When do Likely Letters for UPenn usually start coming out? I heard one year it was around Valentines Day but it could be different now.
P.S. I don’t expect a likely letter at ALL. I just want to know since Penn is one of my top choices and naturally I would love any surprises!
I believe likely letters are only for athletes (I could be wrong…), so if that doesn’t apply to you, don’t keep hoping :P. If that does, however, apply to you, I apologize, I really have no answer for you, but good luck! 
^ Penn DOES send out academic likely letters–usually only a couple hundred or so. A very small percentage of those who ultimately will be accepted will receive a likely letter.
D got one 2-3 weeks before decisions came out. Seems like many top schools send them to girls majoring in engineering.
Oops, my apologies then.
I don’t believe it is only for girls majoring in engineering. Many go to people who are identified by their writing program, and those the school is interested in for various reasons.
Has anyone received a likely letter yet? When are they sent out?
@texaspg is correct. All of the Ivies send out likely letters, but not very many. They typically use them for students in whom they have a particularly strong interest in attracting for one reason or another. How a particular University decides to use them may vary from year to year depending on their priorities. It could be a person with a talent or exceptional academic ability or what ever individuals they decide to prioritize. It may also be students who the University has decided to admit, but the University thinks that the student is probably expecting a rejection for some reason.
DD was admitted to Penn SEAS via regular admission last year, but she did not receive a likely letter. Please, so do not panic if you are a female SEAS applicant and do not receive one. They can not send out very many of these.
http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/likely/
Here is a video sent to last year’s likely admits.
@texaspg i didn’t say they were just for girls majoring in engineering. However, if you look at the posts of those who received them, many are girls in stem fields, urm, and athletes.
I saw on Twitter that someone had received one in January. But they start coming up on CC around mid-February, so get ready for a whole bunch of posts about them!
@texaspg: How do you know that those who have support from KWH are given out likelies?
They have been given in the past.
http://writing.upenn.edu/wh/about/news/20101005_recruitedwriters.php
The letters to which that article refers are not likely letters from the Admissions Office to applicants, but are actually letters from the Kelly Writers House to the Admissions Office expressing interest in particular applicants (those who essentially are being recruited by KWH). Not that some of the applicants being recruited by KWH don’t occasionally get a likely letter from Admissions, but that’s not what’s being discussed in that article, and I don’t think it’s a regular part of the KWH recruiting program.
Only about 200-300 or so regular decision applicants receive an academic likely letter, out of the approximately 2500 RD applicants who are accepted, so it’s a fairly rare occurrence.
They are not but those the admissions office decides to admit do get the letter. Many writers don’t believe large schools are amenable to their talent improvement. It is easier to pick a smaller school or school like Yale if the school does not show enough interest.
We are only looking at 25 or less being recommended or issued likelies from this list.
^ I personally know people (one’s a close relative ;)) who were recent KWH recruits and were advised by KWH that it was recommending their admission to the Admissions Office, and they did NOT receive likely letters from the Admissions Office (although they WERE ultimately accepted). Again, I’m pretty sure that the receipt of a likely letter from the Admissions Office is NOT a regular occurrence for applicants recruited by KWH (although, as I said, that’s not to say that it doesn’t occasionally happen).
But you’re absolutely right that KWH does a great job of demonstrating to applicants Penn’s commitment to writing of all kinds, and the nurturing of its development. To supplement the Daily Pennsylvanian article to which you linked, here’s one of my favorites from The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/education/05writers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Penn started sending out Academic Likely letters 4 years ago. I have been lucky enough to have had 1 likely for the last three years. Two were females - 1 an Art major, another CS in SEAS, the third a male CS in SEAS. I mostly interview females declaring a major in CS or AI in SEAS.
I have no knowledge of the number of likelies they award nor how they award them. The ones I interviewed seemed exceptional.
Last year, one of my applicants got a likely from Harvard, Yale, & Princeton, but not Penn.
As I recall they come out about two weeks before the decision day which would make that about mid March. But I do have a bad memory.
Academic likely letters are, indeed, sent out two or three weeks before decision day, and in the past there have been about 200 of them sent each year:
http://www.thedp.com/article/2013/03/likely-students-to-receive-added-pull-from-u-admissions
This is what sets likely letter recipients apart. Many won’t even show up because they probably are admitted in several other top schools.
Can someone enlighten me onto the purpose of a likely letter?
From a students standpoint, even if I were to get a likely letter (which I’m sure I won’t be, lol), I would still wait the extra two weeks to hear back from my other schools. It really wouldn’t push me to attend penn…