My friend who doesn’t use CC received a hand-written letter from the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions at Columbia. It’s not a likely letter because he received the letter before even submitting his CommonApp. He said that the letter basically is trying to persuade him to apply. It seems like a form of advertisement but does it have any other significance since it is hand-written?
Nope.
I’ve never heard of someone receiving a handwritten letter from the Dean before, but if it’s real then I doubt it’s any different from getting a likely letter.
was he/she approached for a sport or a notable extracurricular?
Is he sure it is an original, penned by the Dean, or is it a mass copied letter?
Yes it’s hand written in pen but he received it weeks before submitting his application and he hasn’t sent his test scores to any schools either. He doesn’t play a sport nor had he had any major achievements in high school around the time he received the letter
The overwhelming likelihood is that your friend didn’t opt out from allowing the testing services (SAT or ACT) to supply his mailing data to colleges, and that this is a mass-mailed letter using fake printed handwriting or robot handwriting technology. The technology for mass producing “handwritten” letters that are hard to distinguish from the real thing continues to improve.
@nynyparent is probably right. See story on Fastcompany about Robots being used to pen letters: