<p>I've heard people say that colleges sometimes post a "likely to be admitted" type of status to such students early on, well before admissions decisions are officially sent out. I was just wondering if there is truth to this rumor and do colleges strictly send out all admissions decisions out by the "official" date or do they send out acceptance letters to students before that date and then rejections around the official date, along with of course, other acceptances. Basically, when do people start finding out about college...when is the earliest for privates..UCs...etc?</p>
<p>This is true.</p>
<p>However, I believe it is most common for recruited athletes.</p>
<p>I got early letters from Dartmouth and Cornell in February after applying regular decision. I was not an athletic recruit.</p>
<p>I can't imagine how smart one must be to get "likely letters" from ivy league schools when they are not an athlete.</p>
<p>wow never heard of this... so they send u letters saying ur likely to being admitted? when? n which schools do this?
Gtown?
can anyone b more specific?</p>
<p>Do a search on "Likely Letters". Mostly practiced by the Ivies since their recruited athletes are being courted by other schools that have earlier notifications than the Ivies can officially make. It's an effort to tell likely candidates "don't sign the acceptance to the other school because you most likely receive an offer from us"</p>
<p>Make sense?</p>
<p>For the context of CC: this subject receives WAY TOO MUCH ATTENTION since the vast majority of admits NEVER get them and people start freaking out because they "hear" of others getting them and nothing hits their mailbox.</p>
<p>Also, they're not necessarily sent to stronger candidates, just those who were lucky enough to be read and admitted before the mailing date.</p>
<p>lolcats4: your statement "they're not necessarily sent to stronger candidates" doesn't make sense to me.</p>
<p>You make it sound like the likely letters are an appetizer -- and commonplace.</p>
<p>They are EXTREMELY RARE and TARGETED -- not just sent to the first set of processed files which have a strong possibility of receiving an eventual offer.</p>
<p>The bulk of past recipients have been top-recruited athletes which face differing NCAA rules and deadlines. e.g. Princeton wants their blue-chip wide receiver to NOT sign his letter of intent with the large state U which has heaped TONS of scholarship money and perks. But since P'ton cannot officially let the applicant know of his acceptance before the Ivy-agreed deadline, P'ton shoots over the likely letter to whet his appetite and to ask him to remain patient.</p>
<p>In recent years, these letters have been sent to seemingly outstanding non-athlete candidates that the colleges felt would be strongly courted by peer institutions. I've NEVER heard of a situation where a "typical" eventual admit rec'd one.</p>
<p>3 yrs ago my HYP alma mater had me interview a student who had rec'd a Likely Letter (my interview was to more persuade her than evaluate her). Turns out she had rec'd a Likely Letter from our rival and was going to turn us down and attend there. Fine. But she was snippy about the whole thing -- was a waste of time -- and I reported the same. Glad she turned us down. I'm sure her fine attitude added to the atmosphere at *********.</p>
<p>^^ she's probably schizophrenic now
that's what they do to u at *********</p>
<p>lolcats:</p>
<p>Datmouth's likely letters definitely are sent to the tippy top of its academic applicant pool -- kids it want to court; athletes are strongly encouraged to apply ED, but some RD athletes recieve likelies as well. Some of the Cornell contract colleges have rolling admissions (for New York state residents?) starting in mid-Feb.</p>
<p>ok, I guess I had misunderstood what likely letters were.</p>
<p>I received three likely letters (not an athlete), but I was a pretty unusual candidate who had some pretty amazing things to bring to the table. (Not gloating, but that's how it went.) I also got phone calls making sure I was still interested before deadlines, and in one case, I got a personal phone call from an admissions director to tell me I'd been admitted.</p>