I tried to do a search under “likely letters” but didn’t see any threads specifically discussing these, although they are sometimes mentioned on individual “Class of 20__ RD” threads.
My D was pleasantly surprised by a likely letter from one of her RD schools (UChicago), and I’ve heard that Yale has already sent out their likely letters. Does anyone have any information about other schools, ivy or otherwise? I know that not all schools send them, some only send them to athletes, and most students that are ultimately admitted don’t necessarily receive likely letters from schools that do send them.
Yes, likely letters go out to very competitive applicants. Each school only probably sends 200~300 likely letters, but 200~300 do make up a hefty portion of the class. Harvard sends 300 likely letters starting mid-February (not necessarily all at once), and admits around 2,000 students. That is still 15% of all admits.
To my knowledge, all Ivies except for Princeton send likely letters to non-athletic applicants. Other top tier schools like Stanford, Duke, and Chicago practice likely letters as well. Most go out mid to late February, but some (like Brown) are sent during early March. Therefore, there are still likely letters waiting to go out. At 5 PM EST today, Columbia sent out its first batch of likely letters, and will send out another early March. In my opinion, the primary reason the distribution is divided like this is because they haven’t read all the applications in committee yet.
One student I know got a likely letter from Harvard in the mail dated March 18. He used to live overseas in Japan (American abroad), so he got the letter a week later on March 27 or 28. I think he knew beforehand though because it was in his portal as well. He was waiting to make the more “official” announcement.
UCLA engineering sends them. Received it on March 11, when regular decisions came out at end of March. Really helpful to get those early with all the stress of March.
@STEM2021 - I wouldn’t worry about not receiving a likely letter. Schools only send them out to a fraction of their applicants and most of their accepted students do not receive them.
I am skeptical that any school sends out hundreds of likely letters. My understanding is that it’s more like a few dozen from the most selective colleges. They are not common.
@LoveTheBard and Lindagaf are both correct. They go to a very small percentage of accepted applicants. D got one, but only from the one school; she got normal acceptances from others later. Don’t fret.
For some schools they are called “early writes,” and it is a confirmed acceptance (not just “likely”), but it’s to top applicants. Grinnell and Smith both do this.
Son auditioned live at USC Thornton School of Music and the following Wednesday got an email saying that they are “considering” him for admission, merit scholarship, and Thornton merit scholarship. They did ask him a lot of questions at the audition. We are just interpreting it as “they have not said NO.” Waiting for end of March to see what happens. Unsure it if falls into the same category as “likely.”
No other school where he auditioned live gave him any written notice of feedback like that other than “thanks for your audition” and invites to concerts, shadow days, lesson with private instructor, sit in on an ensemble.
He auditioned live at 8 schools (including one nonbinding early action where he was accepted in December) and so far the first of these schools admitted him this week (UC Irvine).
The UCs are starting to send emails to make sure that you know how to access your portal.
Amherst and Williams send out early writes (official acceptance letters) in early March. I just got one from Amherst yesterday! 20% of admitted students at Amherst get them.
Don’t most schools (esp Ivies) send the bulk of their LLs in October because most verbally committed athletes apply early? If you committed during or before junior year, why wait to apply regular decision?
