<p>Ivy League schools send out some likely letters in order to stay competitive in the recruitment of potential student athletes who are being wooed by NCAA D1. The athletes have to make their commitments by signing day or the coaches will go to the next athlete on their depth chart. Ivys do not give out athletic scholarships, so they have to mail out “likely letters” in order for the athlete to have the comfort to refude to sign a commitment letter to a non-Ivy D1 program.</p>
<p>If you are not a heavily recruited athlete, it does not matter if you do not get a “likely letter” from most Ivies.</p>
<p>But the Ivy practice of sending Likely Letters–which used to be associated strictly with athletic recruitment–has been extended now well beyond that. Likely Letters commonly address unpublicized institutional needs (e.g., scientists at Penn, as noted above), but seniors, parents, and guidance counselors are rarely aware of such needs. Thus, these early acceptances tend to make the process appear even more like a shot in the dark than it already seemed, before the Likely Letters added to the confusion.</p>
<p>While I understand the concept behind the so called likely letters as a recruiting tool, I don’t really understand why the schools in question don’t simply offer these kids “early writes” admission. That is a far more effective way of getting the message across than the more obscure “we really like you but this is not an offer of admission” message. And this opinion is based on real life experience.</p>
<p>I definitely think that likely letters are effective. I applied to Dartmouth more or less on a whim, but after I received a likely letter, Dartmouth instantly jumped up on my radar. If I got accepted to Dartmouth along with a few others on April 1st, it might have gotten lost among the hubbub.</p>
<p>Aren’t likely letters more explicit than simply stating that the university is taking some degree of indefinable interest? The first lines usually begin with something like, “On April 1, XXXX we will be offering you a letter of admission for the Class of YYYY.”</p>
<p>mifune–Likely Letters run the gamut from the no-brainer version that you’ve cited to the more elusive examples, such as the one that finsong8 describes (in post #17). As I said earlier, I am not thrilled with Likely Letters in general, but I especially dislike those, like finsong8’s, that leave their recipients wondering, “So am I in or what?” </p>
<p>I sometimes wonder if colleges send the vaguer ones in order to honor commitments–either explicit or implied ones–to competitor colleges with whom they’ve agreed to postpone formal verdicts until a given date. Technically, if colleges aren’t officially admitting these students but merely inviting them to fly to campus (for free!), they haven’t reneged on any deals they’ve made with other schools.</p>
<p>Two boys from my school got likely letters–One to Yale, and One to Stanford.
A local newspaper had an article about them, and it said that likely letters are often given to athletes (though not always. In the case of the two from my school, it was given for academic not athletic qualifications.) Often, the colleges use likely letters when they know other schools are likely to accept the student also, and they want the student toward their college. For example, the one from my school that got a likely letter to Yale was originally planning to go to Princeton–now he can’t decide. I guess it really is effective, haha.
Getting likely letters is amazing. The two from my school that got them really deserved them–they are #2 and #4 in my class, work hard, good extracurriculars, etc.</p>
<p>is it just me or is the number of likely letters sent out this year higher than the number sent last year…? i obviously know more people this year as i’m class of 2010, but simply from my school, 3 people received likely letters this year while no one received anything last year… and this has been the case at two of my friends’ schools…</p>
<p>Unless anyone has substantive data regarding any trends in the prevalance of likely letter offerings, it is truly debatable whether colleges are increasingly using these as a tool for securing student interest.</p>
<p>Yes the letters can be terribly written. Just look at the New York University thread “likely email” from yesterday and you will see the confusion it causes.</p>
<p>Wow. Are you absolutely sure it was a likely letter? Because I find that terribly hard to believe. That’s incredibly cruel on Duke’s part. Did she have an infraction of some sort called against her?</p>
<p>My daughter received two likely letters from liberal arts colleges. One of the letters was a handwritten letter from the admissions officer, telling her how wonderful her application was. It didn’t flat out say, “you’ll be accepted,” but it gushed and included info on a summer program she said dd should apply to once she got her acceptance. The other school facebooked her an admissions offer way ahead of time and offered to fly us to see the school. (When she was accepted, they then gave her a great financial aid package with no loans even though they don’t normally even meet need.) Yet another school gave her an ‘early write,’ admitting her several weeks before admissions decisions came out. </p>
<p>She is not an athlete. She is a URM who was a strong applicant for the first two schools. The third school (the early write) actually was a big surprise to us. Dd didn’t even think she had a chance there so it definitely got her to do some serious thinking about the school.</p>
<p>I would like to know… how do they determine the method by which you get the likely notice? Some people have gotten emails, some letters, from the same college…</p>
<p>No serious infractions. I honestly don’t know what happened, but it may have been for the best, since she didn’t qualify for aid and would have needed it.</p>