William & Mary Regular Decision Fall 2022 - "Likely/Cypher Letter" or "Early Write" Info

Applying to College
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I am starting this thread in order to help all William & Mary Fall 2022 RD applicants & their parents, as well as future RD applicants & parents, reduce their stress during this stressful time of the year by gaining more clarity about when Likely/Cipher Letters or Early Writes have been sent.

If you received a Likely/Cipher Letter or Early Write letter can you please post the following?

Date received:

Type of letter: (likely/cipher or early write)

Mode of letter: (postal or email)

Is the merit aid award mentioned: (Y/N)

Is the financial aid award mentioned: (Y/N)

Did it invite you to an admitted students activity?: (Y/N)

If so, what is the of the activity, will it be remote or in-person, and it the topic “admitted student” activity or does it have a more narrow topic (STEM, First Generation, others)?:

Date when you submitted the application:

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Somehow, I think the existence of this thread will only exacerbate the stress. So I will just say that the vast majority of accepted applicants will not receive a Likely Letter.

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Cipher received 1/31/22 by snail mail in response to app submitted 11/18.

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Checking our mailbox every day :crossed_fingers::four_leaf_clover:

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Ditto here in OH. :mailbox_with_no_mail: at this point.

Can’t wait to learn about this process. Hopefully many people will post their experience here. If ~25% of students get a cipher (see https://wmblogs.wm.edu/admiss/whats-deal-wm-postcard/) and W&M accepts ~5,400 students during RD (given ~600 accepted in ED), there are about 1,350 persons to learn from.

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It would be easy to miss since it looks like a pretty standard recruitment mailer until you read text on the back.

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Got one late last week. No mention of scholarship.

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D22 applied RD on 11/1. Out of the blue, she received a “1693 Scholar Semi-finalist” email on 1/31. Email requested essay and video. Mentioned “approximately 80 semi-finalists”

First real communication from W&M.

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Cypher postcard arrived today 2/4 - we are in Arizona

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Hi! Are you more likely to receive a likely letter if you applied well before the Jan 3rd deadline? Also, are in state students more likely to receive them than out of state ones?

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Only admissions would know for sure, but I can share that my D21 received one at the start of Feb last year and she applied about 2 days before the deadline. The cypher card is great if you get one, but it is overall quite rare when you consider the applicant pool: it’s only around 7% of the RD applicant pool. They are for the very top students in their RD pool, to encourage them to attend, as likely this group will have many options. The vast majority of kids who are eventually admitted in March do not get one so in the end it really doesn’t matter.

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Got it—thank you!

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Congratulations! Good luck on the submissions! Our son is a 1693 scholar and a senior this year. Wonderful experience.

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Since this was thread was started, will recipients share their stats? And to which extent did you “demonstrate interest?” I have heard that is important with WM, not sure if it’s true.

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Their info session mentioned attending admission programs/visits (in person or virtually) demonstrates interest as well as doing the optional essay. Which is stuff anyone should be doing as they research colleges that they like.

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This was posted on their blog today What’s With the W&M Postcard? - The William & Mary Blogs

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Thank you @JuneOsborne. Your blog link supersedes the much older blog link I posted earlier in this thread. That link has not been disabled by W&M.

Bringing parents and students more relevant, current, post-COVID-19 information was my main goal for starting this thread, and what you brought is fantastic on all fronts!

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See post #16 in this thread for an updated link provided by another parent.

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Did not receive a cypher postcard but did receive email re 1693 semi-final candidacy. Can one safely assume that 1693 semifinalists are “likely” admits? OOS

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Would 1693 candidates be willing to share stats?