<p>I think Byerly's smugness about Harvard comes with the territory. That is, its difficult to talk about Harvard without sounding like you are bragging, although Byerly's overt "entusiasm" for H doesn't help. I've recently read a book on Ivy league athletic recruiting which I think also applies to general perception of the schools in the Ivy league. In the book, the Brown Athletic Director is quoted of saying that regardless what Yale and Princeton say, there is a pecking order in the league as far as the preference of those being recruited based on perceived prestige. Its Harvard followed by Yale and Princeton. You Dartmouth people should be happy to know that he continued on to say, Y and P is followed closely by Dartmouth then comes the rest of four schools. Princeton however was able to somewhat over come this pecking order with better financial aid. But that's a different story.</p>
<p>Sybbie, you said u used to work at Cornell... How exactly do likely letters work there? How many are typically sent out? Are they sent in waves? Just wanted to know... I know, for instance, AEM applicants hear back in early March.... but I applied to the College of Arts & Sciences! Thank you very much</p>
<p>I don't know when they send out letters at the colleges of arts and sciences, as I taught at the school of industrial and labor relations at their NYC extension</p>
<p>are you sure that Cornell sends out likely letters for the College of Arts and Sciences, though? or just ILR? Thank you!!</p>
<p>smartaleck,</p>
<p>Don't worry, you will end up someplace great. Let the process play it self out.</p>
<p>Thanks, I really hope so... And yeah, I know I need to chill... its just hard, sometimes April 1 seems SO far away.... thanks for the help</p>
<p>god, you guys are hard on Byerly...he likes Harvard...I think his loyalty is impressive.</p>
<p>Byerly has misrepresented/distorted facts to young people trying to gather information for college preparation. The accuracy and/or intent of his "information" has been the subject of great debate on many threads and on many college sites.</p>
<p>Just yesterday at the Dartmouth site one student stated:</p>
<p>"Byerly,
you are so transparent, however useful you may be!
Question to Byerly: is your dad bigger than my dad?
Byerly: Hold on and Ill do a google search to post a link that proves it!
Casual observers: What a funny little guy!? </p>
<p>In the same thread, a second student, in reference to Byerly, stated:</p>
<p>"Yes, every post has a spoken, unspoken or even subversive H bias to it."</p>
<p>These comments were comparatively harmless. He has been attacked numerous times. Many people are aware of his "act", unfortunately however, some young people are not.</p>
<p>Is he making H proud?</p>
<p>how was posting an article about Dartmouth some sort of pedestal raise for Harvard? you people don't make any sense sometimes.</p>
<p>Babybird,</p>
<p>Byerly's verbal repartee is too often crippled by his inability to rely on much more than the backhanded compliment--when being polite.</p>
<p>For instance, one of his big bugaboos is ed/ea and by extension the likely letter.
His op was "More than 500 hundred likely letters again this year." He did not intend this thread as a simple compliment or a simple fact, but rather a flailing backhand.</p>
<p>........feel the Byerly!</p>
<p>
[quote]
how was posting an article about Dartmouth some sort of pedestal raise for Harvard? you people don't make any sense sometimes.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah...the implication is that sending out likely letters isn't good for a college and a school like Harvard doesn't need to "stoop" to it to get a better yield so he contrasts it with Dartmouth that does use likely letters.</p>
<p>Look, all Ivies use them, and they aren't any more "noble" in one case than another. </p>
<p>As I noted, Dartmouth at least gets credit for being open about using this yield-enhancing tool. The other Ivies (including Harvard) are far less open about it.</p>
<p>I don't like "likelies" because I think, in the long run, they are part of a trend to retool the admissions process for the benefit of the schools at the expense of the applicants.</p>
<p>If the decisions are done, why not send them out now? Why do students have to wait another month? Or are they not done?</p>
<p>Well like I said before I agree with Byerly that I don't like likely letters. The reason is very simple...what about all the people that don't get likely letters? Have you looked around this forum the last few weeks? For everyone who is thrilled to get a likely, there are 5 people freaking out and going, "Oh my god! I didn't get a likely letter I must be screwed!" and who can blame them? Even for the people that don't get likelies but are ultimately accepted anyway I think it's pretty insulting, because the message it's sending to them is, "We like you, but we care more about that guy." I thought the whole point was that anyone accepted to a school is greatly desired by the adcom, not just certain people...that is why the Ivies all did away with merit-based aid, because if you are accepted, then you must be just as good as anyone else and deserve just as good of a financial opportunity to attend as anyone else. That is why I don't like these letters.</p>
<p>in theory, yes, Xan - it could def. be insulting. But can you blame Dartmouth for trying to dissuade their more outstanding applicants from pursuing an education elsewhere? Esp. if they have their stupid preconceptions about the supposed prestige derived from rankings. You've heard some people on here discussing how without an HYP degree they may as well shack up inside a refrigerator box in the nearest urine-smelling alley - if even one student reads that likely letter and goes "Hmm, Dartmouth...why don't I look into it some more" and discovers how amazing it is, then decides to attend and thus enhances the D community with his/her presence, then the likely senders have succeeded. </p>
<p>Plus the kids that didn't get likelys but still got accepted are prob too thrilled to have just gotten in, knowing that they aren't blind Olympic swimmers from Yugoslavia lol</p>
<p>Early letters sure help ease your mind! And yes, if you didn't get one, the school wants you less than if you did get one. That's life; suck it up. You will get find the decision sooner or later and if you're not overly involved in the admissions process anyway, you wouldn't be trolling the college message boards in the first place. Looked at in a different way, if you didn't get a likely letter by early march, then it softens the blow for you, as by then, you should realize there's a very real chance you'll get rejected. And if you do, it (nearly) always comes as a pleasant surprise knocking on your door whn you expect it least.</p>
<p>So peace out</p>
<p>For every person that they potentially interest in Dartmouth they may alienate another one who may have had Dartmouth at the top of his or her list.</p>
<p>sleet-- cruel and unusual post, there. why not keep those thoughts to yourself next time.</p>
<p>I'm with babybird: how about some social skills?</p>
<p>"That's life; suck it up"</p>
<p>I wonder what other words of precious wisdom you might share with us.</p>
<p>Sorry that I didn't put a diplomatic twist on it, guys. Still, it's probably the ideas in my previous post that are eliciting the anger, while the style is just a scapegoat. And it's a message board, not a press conference.</p>
<p>But what's experimentation for? So let me try to reformulate for the faint of heart:</p>
<p>Early letters of admission are designed to relieve the anxieties of waiting for those that receive them. However, with the advent of faster and broader modes of communicartion such as this bbs, applicants have started sharing news such as receipt of likely letters with others. Thus, applicants that did not receive the likely letters get even more agitated than before. If we assume for the moment that Xanathos's statement is true, then the school issuing likely letters still wins out because
a) they're pleasing applicants they like most and proportionately displeasing those they don't want as much
b) the majority of applicants that don't receive likely letters don't even know what they are / know about anyone else who got any</p>
<p>And let me reiterate: there would almost be no negative effects with likely letters if the people that received them did not go and boast and brag and blabber all about receiving them on the internet and around school, etc. Someone that does not bother frequenting message boards such as cc would likewise probably never find out or get agitated if they didn't receive a likely letter.</p>
<p>And even if you did not get a likely letter and found out about them, how much are you losing? You could take not receiving one as a sign to lessen the optimism. The way things are, with the majority of successful applicants never having received a likely letter, it's not much of a concern.</p>
<p>Personally, I prefer the shorter, to the point version. But I usually don't post things with such offensive potential. Still, I don't feel I said anything inhumane or insulting; I just brought out the truth. Blame Dartmouth for issuing the likely letters if you wish. Don't lash out at the messenger.</p>