<p>I applied Early Evaluation simply because I had my app done by January 1, anyway, so I figured I had nothing to lose. I got my "likely" letter today... but I really find the whole thing very puzzling.</p>
<p>What does it even mean?</p>
<p>It seems like the whole system is really just a way for Wellesley to have their cake and eat it, too. By sending out "likely" letters, informing candidates that they are in the top group of candidates, and going so far as to invite them to the accepted students' weekend in the spring, Wellesley is able to build loyalty in applicants and increase their yield. At the same time, Wellesley does not have to be loyal to the "likely" students--the admissions office is free to extend an offer of acceptance in March, if they so choose, or deny the admit, without any obligation to the kid whose hopes they got up in February, and whom they even told to save the date for the prefrosh visit.</p>
<p>I read somebody's post on a different thread calling EE the most humane system a college could offer, since those who get "likelies" can quit worrying about Wellesley's decision and rest easy, and "unlikelies" can accept the fact that they won't get in and move on. But what about the "possibles"? What's the point of this process for them? To let them know that they are simply adequate, and make them even more nervous?</p>
<p>What do you think? What do you perceive the purpose of this system to be?</p>
<p>My daughter got her well-written "Likely" letter and it made her feel very good. She is already accepted Early Action (non-binding) at another private school so this is making her life in high-school that much less anxious. Is it humane? I think it is reassuring to those who get the "likely" letter and it certainly is a gentler approach to those who don't than a total melt-down in April. Of course if Wellesley is your first choice and you don't get "likely", it really doesn't help but it might offer you an opportunity to reassess your choices rather than simply waiting expectantly for April's mail to arrive. For us the biggest surprise is yet to come: the financial aid offers. My daughter did no apply to any state schools ED because her top choices are private schools. This definitely hurts her chances at two of the most selective state colleges in the country but hopefully she'll match-up with at least one of them so we'll have an in-state-tuition package at a good school to compare to Wellesley and other privates. I've told my daughter (and her older sister in another private college) that state tuition is our ceiling and if the privates come in at or under, we can consider them. But $40,000/year versus $18,000/year is not a decision we'll have to make.</p>
<p>Dontaskmewhy, I think that what you say makes sense on the face of it...but you have to realize that Wellesley is not sending likely letters out to a whole bunch of kids that they are going to later deny. I won't say that it never happens, but the likely/unlikely part really pretty much is an acceptance/rejection. So, as I understand it, Wellesley IS going to be loyal to the likely kids. As far as the possibles...that's life. It's like a deferral (something that I have experienced)--you just gotta deal with it.</p>
<p>The source of the consensus that "likely" means "almost 100%" seems to be a post from "Coquettish" on 2/1/2006. She quoted from a letter she received from Wellesley when she asked them the question now asked here.</p>
<p>I see no reason to imagine that anyone given a likely letter will not receive a formal acceptance by early April, unless some major change occurs, a change equivalent to a change that woud result in an early acceptance being revoked.</p>
<p>"DontAskMeWhy," you seem to fear the possibility of bad faith on the part of the Wellesley admissions staff. My guess is the best way to allay those fears is to ask admissions the question directly and see what they say in reply.</p>
<p>Personally, it seems "likely" means likely; it's a good thing and alot more information than I am getting from all those other schools that will let me know "by early April."</p>
<p>The figure is from the other thread. I'm not sure exactly where it is derived, but TheDad has repeatedly said that through his research over the past couple of years that he has follwed Wellesley admissions that no one has been denied after recieving a likely letter. You'd have to ask him for sure, but it was my understanding that he got that information from an official source (perhaps the common data set). I think it is pretty good info--basically, after recieving a likely letter, you are accepted. Anything that would get you rejected after receiving a likely letter would be the same things that would get your RD admissions rescinded. </p>
<p>So, I think that EE is really a very nice option for almost everyone involved. Yes, Wellesley gets the advantage of added loyalty. Likely letter recipients get the benefit of an early acceptance to a superior college, and even unlikely letter recipients recieve the benefit of moving on early. I guess possiblies don't get much out of it--they know that they have to make an extra effort to make it in later. But all in all, I think it's great.</p>
<p>It seems like EE might create sort of a caste system among admitted students, with those who got "likelies" in the top tier (the girls who were really WANTED by Wellesley), and "possibles" as their inferiors, the girls who got in by the skin of their teeth.</p>
<p>With other colleges that send decisions all at once, the admitted students are all on the same level when they arrive in the fall. I think that keeping the admissions process a mystery actually helps prevent hurt feelings.</p>
<p>Excuse me, but bullfeathers. Three hours after you're on campus, no one knows or cares whether you're a Likely, a Possible, or God forbid, got in off the Deferred List. Everyone has much more important things to worry about and anyone who was so tacky as to bring their Likely up would probably find themselves wondering at the momentary silence as other women looked at each other and edged away. </p>
<p><em>Most</em> attendees are RD anyway, so the question of EE status doesn't even come up. </p>
<p>Other colleges have Early Notifications too...EA or ED, from which students can be deferred and then are later admitted RD. It's not a big deal or some kind of breathtaking deviancy that W is practicing. </p>
<p>If anyone frets about the exact nature of their admissions, God help them if they ever score an 83 on a test or a B on a paper. Sheesh.</p>
<p>Another way to think about it is that Wellesley's EE is similar to the Early Decision II plans that, I think, Vassar, Brandeis, and others, offer; WITHOUT requiring a commitment in return from the student. I think the schools' commitments are virtually identical. I agree with "Sheesh;" couldn't have said it more elloquently. Seems like people are trying very hard to find the dark underbelly of a gift Wellesley is giving.</p>
<p>This is no different than any other extremely selective school. It simply goes with the terrain. The applicant pool being relatively self-selecting is therefor heavily skewed to extremely well-qualified applicants. Face it; college admission is pretty much a crap-shoot these days even for those with perfect board scores. I've told my daughters not to worry about padding their resume but to do what they love. In their schools that meant taking classes that cost them in GPA even if they got A's because the classes weren't weighted. They'd actually have impacted their weighted GPA less by taking a study hall! But the result is kids who show a passion for what they do and do things for the enjoyment they bring. The colleges best matched for them are those that recognize that passion and value it over statistics. Not everyone gets into Princeton (a standard for whatever reason I've never been able to determine), but many times more than are accepted are certainly qualified to do the work.</p>
<p>PD, you touch upon by implication a point that's been of considerable interest to me: it's fairly well known that the HYPSM schools et alia could admit 2-4 entire classes from the applicant pool that would be indistinguishable from each other. I think the admissions rep at Yale said three, but that was four years ago. :) </p>
<p>It's not a death sentence to one's academic or personal development if one <em>doesn't</em> get into whatever the absolute dream school is. I confess that I'm a bit snotty about caliber of colleges myself but even I concede that one can get an outstanding education at the top 50 or so research universities and the top 25 or so LAC's <em>easily</em>. It's what you make of the opportunities and how "fit" can trump everything else. For many students, Wellesley would trump Caltech or Princeton in terms of fit, fit being that quality which allows one to develop one's greatest potential. </p>
<p>Too many students and more than a few parents seem to buy into a model where education is akin to grades of motor oil being poured into skulls by technicians (professors) with skill levels that vary by institution.</p>
<p>As a final aside, as the baby boom echo reaches its peak, this is a tough time to be applying to college. It'll be easier again in about a decade but this year and the next 2-3 years represent the absolute peak of the demographic bad news for applicants.</p>
<p>oh pah, nobody cares how anybody else was admitted, and for the most part I've no idea whatsoever of when or how my fellow freshmen were admitted. It doesn't matter <em>in the least</em>.</p>