What's all this about "likely letters"?

Parents Forum
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<p>Or how about "Papa's got a brand new bag - of obsessions" ?</p>

<p>I did not know there were athletic likely letters to super selective schools until a while back and now, over the past month, I learn there are academic likely letters, too. Good God, I'm checking the mailbox everyday as if I'm actually expecting there to be something from Uber U in there. </p>

<p>Dear Country Girl, </p>

<p>After first guffawing at the name of your "high school" , we were most impressed that you could form words into actual sentences....blah, blah......our URMI, Up from Rural Mediocrity Initiative....</p>

<p>Something like that, anyway. </p>

<p>On the Duke board it said 350 letters. How common is this really at the top schools? Just uni's or top LAC's ,too?</p>

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<p>I don't know how common the usage is, but here are some of the rules governing the notices to students at the Ivy League:</p>

<p><a href="http://admissions.cornell.edu/apply/firstyear/ivyadmissionsprocedures.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.cornell.edu/apply/firstyear/ivyadmissionsprocedures.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Following is a report on the practice that dates from 2-3 years ago. There was some discussion about Mona Lisa's school a few days ago on a similar practice. </p>

<p>A Wink and a Nod</p>

<p>Colleges are courting their best students earlier in an effort to win their affections. Here are some of the techniques they're using.</p>

<p>Dartmouth College "Likely" letter<br>
Sent before the Ivy League's agreed-upon mailing date for acceptance letters. Dartmouth says the letters are not a violation because they only hint at admission rather than grant it. "We do these letters to try to introduce some 'humanity' into the pressured admissions process," says dean of admissions and financial aid Karl Furstenberg. </p>

<p>Grinnell College "Wink" letter<br>
Not much winking and more of a straight admission. Letter reads: "I am both pleased and excited to send you this early notification of your acceptance to
Grinnell College." </p>

<p>Clark University "Love" letter<br>
A note, often handwritten, saying "how much the admissions office enjoyed reading the application or that we appreciated the effort the student made to present a thoughtful essay," says dean of admissions Harold Wingood. </p>

<p>Williams College "Early write"<br>
A committee meets every week for several weeks in January and February to "really look for the superstars," says Richard Nesbitt, director of admissions. The result: About 200 students every year receive an admittance letter two months before the rest of the pack. </p>

<p>Colorado College "Early notification"<br>
School admits about 10% of all "regular" admissions candidates about three weeks early. </p>

<p>Smith College Early scholarship notice<br>
"The fact that Smith thinks these students are special is conveyed to them," says director of admissions Audrey Smith. The message is reinforced with $2,500 a year in scholarship money and a paid position as a campus researcher.</p>

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<p>Oh, crap. Xiggi. Read 3 (c). I kind of think that has been going on with one particular school. (Not Ivy, but usually the rules are real close between Ivy and this conference.) D hasn't budged from saying "I love your school. We just have to wait and see about the money if I'm admitted." Coach keeps on asking, though. Doesn't phase the coach one bit. Two days later, "So are we number #1?" LOL.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
a “likely” probabilistic communication letter

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Wow. That sounds like about as much fun as opening an anthrax letter.</p>

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<p>Even the UCs get in on this act, with their Regent's invitations and Scholar's Day invitations. It seems that most of the UCs have already "winked" at their top applicants.</p>

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<p>Ha, Curmudgeon, I know exactly where you are coming from. Being a farm mama too, I usually stop at mailbox on the way out to pick up the children from school at 3 p.m. Since all this "likely letter" stuff started, the mailbox has started to beckon at the Postman's customary noon arrival time. By one o'clock, I can just picture that little envelope with "Likely U" sitting all by itself in the box. By one fifteen, I am on the way to the box. Yesterday nearly brought my demise because the box contained a personal (i.e., not a printed label) letter from "Favorite Ivy U". Just for 10 seconds, my spirits soared; I thought we had one!! Turned out to be a request for information about her application. Oh, well, maybe today. (How long is it until the mail comes???)</p>

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<p>
[quote]
How long is it until the mail comes???

[/quote]
11 hours and 4 minutes. Approximately.</p>

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<p>Waiting is definitely the hard part. 6 hours and 10 minutes until the mailman comes today. Approximately.</p>

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<p>You could always emulate what that MIT student did last year (or the year before) with a camera. Tired of unsuccessful trips to the mailbox, he installed one of those security cameras and hooked it up to the internet. Even the adcoms were watching.</p>

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<p>I used to arrange my schedule for late lunches, drive home at lunch time, open the mailbox to see what arrived, leave the mail in the mailbox, and drive back to work. </p>

<p>Later at home in the evening:</p>

<p>D: "Look - a letter from highly desirable U!"</p>

<p>Me: "REALLY? How exciting, hurry, open it!!!"</p>

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<p>Oh, guys and gals, this is really disturbed behavior on our part. LOL. But I can take at least some solace that I hadn't thought of the internet wired security camera . Yet. Hmmm. Perhaps with a motion detector. Hmmmmm.</p>

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<p>Wellesley has an Early Evaluation option that results in a Likely, Possible, or Unlikely letter coming out in, oh, sometime in the next week or so. Recipients of the Likely get in. The Unlikelies don't. The Possibles have about a 1 in 6 shot...roll a die.</p>

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<p>I wish most schools followed the Wellesley approach. In fact, the best thing that the selective schools could do would be for all of them to offer this screening as a non-binding "pre-application" process, so that kids could zero in on a group of likely colleges to make full application for.</p>

<p>This could also help some parents to see the real "match" schools for thier kids, which I think is hard to do (for your own kid).</p>

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<p>Sorry, a bit off topic, but waiting for the mail is killing me here. My son is waiting on Medical school decisions and has his mail coming home instead of college so that someone would always be around (meaning me!) My husband gets mailing often from two of the schools my son applied to from both undergrad and Medical school. I can't tell you how many times a big white envelope with the University return address arrives and my heart skips a beat, until I look at what department it is from or to see that it is addressed to my husband. </p>

<p>I told my son that these two schools need to quit sending mail to my husband until son is admitted!!! I don't think I can take this much longer!</p>

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<p>D received a likely letter last year from UVA, many who receive likelies also get the Echols scholarship. I think it came in early March...so she could visit in late March before other schools had notified her of acceptance. It really caused us to seriously considered the school while awaiting #1</p>

<p>D also got a phone call from the Vassar coach saying that admission said visiting NY would not be a waste of time ;) That was in January.</p>

<p>Both schools officially admitted April 1, but she actually received the info sooner-- only Berkeley actually waited until 4pm on March 31st.</p>

<p>The good news of the two likelies was visiting and feeling we had options, the bas news was that if #1 school had let us know sooner, we would not have spent the time & money on the other visits, but I am glad she saw the other schools.</p>

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<p>Stanford seems to be sending official acceptances, not just likely letters, to some regular admission applicants. As far as I can tell the only recipients are diversity types.</p>

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<p>USC seems to have sent letters 2/1 & 2/8, offering admission to top candidates. Some others received a letter asking for midyear grades. still hard on many, a relief to some</p>

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<p>Not all schools do this of course. Also, it isn't always by snail mail. I recall two years ago, my daughter getting an email from the adcom/rep from Lehigh about how her application/essays were just the kind of kid they were looking for...something like that. It didn't say she was accepted but it was written with such a positive "hint" that I could not imagine not being accepted after that. I recall it coming pretty early in winter. It was my D's safety school and she did end up getting accepted on the regular date with a very substantial scholarship (we stupidly didn't even know they HAD merit aid). She also got the scholarship with research position (called Stride) from Smith that is referenced in a previous post (again, had no idea Smith gave merit aid until this letter came) but while that did come ahead of the acceptance, I don't recall it being THAT early, but simply before the April 1 notification of admission. It did start the admissions decisions off because it was a long wait for April 1 for all the schools and that letter came a little bit ahead of time.</p>

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<p>Cur,</p>

<p>You must have brought us luck! We weren't even thinking of likely letters till I read your thread. </p>

<p>My son received an envelope today from U Va. When he came home and opened it, it was a "likely letter". He is hoping this means he's into Echols or Rodman. I don't believe this carries a scholarship of any kind but the designation is great, and the OOS tuition is less than that at most of the private schools where he's applied. In any case, it's a great ego boost at a time when April 1 seems very far away.</p>

<p>I also wish more colleges would do what Wellesley does...</p>

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<p>Correction: Whoops! Make that Echols. Rodman is for engineers, I believe.</p>