<p>Has anyone received letters from Kelly Writers House WITHOUT initiating a conversation with them???</p>
<p>@Poeme: who in the world thinks this? “I think the issue is that people think that the college admissions process is infallible”</p>
<p>I mean relatively, in that most decisions make sense. It’s like when people say to me that everyone at Penn is smart (even Penn students say this at times, which I disagree with).</p>
<p>Anyway, my point is that I think likely letters are unnecessary because they make everybody more anxious, statistically do not improve yield (I have sources for this I can find), and admissions cannot fairly tell who should get a likely letter given the information they have. A lot of decisions would best be made by considering potential, rather than who has done the most at the time (what likely letters identify). Most people do not grow into their full selves until the end of college. It is also unfair in that the opportunities to distinguish yourself in high school are not available to a lot of students, as they are in college to a greater extent.</p>
<p>I get that admissions is subjective and less-than-optimal decisions can be made. But what does the use of marketing tools have to do with it?</p>
<p>Once the pool has been decided (with all its imperfections), and all of your competition is gunning for supposed “top” candidates, you’re only hurting yourself if you don’t use the pointed marketing tools at your disposal (Likely Letters, calls from profs, asking local alums to call & woo, campus visits, admitted students events).</p>
<p>“admissions cannot fairly tell who should get a likely letter given the information they have.”</p>
<p>So? LLs aren’t the magic bullet but they’re an innocuous tool used by schools who want to be creative at chasing what they perceive as their top candidates.</p>
<p>But the special outreach given to students with Likely Letters really doesn’t help. There are articles in the DP that say every year that the yield for students who received Likely Letters is about the same for students who did not get one. You could argue that this group of students would have had a lower yield without them since they probably got into many other top schools, but this is not always the case. Sometimes they actually are just deciding between schools like Penn and Columbia for example, a school that Penn is very competitive. If they are inclined to go to Harvard or Stanford because of prestige, they will go there regardless of the letter.</p>
<p>Like I said, I participated in a committee reaching out to students who received Likely Letters for two years. It was very disappointing to see how few matriculated at Penn, even after I had some very nice conversations with many of them. One even attended one of my classes since she wanted to major in my field. She did not come to Penn.</p>
<p>I also have a hard time believing that the University really benefits that much by making an extra effort to encourage these students to come. The fact is that unless you qualified for aid (which over half of the students don’t, another issue I have), you will pay tuition. There is no merit aid at Penn so it’s not like there is a financial incentive for students to come, it’s solely for the “fit”. It’s much different from PhD program admissions (where they have much more valuable information and admissions is done by professors in the department) where they are paying YOU. I feel in that situation they benefit more from trying to recruit top students. Even the very top schools (Harvard for example) will give you very fancy fellowships if they think you are a top applicant, most which come with a significantly and a reduced/or no teaching load and extra money. That actually might make a pretty big difference. This is probably also the case with schools that give merit aid. The Ivies don’t since they assume it is more important to address need and that most everyone is a great student.</p>
<p>My son just received his likely email today. He is obviously over the moon. He did not apply to any other Ivys, because he was interested in Penn’s double degree Health Care Management program which was a perfect fit for him. Penn obviously felt the same way about him, so it was great all the way around. He has worked very hard both in school and extracurriculars that demonstrated his interest in his future career. </p>
<p>Sledgeh, does that mean they’re getting set out on a rolling basis?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>See this:</p>
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</p>
<p><a href=“http://page217.org/?p=1165#sthash.fSbIWJYC.dpuf”>http://page217.org/?p=1165#sthash.fSbIWJYC.dpuf</a></p>
<p>I got my likely letter Friday via email, though interestingly they called my guidance counselor first. Good job everyone. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports that the matriculation rate among UPenn likely letter recipients is 30%, and by my math that means 70% of you will receive a more attractive offer!</p>
<p>Then again, you should run the numbers yourself because I’m going to be a humanities major. Kelly’s Writer House here I come!</p>
<p>Hi received a likely letter from upenn yesterday. I have applied to M&T as my first choice and penn engineering as my second.
I am confused. Although getting into penn engineering will be amazing too, M&T is my dream.
What do you guys think the likely is for? M&T will be INSANE. </p>
<p>rishabmeh3, I am in the exact same situation, m&t and engineering, and I got a likely letter yesterday, I am unsure what it means as far as m&t goes. </p>
<p>When did the likely letter people submit their applications? I applied two days before the deadline so I feel like they haver looked at last minute apps yet?</p>
<p>@rainbows: I also submitted 2 days before the deadline.</p>
<p>1st choice: Vagelos LSM (dual degree)
Backup: Wharton</p>
<p>Received my likely letter with the rest of the 28th crowd</p>
<p>Aryvane, and it was through mail?</p>
<p>@Zzany1 I am having a good feeling that 28th was the day for dual degree likelies and 15th for single degrees.</p>
<p>Also sending a likely and rejecting our top choice will be a little odd wont it?</p>
<p>And @rainbows definitely all apps have been evalued. I sent mine on the last day. </p>
<p>@rainbows: through email. I actually got it halfway through my skype
interview for NYU shanghai and nearly hung up on her in panic. </p>
<p>@rishabmeh3: well objectively that makes sense. Don’t know if I’m ready
to believe that I got in though. ^^"</p>
<p>A kid I know got one. They also telephoned his GC. Oh well, just going to see how this all plays out. </p>
<p>But if they’ve decided on every applicant, why wait until the end of March to decide? They must still be deliberating to some extent. </p>
<p>@Aryavane
“Penn reviews applications by undergraduate school and program, like Penn’s Coordinated Dual Degree programs, and this is reflected in the timing of our ongoing notifications.”</p>
<p>All 4 people on this thread who received likelys yesterday were of dual degree programs and no applicant who received a likely on 15th was of a dual degrees. Considering this odds do seem in our favour. </p>
<p>But I’m in that same situation: not ready to believe I got in until I get some kind of confirmation!</p>
<p>@rainbows: I don’t think they’ve decided on every applicant. They may
have done a quick look-over their pool though to send some likelies to
some candidates</p>
<p>Or on the other thread it was mentioned that because the acceptance pool
is so small for these dual programs, they just likely’d everyone who got in</p>
<p>All speculation at this point, though. We’ll have to wait until March 27th to
know for sure. ^^"</p>
<p>@rishabmen3: Ah yep. I’m hoping for a physical letter in the mail at least.
It’s still a small load off my shoulders though. First I’ve heard any news
back from any of my RD colleges.</p>