Likely Letters for RD

Colleges and Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
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<p>if you do a search on CC type in likely letter and search the dartmouth forum you will get a couple of links:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=4983055%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/search.php?searchid=4983055&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>From article A wink and a nod</p>

<p><a href="http://college.wsj.com/aidadmissions/newstrends/20030127-chaker.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://college.wsj.com/aidadmissions/newstrends/20030127-chaker.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Dartmouth College "Likely" letter Sent before the Ivy League's agreed-upon mailing date for acceptance letters. Dartmouth says the letters are not a violation because they only hint at admission rather than grant it. "We do these letters to try to introduce some 'humanity' into the pressured admissions process," says dean of admissions and financial aid Karl Furstenberg. </p>

<p>Grinnell College "Wink" letter Not much winking and more of a straight admission. Letter reads: "I am both pleased and excited to send you this early notification of your acceptance to Grinnell College." </p>

<p>Clark University "Love" letter A note, often handwritten, saying "how much the admissions office enjoyed reading the application or that we appreciated the effort the student made to present a thoughtful essay," says dean of admissions Harold Wingood. </p>

<p>Williams College "Early write" A committee meets every week for several weeks in January and February to "really look for the superstars," says Richard Nesbitt, director of admissions. The result: About 200 students every year receive an admittance letter two months before the rest of the pack.
Colorado College "Early notification" School admits about 10% of all "regular" admissions candidates about three weeks early. </p>

<p>Smith College Early scholarship notice "The fact that Smith thinks these students are special is conveyed to them," says director of admissions Audrey Smith. The message is reinforced with $2,500 a year in scholarship money and a paid position as a campus researcher. </p>

<p>Mary Washington College "Honors" admission Sends "fancy, shmancy, suitable-for-framing" certificates that say "honors admission" to about one-third of admits, says Martin Wilder, vice president for enrollment.</p>

<p>hope this helps</p>

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<p>Last year I was a high school senior going through the stress of applications and I promised myself that this year I would post something on the Dartmouth board about likely letters, so to be true to my word, I am doing this now.</p>

<p>I applied to Dartmouth and this time last year it was my first choice. Then came February and the likely letters started to roll in. I didn't get one. Not in the first wave, not in the second wave, not in the third wave. I was panicking. Then to make my panic even worse, someone posted on the Dartmouth board under the name "SI" who I believe identified himself as someone who had interned in the Dartmouth admissions office. He said that if you didn't get a likely letter for Dartmouth, you weren't going to be getting into even more selective schools such as HYP. Great! Just what I needed to hear!</p>

<p>Well April finally rolled around, and it turned out that even without a likely letter I was accepted at Dartmouth. . . . and to Harvard and Princeton too. But I have to say that although it may sound petty, the likely letter thing stuck in my caw. It really bothered me that Dartmouth had wanted to "relieve the stress" for so many other applicants but hadn't particularly cared that I was stressed to the max. The likely letter business sort of did it for me and I ended up choosing Princeton.</p>

<p>Personally, I think that the likely letter is a bad idea -- it creates anxiety and ill will-- but I am posting here to tell everyone to RELAX. You absolutely can fail to receive a likely letter and still get into Dartmouth. You can fail to receive a likely letter and get into places even more selective than Dartmouth. Please don't spend your winter worrying about it, it is not worth it. --coldcomfort</p>

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<p>Dartmouth sends likely letters to non athletes at three times depending on when the applications come in. They send the first group in early February, the second group at the end of February and the third group in the beginning of March. Dartmouth sends these letters to applicants they know immediately that they want to accept. These are usually applicants who they think might choose another ivy league over them and they send the letters in the hopes that the applicant will be excited that Dartmouth really wants them and might choose Dartmouth over other schools they get accepted to. I have read in articles written by Dartmouth that of the 2,000 they accept, that about 500 of the applicants who are non athletes will receive these letters.
If you dont get a letter it does not mean that you wont be accepted. I think the Dartmouth letter says that the applicant will definitely be accepted in the spring if they keep up their grades ect.</p>