<p>I tried to search the archives for this, but apparently "likely" is too common a word.</p>
<p>Which schools use likely letters?
Who gets them?
When are they usually sent?</p>
<p>UNC sends them. I've heard Dartmouth does also. Not sure when they're sent, but before official decisions.</p>
<p>Like I said, I tried searching, but it said "likely" is too common a word and could not be included in the results... leaving me with just "letters", which wasn't nearly as useful.</p>
<p>My son got a likely letter from UNC before Christmas. Early Notification date was officially Jan 30 I think but the decisions were posted online much earlier than expected. My son isn't an athlete so he was surprised to receive the likely letter. Sure made the holidays enjoyable.</p>
<p>Google is a good way to search CC, too: <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Atalk.collegeconfidential.com+%22likely+letter%22%5B/url%5D">http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Atalk.collegeconfidential.com+%22likely+letter%22</a></p>
<p>search the threads from February to March in the schools where you are curious about likely letters. Sometimes students from last early spring were quite forthcoming on this subject, and occasionally adcoms also commented. Also Admissions Class of 2010 for instance in a college paper will pull up the campus newspaper article on the subject of early admissions, ED, likely offers. RD etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I'll try the Google search; maybe that'll be more helpful.</p>
<p>I saw your college list on another thread, if that's the one you ended up with. My son got an early write letter from Williams in early February, one from Dartmouth in early March, and an early positive in late March from Amherst (I can't remember if it was in the form of an "early write" or just an acceptance a bit early). I think the actual timing of these for the schools that use them is a matter of chance, when the application is taken "off the pile" and gets read.
Don't know about your other schools.</p>
<p>i think almost all the ivies do for recruited kids , and for other kids sometimes too, but idk which ones...its all very vague info.</p>
<p>I know Princeton has sent them to athletes.</p>
<p>duke sends them (to athletes and non athletes alike)</p>
<p>What exactly is it?</p>
<p>from article:Schools' 'Love Notes' Quietly Say, You're In</p>
<p>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>"If you're among the first colleges to admit the person, there's a higher level of excitement," says Jim Sumner, dean of admission and financial aid. Nearly one-quarter of students who have received a "wink" letter end up enrolling at Grinnell, a number Mr. Sumner is pleased with, given that they're a tougher group to recruit.</p>
<p>Other schools are moving in the same direction. Barnard College in New York City says it is "strongly considering" sending out "likely" letters either this year or the next. Barnard would join Dartmouth, Smith, Clark and many other colleges that also rely on some version of the early letter.</p>
<p>Most Ivy League schools generally send out such letters only when pursuing an athlete who may be getting sports scholarships from non-Ivy institutions. In fact, all the Ivies are bound by a rule that requires them to mail out their acceptance letters no earlier than April 2. Dartmouth says its "likely" letters aren't a violation because they don't outright admit the applicant, they just hint at it.</p>
<p>All of this presents high-school seniors with some new options as they're shopping around for colleges. Earlier this month, Kyle Breidenstine got a letter from Clark saying he had been admitted, although the Worcester, Mass., school typically doesn't send out acceptance letters until the end of March. Mr. Breidenstine, the letter went on to say, is eligible for at least $44,000 in scholarship money from the school.</p>
<p>Now the Shoemakersville, Pa., senior says he will use that letter as leverage to get more aid from his second choice, Elizabethtown College -- and Elizabethtown is all ears. "There are many occasions where we will see offers from other institutions" that beat Elizabethtown's, says Kent Barnds, dean of admissions and enrollment management, "and we have a committee that assesses how badly we want that student and how we might want to react."</p>
<p>Still, students who get promises of acceptance as well as scholarship money should be careful not to accept too soon. Wait until the other schools send their offers and then "fax them the original offer from the likely letter and see if they can match it or do better," says Francine Block, a private college counselor in Holland, Pa.</p>
<p>The letters come in many different flavors.** Williams College** sends out what it calls "early write" letters. Shipped to students at least a month before the rest of the admissions results are circulated, these letters are the equivalent of an acceptance.</p>
<p>Every March, Smith College contacts its best candidates with early scholarship notices. In addition to all but promising admittance, they offer $2,500 a year in scholarship money and a paid campus research job.</p>
<p>That was enough to sell Jaci Eisenberg, now in her first year at Smith. She had been leaning toward the University of Chicago in the early part of her senior year of high school, until she got the scholarship letter. "That kind of cinched it," she says.</p>