<p>why did the ivy league schools decide on a common decision date and time? from the gossip girl series (lol yeah i'm a sucker for trashy novels), i surmised that they decided a long time ago that they woudl always release their decisions on the same day...</p>
<p>but what rationale compelled them to do so? was it just out of whim or is there an actual reason for this?</p>
<p>Gossip girl! <333333</p>
<p>lol yeah i love gossip girl... their lives are so perfect... they dont have to do any work and they're automatically in the Ivies... they're so effin' lucky!</p>
<p>Jerseygirl-</p>
<p>First of all- there actually is some variation among times. For example, Dartmouth (and other Ivies, but I don't remember which) send out quite a few likely letters about a month in advance (it is extremely, extremely rare that students get likely letters and don't get accepted, so it's like an early acceptance). Also, some colleges try to rush acceptance decisions by mail on the same day. I got my acceptance letter from Columbia around 3:30 PM that day, since I lived pretty close to NYC.</p>
<p>Anyway- the reason is that the schools were concerned that they'd try to gain an advantage in the yield (particularly for athletic recruits) by moving the notification date earlier. If this happened, then the schools would keep moving the decision date earlier and earlier (kind of a nuclear arms escalation scenario!), which doesn't help anyone, since it gives them less time to read the applications.</p>
<p>Agreeing on a set date helps prevent this.</p>
<p>wow thats really interesting ... do schools also send likely letters at the same time?</p>
<p>I don't know, but I don't think so- my guess is that it's sort of "cheating."</p>