what is your hook?
I’m figuring you may be right on that, @FigLeaves. I didn’t think we were talking University of Arkansas here. Yeah, it’s soo tough that the OP might have to go to an Ivy - unless he can’t pay for it, that is.
The OP’s likely was from Cornell, and she is a URM as indicated in her other posts.Cornell sends out tons of likely emails.
I did not and don’t tend to look through posted history, something I should do more, as I’ve answered posts without it,missing some essential points. It was just a guess, and in this post, it was not important if I were off. I also agree that the school that rejected the OP is not a safety school though I don’t go as far as 100% chance to qualify as a safety. Several kids I knew and even this year know picked some schools as safeties that were not, though I admit their kids had a very high chance of admissions to that school given their stats and known history of accepts to that school with those numbers.
The two ivies that tend to give out likely letters are Dartmouth and Cornell, most often to URMs. OP did not mention any hooks like athletic recruit and the writing is something that I’ve only seen those two schools give likelies for. In fact, several kids I know even this year got likely letters that surprised a lot of people, from those two ivies. Both schools are off the beaten track, in terms of locale and in very cold areas, weather wise which makes it tougher for them to get a more diverse student body.