<p>msg deleted</p>
<p>Maybe my LL got delayed in the mail and is arriving today ;). I want to say 18 days until the decision, but that is premature.</p>
<p>I have read this forum for several years, but have resisted posting until now. I think for those that get likely letters, it is a wonderful thing. But for other students with great credentials who don’t get one, it is a HUGE turn-off. My daughter (IS) had 2310 on SATs, 4 APs with scores of 5 at application time (ended up with 8 or 9 5s after senior year) and almost a 4.0 GPA (UW), tons of ECs, and did not get a likely letter from UVA. She did, however, get one from UNC (OOS, obviously), and Cornell notified her in early March of her acceptance. While we thought UVA would be the perfect fit for her, she all but wrote it off because of this experience. You never know what makes or breaks the selection for students. In the end, we convinced her to try UVA (for many reasons), and she did. She has been very successful at UVA and was just recently notified of her selection to live on the Lawn next year. While I recognize that there probably isn’t a “right” answer here, I felt like it was worth commenting that we had exactly the same experience as 1220Ant. But, a likely letter clearly isn’t an indication of your future success at UVA!</p>
<p>When I arrived at UVa, the Office of Admission had no large scale communication between the application deadline and notification day with the exception of the Likely Letter mailing. Other than that, applicants had nothing. No one blogged, wrote on College Confidential, used social media, or emailed applicants. Thinks have changed for the better over the years. Our surveys now show that most students think the amount of contact we make is “just right” (we survey incoming students as well as the ones who turn us down for other schools).</p>
<p>The group that posts on the UVa forum of College Confidential is a comparative tiny group of “hyper aware” students and parents. I think this place is fantastic, as you’ve had a great, mostly positive community to use as a resource. I worry that some of you are drawing pretty big conclusions based on what is written here or what you are seeing at one school. Remember that you are interacting with a very small segment of the application pool and there is no verification of this information that is being shared.</p>
<p>Do not read into the absence of a letter. While the letter means we like you, not having a letter doesn’t mean we dislike you. We have not finished the process.</p>
<p>UNCCh has gotten rid of LLs this year because of this kind of confusion. Maybe UVA should follow suit.</p>
<p>Dean J,
I was wondering if you had any idea when (if?) a second wave of likely letters would go out. I’m OOS and several applicants at my school received them. I know way better than to read into the absence of a letter, but I think it is human nature to feel a bit discouraged when you’re the odd man out.
Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I’d like to know that too, Blondie. Will there be a second wave? Has it already happened?
Thanks for keeping us posted. This waiting and wondering and hoping is about to drive me crazy!</p>
<p>My take on the likely letter is that UVA likes you and you are LIKELY to attend UVA. This is what I tell my son every afternoon in the past few days. His classmates with lower class rankings and no NMS have got the letters, but he is still waiting for it. He ranks at the top of the class and is a NMS finalist. A few days earlier, I told him to be patient because his last name starts near the end of the alphabet.
if I were the Dean of Admission at UVA, I would stop the practice of LL for all and move up the notification date to March 15. This would achieve the same goals and make all VA high school graduates’ life more peaceful.</p>
<p>If the notification date were pushed up, people would just start getting antsy sooner. Personally, I’d rather know my application was being thoroughly looked over than have a decision two weeks earlier. High school seniors still have a lot going on; as long as they aren’t sitting idly for the next few weeks, they’ll be fine.</p>
<p>HooAreWe… Thank you so much for stepping out of the shadows to share your daughter’s experience. Like you, I have used the online forums and blogs as a means to silently observe, learn, and be prepared to offer answers should my daughter seek them from me. Yesterday I did not have a reasonable answer. Your response was the light I had hoped I might find by posting!</p>
<p>I plan to tell your story to my daughter this afternoon. UVA was obviously the perfect fit for your daughter. What a wonderful experience she will have next year!</p>
<p>Dean J, all that you do to keep students and parents informed is wonderful and incredibly appreciated. I would not want it to stop - Knowledge is power! My post was not meant to whine and complain, but to seek out an answer for something that unfortunately does not have a set rubric and is thus impossible to explain! My hope is that the return of Early Decision will help minimize the stress that information overload has brought to the LL process. Perhaps a blog with a compilation of success stories like WhoAreWe shared would bring some much needed relief?</p>
<p>Now back to my role of observer :)</p>
<p>If not receiving a LL makes you write-off UVA, then UVA is probably not the place for you. Talk about not only being extremely anxious, but also immature. What will you do when your professor doesn’t praise you in class every time you think you say something ‘brilliant’? Will you drop the class? How about when he returns your ‘A’ paper without commentary, but writes tons on your friends’ papers? Will you sue him? Throw a hissy fit during office hours? Break-down in your room? Contemplate suicide? How about when you write an ‘amazing’ thesis but your advisor only gives you an ‘A-’? Will you decide to transfer to another college two weeks before graduation? Come on parents, teach your children (and that’s how they are acting if they are freaking our and hyperventilating over this letter or its absence) that they don’t NEED instant GRATIFICATION for every little thing they accomplish…if you don’t, there will be a lot of disappointing moments ahead of them. </p>
<p>PS: From my personal experience, I have seen LL go to those who UVA thinks might choose a really high ranked school instead of them (not just slightly higher, but HIGH). Its discontinuation would disadvantage UVA…after all, UVA wants to attract the brightest students (brightest does not mean 4.0 uw and 2400 SATS…how about those essays? that personality?)…remember, perfection can be boring and boring often does not merit a LL.</p>
<p>It is truly mind boggling the anger some people exert on this forum.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.</p>
<p>I did not receive a likely letter, not that I was planning on one. The people who did get likely letters I am happy for you and envy you =].</p>
<p>Sigh, another empty mailbox. Whatever, I honestly wasn’t expecting a LL. All I’m looking for is that acceptance :D.</p>
<p>Just a pass through to acknowledge the typos in my last post. I fear the amount of sleep I’m getting at this time of year comes across in my typing! My apologies! </p>
<p>BTW, I wrote on the blog that a second round of letters was probable. To be frank, I’ve been immersed in file review and haven’t heard anything else about that. If there is a development, I’ll post an update here.</p>
<p>I got one today! Definitely was not expecting it, especially so late in the season.</p>
<p>I just got one in the mail today and I’m trying to figure out how excited I should be. haha :D</p>
<p>For those curious about people receiving these letters, some basic stats:</p>
<p>ACT: 34
GPA: 4.0 UW / 4.5 W
Class Rank: 6/425
Essays: Quite strong, imo
Recommendations: Should be excellent, both teachers have known me forever, etc
ECs: Average, nothing atrocious but nothing that stands out either
Other Facts: Out of state, QuestBridge Finalist</p>
<p>A LOT of my friends received likely letters…and some of them are not as involved in extra-curriculars or even have that high of grades academically. I mean it’s not like they’re failing or anything…but yeah it just seems a little sketchy. 
How many of these does UVA send out exactly? This “small” number of applicants who get them is looking kind of big to me…</p>
<p>Nevermind, I just found my answer on Dean J’s Blog. =)</p>
<p>Tangent, did these students actually have low stats, or did the stats just seem low in comparision to yours? From the stats everyone has posted, LL’s only seem to have been sent to LEGIT applicants.</p>
<p>From anecdotal evidence, including my son’s HS, it sounds like UVA sent more LLs this year. I wonder why.</p>