<p>what are they?
are they given predominantly to athletes?
and what kind of people get them for academic reasons? (research, grades, volunteer, etc)
what other schools besides ivies sends likely letters?
do all the ivies send approx an equal number? and does the ratio of athletes who get likely letters and people who get them for academic reasons vary?
are they all sent out at around the same time for a particular school? so if some of my friends received letters a week ago, does that mean i definitely won't?</p>
<p>sorry for so many questions :)
anyways, thanks in advance!</p>
<p>A friend of mine got a likely letter from Columbia (Engineering) a few weeks ago. She’s not an athlete and has pretty good stats. I don’t think all colleges send them at once, but I think that when a single colleges sends theirs they sound them all out.</p>
<p>you can google the specific school and the words “college confidential”/ “likely letters”, and get a whole bunch of relevant past threads on likely letters. Those are usually really helpful.</p>
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<p>No, that I know for sure. It varies by school (for instance I just found out two days ago that Dartmouth sends out a large number of likely letters over the period of a month), though it’s the same number of likely letters per school each year.</p>
<p>Below is a reply I made on the Yale sub-forum:</p>
<p>"I can’t stress it enough: Likely Letters are extremely rare and NO ONE besides the most coveted recruited athletes should even THINK of receiving one. Like I first noted 200-300 LLs are sent by Yale any given year. IF half of them (and this is a stretch) went to non-athlete recruits, that equates to 100-150 LLs each season. This year, Yale rec’d approx 25800 applications.</p>
<p>That means statistically, 0.04 to 0.06% of applicants will receive a non-athlete Likely Letter. Now you tell me what person continues to ponder if they are in the .04 to .06% of a pool of applicants like Yale receives? Should ANY person pine away, seeking one of these golden tickets? Should any person waste 5 minutes of energy worrying about if he/she is the .04 to .06% of a group of 26000 top performing applicants? (I’m not talking about your high school peers, I’m talking about the applicant pool for Yale)</p>
<p>Basically, no one should be hoping for Likely letters. If you happen to get one, by all means, congratulations to you. But if you don’t, know that 1700-1800 kids get accepted without ever receiving one. "</p>
<p>No one should stress about likely letters because hoping for them is statistically foolish. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>In a better world, none of us would have heard of LLs unless we had one. Almost no one gets them and they aren’t a thing you’re meant to hope for and definitely not meant to expect.</p>
<p>But I probably couldn’t have avoided hearing about them since a girl I know got one from Dartmouth [bishface].</p>
<p>i know that these letters are extremely rare and had not been hoping for one until two of my friends received columbia ones and their stats, extracurriculars, etc were not that extraordinary. so then i began thinking oh maybe it’s not as hard as i thought it was to get a letter…</p>
<p>It depends. Yale is unlikely to send likely letters to anyone but athletes, whereas Dartmouth sends about a quarter of its incoming class these letters. It varies by school, but as T24E6 said, the vast majority of those accepted to these competitive schools never receive a likely.</p>
<p>^But compare that to how many they actually admit. That’s still a pretty insignificant number when compared to schools like Dartmouth. And, I imagine, those letters are unlikely to be sent to the average overachieving CC-er if they’re looking for geniuses and innovators (yes, I’m prepared to be slammed for that statement).</p>
<p>Why are Likely letters sent out in the first place though? Why doesn’t everyone get an inkling of their decision at the same time, i.e., the given date?</p>
<p>Likely letters are generally sent out to candidates the school really wants, who are exceptional in some way: athletes, top URMs, kids who are the top of their field in one area (whether that’s music, foreign languages, science, etc.) Most run-of-the-mill applicants, even competitive applicants, don’t have a prayer of getting one. The idea is that if you get a letter from Columbia or Dartmouth early, it’ll make you feel wanted and more favorable towards the school–and hence you’re more likely to choose them over the other schools that offer you admission in April. No idea whether or not it works.</p>
<p>I know a kid who has an LL from Columbia–not an athlete or URM, but he made finalist in Siemens and semifinalist in Intel this year. He’s got a couple plum research internships under his belt, too.</p>
<p>LLs are very important to a college’s athletic recruits who are being wooed by other colleges with earlier deadlines (and tons of scholarship money). A LL from a high prestige college may entice the applicant to say “wait” to the other college calling them</p>
<p>If you take the time to read the “Ask the Dean” response, you’ll also see that some colleges use a confusing alternative to the Likely Letter. They will invite students to participate in a special on-campus event or to consider some selective honors-type program once matriculated but without ever coming out and saying, “Yes, of course, you’re in!” So the student is left to read between the lines and wonder if this “invitation” is tantamount to an acceptance (not yet due for several weeks) or is simply a hypothetical, “IF you get in then this is what you can do …”</p>
<p>Those letters, which sometimes require a decoder ring to decipher, make me even more crazy than the Likely Letters do!</p>
<p>Ahh. This is what I’m struggling with at the moment. Oxy invited me to an overnight campus visit and offered to pay all expenses for me to fly to LA from Iowa. Obviously acceptances have not come one yet, so I’m a bit worried. I don’t want to be presumptuous but there’s no reason for them to invest in rejectees? The visit is right when acceptances are out so I’m going mad thinking I’m going to be visiting a school I got rejected from. </p>
<p>It’s a fantastic opportunity and all… But I just want a confirmation letter.</p>
<p>Ah, finsong8, you’ve nailed it … exactly what makes me crazy. No, of course, Occidental would not invest in you if they don’t want you … and probably badly. But, given that you’ll be making an investment, too (your time and effort during what is surely a busy season), before RSVP’ing you should feel free to contact (via phone or email) either the Oxy admission rep who oversees your high school or the person who signed your invitation letter, if there is one. (The admission receptionist can provide the contact info, if you need it.) Ask (nicely), “Can I assume that I will be offered admission when the decisions come out?” The response will be some form of “yes” (although perhaps still somewhat veiled), and it should help to put your mind at rest … which you deserve, before making the commitment to travel.</p>
<p>My son received two likely letters from UVA last year. The first one came from the Dean of Admission and the second came from the Engineering School about one week apart from one another. Not a hooked candidate - white, male. What really surprised me is that we are out of state and required a decent amount of aid but not pell eligible. His grades were stellar - however no AP (HS did not offer) and a his SAT’s were good (2090)but not off the charts . His extracurriculars were really good and I think his teacher recommendations also made a difference. So I’m not really sure why he received the likely letters, but we were thrilled. He didn’t end up going to UVA though - he’s at Northwestern.</p>
<p>If anyone has an interest in seeing one, PM me and I will email you a copy.</p>
<p>The Likely Letter mailing list often reflects institutional priorities that only insiders will ever know. For instance, if you read the Daily Pennsylvanian article I cited above, you’ll see that, according to Penn admissions dean Eric Furda, his school targeted candidates aiming to major in physics and chemistry … both under-subscribed departments.</p>
<p>Thus those who receive Likely Letters don’t always seems as strong at first glance as those who don’t. The recipients may have lower SAT scores or higher financial need or otherwise not appear to be as “deserving” as their fellow candidates who do eventually get in but without the early good news.</p>
<p>So even though Likely Letters may seem to work in mysterious ways, there is usually a method to the madness … but it’s one that most of us can only guess at.</p>
) that UVA is one non-Ivy school that sends out likely letters.</p>