folks have access to admissions information and others not? We all have the same tight schedules to work with, transportation costs to consider, family dynamics to work around, scheduling to figure out, finances to examine, alternatives to consider, the list goes on. Why should some applicants at one school have more time to consider these important issues than others. </p>

<p>I have to commend Wellsley College which sends out letters with likely, possible or not likely to all applicants and not just some.</p>

<p>I can not help but worry about an institution that can not be forthright from the beginning. </p>

<p>Like I said earlier, no one said this process was fair. Just one more example.</p>

23

<p>Jelo,</p>

<p>I totally agree that there could & should be more transparancy in the overall college admissions process and at some level the frenzy has gotten out of hand. </p>

<p>Usually there is an article in the Dartmouth about likely letters but I don't remember seeing one this year.</p>

<p>When my D applied to Dartmouth we knew nothing about likely letters and it did scare her just a bit to get a thin envelope in the mail before the april 1 decision date. She picked up the mail when she was going out to walk the dog. She came back in the house a few minutes later and I saw her with a letter in her hand, crying and without her dog , I did not know what to think as I thought something happened to the dog :eek:</p>

24

<p>Sybbie-</p>

<p>I am happy the dog was OK!! </p>

<p>Yes, it is exactly the transparancy you mention and equal treatment that I am commenting on. Notifying some candidates and not others is not placing everyone on equal footing. I really don't care which schools do it, and which don't. But as a parent, I will urge my child to give more serious consideration to the schools which play by the stated rules. Why make a policy and then not adhere to it? Makes you wonder how the four years of undergraduate will go too. "Do they really mean what they say", or are they telling others differently.</p>

<p>Just my opinion here</p>

25

<p>
[quote]
But as a parent, I will urge my child to give more serious consideration to the schools which play by the stated rules. Why make a policy and then not adhere to it?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>The college admissions process is never going to place everyone on equal footing as there will always be hooked applicants in the admissions process (legacies, developmental admits, URMs, athletes, celebrities, etc) and schools build their community of learners differently. </p>

<p>Colleges that send out marketing materials do not send them out to every prospective freshman but more to students that they want to attract for one reason or another.</p>

<p>Dartmouth's stated policy is that they release admissions decisions on april 1 but since it is not a business day the decisions are being released on Friday the 29th. That is what they will do, they will release their official decisions on this day. However, they also do not hide the fact that they send out likely letters (they state it in their newsletter, in the school newspaper and on their website, and the likley letters are mentioned in each of the Ivies joint statement). </p>

<p>The decision as to whether or not to use the likely letter during the RD process is at the discretion of the individual school and does not make a school to play more by the rules, or a school that uses the process to play less by the rules. I remember the day after my D got her likely letter from Dartmouth, she got a letter from Williams. Since I was reading more post on the Williams forum at that time, I had heard about Early Write letters. I thought that my D received an Early write letter pretty much stating the same thing that Dartmouth had stated however, she got a straight out admissions letter. She applied to 7 schools during her cycle and with the exception of Tufts, she had heard from all of them before this elusive April 1 date (which was on a weekday during her cycle)</p>

<p>I understand how someone can have a love hate thing with the likely letter. The letter was supposed to help but a student at ease, but ends up causing even more tension in what is already a really stressful process.</p>

<p>However, I would not let this cloud my opinion of the school. I can't believe that my D is going back next week to wrap up junior year. For her, she went to Dimensions, called home and said made her decision to go to school in Hanover . She's never looked back on her decision and for the most part she has had a wonderful experience at Dartmouth. In my experience as a parent having to deal with the school on a variety of things over the years, the administration is very to work with and never said anything that they did not deliver on.</p>

<p>The great thing about all of this is that the angst and what you feel about the process will be a thing of the past as everyone will be at their schools and this process will be a thing of the past.</p>

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<p>VERY VERY FEW People in the Ivy League get Likely letters. Yale only sends about 100 out every year and Stanford sends 60. Keep in mind this is in a pool of ~20,000 applicants although it's probably less for Dartmouth.</p>

27

<p>Point well made that there are many places in which the admissions process is not equal</p>

<p>"legacies, developmental admits, URMs, athletes, celebrities, etc",
"Colleges that send out marketing materials do not send them out to every prospective freshman but more to students that they want to attract for one reason or another" (SORRY, I haven't mastered the quote yet"</p>

<p>It is good to know that your daughter has had a good experience, for the most part, at Dartmouth. Also, that you have found the school approachable. All things being even, so much of the college decision process is made from a gut feeling. A decision can come from many factors, some more subtle, such as simple communications, intution, enthusiasim, friendliness, etc. My gut is troubled by the use of this indiscriminate "likely" practice. As I mentioned earlier, some schools use this likely letter across the board for ALL students, a much more respectable process, in my opinion.</p>

<p>I can only say, in reviewing the information that we have received regarding our application process, prematriculation status, never mentioned the "likely letter. From receipt of the application, Dartmouth only mentions the March 29th date. Clearly, a closer review would have surfaced some places that indicate they have the option to do differently.</p>

<p>Oh well, there is much to learn in this whole process and I have already done it several times.</p>

28

<p>i havent gotten anything else besides the letter.</p>

29

<p>I received the likely letter, a request for more financial aid forms, Dimensions info, and the minority newsletter. I can't decide if I want to take the bus from Boston to Hanover, which is longer, but I'll get to meet people sooner, or whether to drive up with my parents. </p>

<p>Anyway, I think likely letters achieve their purpose, and they actually decrease a ton of stress for the recipients. I'm definitely considering Dartmouth more now. And, jelomom, Brown does send likely letters, as does all the other Ivies and Stanford.</p>

30

<p>Arwen,</p>

<p>Congrats on gettin a likely letter. Just throwing in my $.02, I think you should definitely take the bus because it will give you an opportunity to meet and chat with your prospective classmates and begin the bonding process. </p>

<p>if your parents are coming up to check out the school, that is fine, well & good, they can drive up (besides, you will not be spending much time with them.)</p>

31

<p>So kids who got in ED don't get invited to Dimensions and don't get the opportunity to meet lots of classmates. Life's not fair!!</p>

<p>I'm sort of making a joke -- obviously my son continues to be thrilled with his early acceptance. But in the overall scheme of things, Gee, Dimensions would have been fun.</p>

<p>Really, this is a joke. Sort of.</p>

32

<p>Arwen-</p>

<p>I stand corrected, it appears that Brown too has caved in this year to the deceitful practice of sending likely letters to only a small percentage of their applicant pool, while stringing the remaining applicants until the official notification date of March 29. Whatever that really means!</p>

<p>You are correct, the likely letters must reduce a great deal of stress for the receipents. You and your parents are quite lucky to be apart of the few. You obviously have plenty of time to consider all of your options, financial, scheduling, transportation method for the Dimensions weekend; unlike the vast majority of the candidates. </p>

<p>Congratulations on your early acceptance. I am certain that you have earnied the right to special priveledges.</p>

33

<p>Hi Very Happy,</p>

<p>While EDer's are not "invited" to Dimensions, they are more than welcome to attend ( my D and her roommated hosted 2 ED students when they were freshmen. EDers would just would be responsible for their own reservations as far as getting themselves there Dartmouth would still feed them and they would still participate in everything that other prospective students participate in).</p>

<p>If son is really interested in attending and he does not know 10's that he can crash with (as the current freshmen host the prospective freshmen) contact admissions , let them know he is interested in
attending and find out if they can match him up with a host (the freshman class is usually pretty good about stepping up and hosting people).</p>

<p>I also sent you a PM</p>

34

<p>Very Happy,</p>

<p>D is also an EDer and was told by admissions that she was welcome at Dimensions but was responsible for finding an overnight host on her own. </p>

<p>Dimensions actually conflicts with a previously scheduled conference, but we have a trip planned for Boston/Hanover 4/29 ? 5/2 (twin sister matriculating to Brandeis). Ideally D would like to spend a night (probably 4/30). Again, admissions welcomed her but she?s responsible for finding a host ? difficult for those of us who know no one at Dartmouth. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we might someone willing to put her up for a night? She specifically would like to get a better sense of East Wheelock; she?s drawn to it but there?s so much conflicting info on the forums.</p>

35

<p>hi Liset,</p>

<p>Welcome to CC. I sent you a private message. Check your mailbox</p>

<p>S</p>

36

<p>Sybbie, I called Admissions and spoke to them about my son's attending. No problem; they didn't even want his name or to know definitively if he'd be attending. He's "considering" whether his rigorous schedule that vacation week (i.e., girlfriend's plans!) will permit him to attend. We know several students there now, so he would stay with one of them. Thanks.</p>