<p>MIT, Penn, and Yale are saving time and money by eliminating paper rejection letters. Bad news is now sent only online (with some exceptions for those without computer access).</p>
<p>Many students I know say it doesn't matter how the "thin letter" arrives, but others claim that--after painstakingly completing lengthy applications--they deserve more than a Cyber-brush off.</p>
<p>Does an actual letter really help to soften the blow?</p>
<p>Interesting question. Haven’t been there yet, but I think it would be better to see an actual paper letter in a thin envelope, if that is the news.</p>
<p>According to my friend who was rejected from all three (and checked the decisions online), “At least I only have to get rejected from them once.”</p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s a little depressing to know that there’s a second notification of your rejection coming in the mail. >.></p>
<p>^I think each person reacts to that differently … personally, I want the paper letter as a souvenir, because it’s something official to keep from that school where you won’t be going for undergrad. Plus, it’s motivating to have on hand, because it may encourage you to work harder in undergrad so that you can have a shot at those schools for grad.</p>
<p>Like Yale, MIT & Penn really need to save their pennies? Heck it probably costs ~a buck to send the letters, including stamps. The UCs have done away with rejection letters as well, which I think is even worse since 30% of their student body is Pell Grant eligible, and likely don’t have ready access to computers or the 'Net. </p>
<p>Cheap, cheap, cheap, I say.</p>
<p>I think it must be depressing to get a rejection letter in the mail after you’ve already seen the bad news online.</p>
<p>In a perfect world, the follow-up letter would supply additional information that the Cyber-verdict didn’t provide so that disappointed candidates would at least have an inkling about why they were turned away … perhaps something along the lines of this:</p>
<p>**Dear Henry,</p>
<p>As you’re probably already aware, you won’t be heading to Yale in September. But we just wanted to follow up on your online rejection in case you didn’t get around to seeing it. We also wanted to let you know that your regional rep, Leonard, was really rooting for you. Leonard loved your essay. He said that Danielle Steele’s Toxic Bachelors was his favorite novel, too, but he just wouldn’t have had the nerve to write a college essay about it. He applauded your candor and your guts. Unfortunately, however, the other committee members were less enthralled, and besides, they rarely take Leonard’s recommendations seriously, especially since he won’t be with us after next Tuesday. (Yes, times are tough, even here in New Haven.)</p>
<p>Rest assured that your grades and SAT scores were top-notch. Being president of your 2,200-member student body and also of your senior class (despite the fact that you spent last year as a U.S. Senate page) impressed all of us. We also liked the fact that you learned Romanian over the summer so that you could tutor the 6-year-old from Bucharest who was just adopted by your school bus driver. That was very thoughtful.</p>
<p>Your alumnus interviewer loved you. He gave you the highest possible rating, but, frankly, even though you probably sweated bullets over it for three weeks, the interview means very little, unless you come across as a sociopath, which does occasionally happen, despite the fact that this can be hard to discern in 45 minutes in a crowded Starbucks. (When an interviewer does identify a candidate as a sociopath, it typically does have some impact on the admission outcome.)</p>
<p>So, trust me, other than the mixed reviews on your essay, there was nothing at all wrong with you. But please understand that here at Yale we routinely reject outstanding applicants who have absolutely nothing wrong with them whatsoever … except perhaps the occasional few who were unfortunate enough to have fallen into Leonard’s purview.</p>
<p>So don’t feel that the hours your spent on your application … especially that insidious “Why Yale?” mini-essay (which you artfully carved down to the exact character limit by carefully replacing all your “ands” with ampersands) … were a waste of time. Even though we ultimately didn’t admit you, we do want you to know that we did like you.</p>
<p>Eli Cheers,</p>
<p>Dean Brenzel**</p>
<p>very cute- but I doubt they would take that kind of time. I say once is enough!! And everybody needs to save; but when you multiply the number of rejections by the cost of a stamp and paper and the manpower I imagine the cost is a pretty daunting number.</p>
<p>^At schools like Yale, I think that there would be alot of those follow-up letters. But they would be nice to have …</p>
<p>Still, does Yale really need to save??? Come on, those postage stamps won’t really take much away from their $15 billion endowment!!!</p>
<p>For some reason I would like to receive rejection letters in the mail because it just feels better.</p>
<p>How is a paper letter “more” than an online letter?</p>
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<p>U + I are thinking on the same boat.</p>
<p>I’m glad Yale didn’t send me my rejection. While trying to terrorize Harvard’s physical rejection letter, I got a papercut.</p>
<p>Bottom line is, e-rejection > paper-rejection.</p>
<p>
YES – We deserve more.</p>
<p>NO – it doesn’t help. But I mean emails aren’t tangible…so :(</p>
<p>Even though I was obviously joking earlier when I composed that snide Yale rejection letter, above, I do wish that rejected candidates were able to find out why they were denied or–better yet–the things that the admission committees appreciated about them.</p>
<p>Back when I worked at Smith, we used to rate candidates on a 1-to-10 scale, with 1 being the top number and 10 the bottom. Our director used to periodically chide us for giving too few 10’s. But most of us on the staff always found much to value, even among those applicants with woeful grades and very low test scores. I wish I could have scrawled a few words on the bottom of every rejection letter that said something like, “Loved your essay!” or “Nice work in AP Physics” or “Congrats on your outstanding debate season.”</p>
<p>Also, I remember some applicants who were true favorites among the staff but who were denied nonetheless because we felt that their academic background wouldn’t serve them well at Smith and we’d be setting them up for failure.</p>
<p>So whether rejection comes via computer screen or by snail-mail, do realize that you may have actually had a fan club in the admission office, despite the bad news that followed.</p>
<p>You can’t burn an online rejection notice. :)</p>
<p>Ok maybe if the school has no fee for online apps, an online rejection letter might be in order. However if we have just shelled out $50 or $75 for the app, the least they can do is a gently written paper rejection letter.</p>
<p>At least it’s a good way to go green, but it’s kind of nice getting that “big fat envelope” that I’ve always heard of–or in some cases, a thin one.</p>
<p>Dartmouth did the same. I think that after spending 100+ dollars to try and get into their school, the least they could do is have the courtesy to send a paper letter. Yes you can request one, but regardless, they should send you one. If Harvard and Princeton and Brown can take the time to do it, so can Dartmouth.</p>
<p>It was actually kind of cool to get the letter from Harvard, even though it was a rejection letter. It was a really nicely written letter, on some nice heavy paper, and it did soften the blow- it made me feel as though they cared (whether they did or not, I don’t know) that I took the time to apply.</p>
<p>sending paper letters is good. The US postal service gets more business. It helps the economy, especially since it was the Ivy league Wall street greedy fat *****s that got us into this recession.</p>
<p>Since many schools are switching to digital applications, it only makes sense to switch to digital rejection letters as well.</p>