<p>Do the colleges send these letters in February?</p>
<p>It depends on the school as not all schools send likely letters. Dartmouth starts sending out its first of approximately 500 likely letters in 3 waves starting at the end of february.</p>
<p>Williams starts their early write process in late feb/ early march.</p>
<p>"Recently, Grinnell College in Iowa began sending out "wink" letters, which assure recipients that they are "one of a select number of applicants" whose accomplishments "merit special recognition." Translation: You're in!"</p>
<p>I wonder if Grinnell still does this, as the article was written in 2003. Intriguing. I never knew Grinnell was one of the schools which sent out "likely" letters (in what ever form they may be in).</p>
<p>Hey Izzy,</p>
<p>First of all congrats on your recent acceptance and the $$ came along with it.</p>
<p>In the frenzied admissions process more schools are starting to use likely, wink, love, nod letters as a way to take of some of the pressure in the process. </p>
<p>Until we went through the proces in my house, I never knew that likely letters even existed. When the first letter came to our house D was in a panic because they are thin letters. She came upstairs crying with the thin letter in her hand. Because I did not know these letters existed, I first thought wow, they send out rejection letters early (because we associate the thin letters with rejection). She said I'm in and it was really a sense of relief.</p>
<p>Other schools which have likely letters include Amherst and Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>Thanks, sybbie. :) </p>
<p>My letter from Cornell College was a thin letter as well. If I hadn't received the acceptance email before, I would've been sitting on my bed staring at the unopened letter thinking "My first reply, my EA school...is a rejection!!!!" then tearing into the letter and then dancing with joy. <em>whew</em></p>
<p>Do you think Dartmouth isn't in violation of the Ivy rule of not sending acceptances before April 2nd, or it's all a technicality?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do you think Dartmouth isn't in violation of the Ivy rule of not sending acceptances before April 2nd, or it's all a technicality?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy Group Admission Procedure does indicate that the schools can send out likely letters.</p>
<p>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 decisions.</p>
<p>Remember that likely letters were originally used to lock in recruited athletes in a sense to assure them that if they applied they would be admitted.</p>
<p>Dartmouth's likely letter is phrased to state Your admission to Dartmouth is very likely. They do not straight out say you have been admitted. Students get an official admissions letter on April 1.</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>