<p>Oh, forgot to ask. Anyone who is a counselor or otherwise a sapient soul have any more thoughts on the second question that started this thread, which was:</p>
<p>She is about to give her counselor the Mid-Year Report forms for Yale and the other schools she is applying to. Any thoughts on whether her counselor should mention Yale's "likely admit" letter in the Mid-Year reports going to the other schools? I am inclined to think that this is a good idea for schools she is applying to of comparable prestige to Yale, but not to other schools(except perhaps to the ones she is applying to not of Yale's quality but she is seeking a big merit scholarship from that school).</p>
<p>Related question, if the counselor does not mention the Yale likely in the Mid-Year Report, should my daughter mention it to the other schools described in the paragraph above?</p>
<p>I don't think it's a good idea to mention it. You're definitely not obligated to, and I think it's more likely to have a "oh she's already in somewhere, let's give this spot to someone else" effect than "wow she's amazing, let's compete with Yale" effect.</p>
<p>Yes. I would wait to compare offers and "bargain" until she has already been admitted into the other colleges, which seems likely given Yale's interest. I just can't imagine that Princeton or Harvard would be too pleased with a comment to the effect of "Look! Yale really wants me!"</p>
<p>You state the issue concisely and well, zantedeschia. </p>
<p>I've heard tho that some of the elite schools really get a kick out of beating out head to head rivals for a student(wasn't this the reason the one of the Ivies(I forget which one) hacked into Princeton's admitted student web site a year or two ago to see who Princeton had admitted?)--such schools as Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, Columbia. </p>
<p>Thanks for your thoughts. I'm inclined to think you are right,but would appreciate any other insights anyone else has. God speed to you with your Yale and other apps.</p>
<p>Perhaps, but I think it's risky. I know your daughter must be amazing, but as you've said, she has no defined hook, and so she's not say, a high-scoring URM that colleges fight for. What Yale found amazing a similar school might not, so I think it might jeopardize her chances. Either way though, looks like she's in at Yale, which is wonderful. Congratulations!</p>
<p>redjayhawk...I'm <em>really</em> interested in what it takes to get a likely letter...can you PM me and tell me what kind of stats/ECs/essays/recommendations she might have had?</p>
<p>Note that the WSJ article linked above is nearly 2 years old. The use of likely letters has spread like a metastisizing cancer since then. 500 at Dartmoutrh last year - potentially half the class. Nearaly that many at Yale, and increasing numbers at all Ivy addresses.</p>
<p>My prediction: as the use of this device spreads, the April 1 notification date for RD admits at Ivies will becomre a dead letter, and we will have the functional equivalent of "rolling admissions" at HYPCCPDB.</p>
<p>Congrats on your daughter's acceptance to Yale! That is really what a likely letter is saying. I had not heard of one this early to Yale, nor had I ever heard of anyone from Yale ever getting one. Some top gun athletic recruits did get such letters from Princeton, I know, one year,and Dartmouth sends them out regularly. We may run into you up there, as my S was accepted early to Yale--and he just heard about a month ago. </p>
<p>I can tell you that there are suspiciouns at S's highschool that the counselors leak this information to the colleges as a gesture of good will, and to spread the wealth a bit more. In other words, if it is likely a student is going to a specific college, but is still keeping his other apps open and there is another student who is dying to go to one of the colleges that the first student also applied to, the GC would be more interested in the second student getting into that college than the first. The reason people suspect this collusion is if you look at the College Book that this highschool keeps, there are not a whole lot of double, triple acceptees to the top colleges. The wealth seems to be spread around. Whereas in the public school near me, often one student will get accepted to multiple selective colleges, and most of the other kids do not. So for that reason, I would be hesitant to mention the Yale acceptance to the other schools unless there is a clear favorite that you want to nudge. Particularly if your student is a recruited student for some special skill or situation. In that case, you would also let that college know that though the student is accepted to Yale, he is really hoping to go to Princeton. I have no evidence of any of this, just really "talk". We are not letting any of the other colleges where the apps are still open know about Yale. Not a secret, but not being announced. Of course, we don't know if the counselor would let them know.</p>
<p>Byerly, I know that Dartmouth has always let its top choices know early that they are likely to be accepted, but really, I have not seen much of this at all in the Ivies except for the top athletic recruits, many of whom have to have some commitment as they are given offers from many other schools, some of which do not follow the same May 1 common date, which just does not hold for athletic recruits and athletic scholarships. The ivies would have difficulty attracting top athletic talent if they left those student dangling, as many would certainly go for the bird in the hand and sign that letter of intent.</p>
<p>Byerly, I know that Dartmouth has stated publicly that it sends 400-500 likely letters, but I'm surprised to hear that Yale sends nearly that many. How do you know?</p>
<p>I know someone who received a likely letter from Yale two years ago, and in the letter it stated that around 100 similiar letters had been mailed to their top applicants (the letter came at around late Feb-early March). Who knows, perhaps the use of the likely letter has dramatically increased since then, but I kinda doubt that...</p>
<p>Edit: btw, this person was neither an athlete nor an URM. Just an all-around outstanding applicant, with strong leadership, high-level science research awards and participation in a very prestigious program, speech competitions, 4000 valedictorian, and <em>many</em> more things.</p>
<p>Likewise, Enco and asterstar, I also know a boy who was admitted early two years ago, in Feb. I think. He was not an athlete (in fact, did no sports at all) but was/is a math wiz. Even though he was eventually admitted to Stanford and MIT, he chose Yale. I do think that the early admit may have tipped the scale for him. I've heard of other students at Yale getting one, too, and they all seem to be in the math/sciences. I think sometimes schools do this when they want to strengthen a department, and attract top students to help it grow. As Yale's strength has always been in the humanities, it doesn't surprise me that they would try to grab great math kids early. I would place a big bet that RedJayHawks D is a super math kid!</p>
<p>I had no idea that the "likely admit" letter phenomenon existed, let alone so often practiced. </p>
<p>Please provide any info you may have about "likely admit" policies of Ivies other than Dartmouth and Yale. What about MIT, Duke, Chicago, Stanford, Northwestern?</p>