<p>Newbie here. What is a "likely letter?" How's that different from a Letter of Intent? Having trouble with other terms, but I think I've figured out that EA is Early Action; RD is regular decision. Right?
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>A likely letter is for the Ivies, the Letter of Intent is for other schools. Do a forum search for these topics, since you’re not the first to ask!</p>
<p>Thanks. I did do a Forum search before posting, but it came back that there were too many uses of the term.</p>
<p>Try searching for “likely letter” in quotes or use the advanced search function to just look for the term in thread titles…</p>
<p>Your best bet would be to go to [The</a> Official Web Site of the NCAA - NCAA.org - NCAA.org](<a href=“http://www.ncaa.org%5DThe”>http://www.ncaa.org) and get familiar with the information they offer. At one time they had booklets that you could download that covers the process to a certain extent. You won’t find all the answers on the site, but you will get a better understanding of a somewhat complicated process. Once you get a better understanding of terminology and the process you will have a better idea of what to search. I doubt you find anything on EA or RD on the NCAA site, but you are right in how you describe it.</p>
<p>From the Ivy League Sports website ([Ivy</a> League Sports](<a href=“http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/admission-statement.asp]Ivy”>http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/admission-statement.asp))</p>
<p>“* Admissions Offices at each Ivy school may offer some athletic and other candidates a “likely” letter, which has the effect of a formal letter of admission provided the candidate continues to have a satisfactory secondary school experience. Coaches may initiate the requests for these letters, but only the office of admission can issue a"likely” letter."</p>
<p>In a nutshell, the Ivies use the “Likely Letters” in order to compete with the schools that offer athletic scholarships/Letters of Intent in order to let the athletes know that they are committed in the early decision period. The signing of Letters of Intent by the athletes typically takes place during the Fall semester (check the NCAA website for specific sports’ dates), but ED admission decisions aren’t released until Mid-December. Soooo, the Ivy’s Likely Letter serves the purpose of assuring the athlete that they aren’t risking losing an admission spot if they go with the Ivy and pass on signing a Letter of Intent with the non-Ivy school. Letters of Intent have scholarship monies tied to them; Likely Letters do not (because no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League).</p>
<p>That’s the nutshell version and I don’t claim intricate knowledge—only broad strokes. But, hang around this sub-forum, pull up a chair and a cup of coffee and take some time to read the threads. You’ll definitely get the bigger and more detailed picture. There are a lot of helpful and knowledgeable people willing to share here and they’ve done so graciously. But, bless them, there’s only so many times they really want to explain the same stuff. :)</p>
<p>To answer your question, a Likely Letter is a tool primarily used by Ivy League schools to help recruit athletes. Since most athletes are evaluating opportunities from several different scholarship schools in addition to the Ivys (ivys don’t give athletic scholarships) and often can’t wait until the official admission notification date of the Ivy’s to commit (late March, I believe), the LL gives the athlete a strong assurance that they will indeed be admitted on the official date and the athlete can feel more comfortable passing up other opportunities. Unlike the LOI, however, the Likely Letter is non-binding.</p>
<p>Thanks Everyone. Got it.
And I do appreciate that the term has been explained many times before, so truly thanks. We’ve gone on the NCAA website, met with a specialist in athletic recruiting, yet we still find ourselves lost in this complicated system. I’m taking the good advise offered and just sipping my coffee and browsing this sub-forum.</p>
<p>It does take a long time and a lot of reading, Raisin, to make sense of the athletic recruiting process. </p>
<p>Even after you’ve been around a while, you’ll keep hearing different things, in part because the process varies a lot from sport to sport, school to school, coach to coach, and athlete to athlete. We all tend to want to figure out rules that apply to everyone but that’s hard to do as it tends to be a somewhat individualized process. </p>
<p>This forum is a great resource, so keep asking if you don’t find the answers you need by searching previous posts.</p>
<p>Just to complicate things a bit, you may also run into “likely letter” being used to describe letters that admissions offices send out to kids they really really want for academic reasons or for other talents. These are also known as “early writes.” Probably very similar in effect to an athletic likely letter, but not confined to the Ivies, and not an item negotiated with a coach.</p>
<p>Welcome to the forum! If your kid goes in the direction of the Ivy League or NESCAC, I recommend reading “Playing the Game: Inside Athletic Recruiting in the Ivy League.” Very helpful, especially for a football player like your son.</p>