<p>We came home from our Thanksgiving trip today to find the Likely Letter in the mailbox! Wow, what a feeling. It all went just as the coach said it would. I hope anyone who is waiting hears soon!</p>
<p>I have only read it two times in 3 hours. I am just so happy for my son. He has worked very, very hard. </p>
<p>I don't post much because I am really just learning the ropes but I wanted those waiting to be encouraged to trust what the coach says. He was specific about dates and procedures and everything went just as he said it would.</p>
<p>Congratulations! What a load off a parents’ back.</p>
<p>We’re waiting on two D3s that don’t do early reads. So another couple of weeks until EA results come out… At least we’re busy this time of the year to keep our minds off things. Sort of.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son! I am confused about one thing – maybe someone can clarify. I believe your son applied ED to an Ivy, am I right? So he sent the app in without having received a likely letter. Now he’s received a likely letter when ED decisions are coming in a couple of weeks. I guess I thought the purpose of the likely letter was to lock in candidates and prevent them from applying elsewhere. But if the candidate has already applied ED (or agreed to apply ED), then why would the school send a likely letter shortly before the ED notification date? Just to make the waiting less stressful for the recruit?</p>
<p>For most students, applying ED is not the only application submitted. The ED app represents the students first choice and most will submit applications to the rest of the schools on their list. (I would also bet that most of the EDs are to reach type schools; not safeties). Many students will continue to work on applications from the time the ED app is submitted until the ED decision is rendered. So, for the non recruited athlete, the college application process has not stopped while the ED application is wending its way through the system.</p>
<p>For the recruited athlete, the process is really different. This student is told (asked) by the coach to apply ED (for the benefit of the coach not really for the benefit of the athlete). The athlete (and the parents) are led to believe (most of the time correctly) that the student will be admitted (because, for example, the coach uses a slot for the athlete). And, based upon the coaches recruiting, the athlete submits a single application no safeties, no reaches, nothing but that single application. </p>
<p>The weakest link in this Ivy chain is the fact that the admissions office has the real say in the admissions decision (unlike many d1 athletic powerhouses where the athletic department rules the roost).</p>
<p>So, it comes down to a game of preparation for the possible (and unlikely) disaster scenario: that the athlete is rejected or deferred to RD time. If the athlete waits until the ED letter, the mad scramble to get in apps and restart the recruiting process over the holiday period may result in a less than favorable outcome. The likely letter (or no likely letter) allows the recruited athlete (who only submitted a single application) the ability to plan accordingly by giving them several weeks to employ the contingency plan - and submit apps to more schools.</p>
<p>Also, likely letters are issued by admissions. Without a completed application (there may be some situations where a school may waive the third SAT II if the scores on the first two are in the range), you can’t get a likely letter (first: recruited, second: offer by coach, third: application, fourth: parent angst waiting for LL, fifth: likely letter, sixth: formal offer of admission).</p>
<p>stemit, I totally understand everything you said. What confuses me is this: what is the benefit to the school of sending a likely letter at the end of November when the recruit has already applied ED and will be hearing back around December 10? I see clearly how this benefits the recruit, but not how it benefits the school. In schools where there’s no ED, or in the case of an applicant who has sent all materials in early and will receive a likely letter prior to the ED application deadline, the likely letter benefits both the school and the applicant. But in the scenario Kate in Fl describes, the likely letter just seems like a courtesy to the applicant and, cynically, I don’t think college admissions offices take actions that benefit the applicant and not the college.</p>
<p>Kiddo also received her Ivy Likely Letter about a week ago—which was obviously after she applied ED. As with Kate in Fla’s child’s experience, Kiddo’s experience followed along exactly as coach said. Kiddo submitted ED application; coach called her in early November and welcomed her to to the team (first with the caveat that it wasn’t official, but then backtracked and said with Kiddo’s stats, coach would be shocked if she wasn’t admitted, so coach said, ‘welcome to the team!’). Kiddo asked if a LL was possible and coach said she’d heard of them, but never asked for one before, but would do so.</p>
<p>Coach then sent Kiddo an e-mail a few days later and said the LL would be issued and would come in a few weeks. The letter came pretty much within the time period given.</p>
<p>Kiddo wanted this school and only this school, so she would have applied ED with or without the Coach’s support and with or without the potential for a LL. Kiddo would never bring up the LL earlier. She only felt comfortable asking once Coach offered her the sponsorship. But, we here in our house all agree that the Coach’s sponsorship and, ultimately, the LL made for a much easier college application process.</p>
<p>Now, as for why the Ivy was willing to send Kiddo a LL even after she’d submitted her ED application, I don’t really know. Perhaps as a show of integrity? Perhaps as a favor to the coach who had only one sponsorship to offer? Perhaps because until that Letter of Admission is actually sent/received, Kiddo and those like her could choose to either withdraw the application entirely or request its conversion to RD?</p>
<p>I don’t know, but Kiddo was one happy camper when that LL came and I finally believed she was done with the college app process. And so happy that all her years of club sports, unbelievable training hours, socializing sacrifices, and her incredible dedication to her studies and discipline had paid off to get her to the one school she really wanted to attend.</p>
<p>Regarding LLs, I thought that they were really hugely helpful to non-EA/ED schools (namely Harvard and Princeton), more than schools that offered ED.</p>