<p>So I was wondering if you get a likely letter from say a "lesser ivy" as I've seen some people refer to the non-HYP ivies as, is that indicative of a stellar applicant in terms of the admissions process or is it just that a school really liked something about you? I asked because I was wondering (generally ) could an applicant get a likely from a lesser ivy but not even make committee in HYPs. I would assume their application would be pretty good in general, but the ivies aren't all the same either. I'm also not familiar with how admissions work after schools receive the applications.</p>
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The short answer is yes. The vast majority of LL’s are sent to recruited athletes – no one knows for sure how many athletes receive LL’s, but by Ivy League Conference Rules, each of the Ancient Eight cannot recruit more than 230 athletes per year, so it’s probably close to that number. To receive an Athletic Recruit LL a coach has seen a student play in a showcase, has seen film on the athlete, invited that athlete for an “Official Visit” that is paid for by the university, the athlete has practiced with the team in a "Captain’s Practice"and has the full support of the coach in the applications process. Not every student gets that from every coach at every school. To a lesser extent, the Ivies send out LL’s to a few academic scholars who are tops in their field – Intel Finalists, Math Prodigy, Concert Pianist etc. The numbers vary from year to year, but it’s usually not more than the number of LL’s sent to recruited athletes. Not every top scholar gets a LL, and not every top athlete receives a LL, so it’s possible to get a LL from say Cornell, but not from HYP – and then get rejected from HYP because the coach didn’t support the athlete’s application and Admissions didn’t accept them from just their academics.</p>