<p>I'd like to compare the yield of likely letters from all the schools that send them out- see if some schools have a much higher yield than others</p>
<p>Few send as many as Dartmouth, however. At most Ivies the number is much smaller, and includes primarily - if not exclusively - recruited athletes.</p>
<p>Celebrian -- my guess is that higher yield rates from all applicants (like Harvard, with about 75%) would confound that sort of data -- i.e. most Harvard admittees are going to go anyway, so it's hard to compare yield from likely letters. But it would be cool to see.</p>
<p>ultimately, people simply choose where to go based on what feels right to them. How they go about deciding is very subjective. </p>
<p>A likely letter does not cancel out any other offers of admission--they will still exist and there is no sane reason why someone would make an irrational decision to go to dartmouth if they did not come to believe it was the best school for them. That is just a fact.</p>
<p>Every school has its appeals and inducements; unless you believe a likely letter turns a person into a blithering idiot! it is just another such appeal.</p>
<p>Some, including myself, find the likely letter to be a personal touch that is indicative of the Dartmouth experience. The entrenched bureaucracies at some institutions do not feel the need for the personal touch, in general, either in admissions or in the over-all undergrad experience. </p>
<p>I assume all schools attract a studentbody very much in keeping with their overall institutional feel. That is probably why, for instance, Harvard students are not known to be fun, happy and warm people (if what you read and hear is correct) much like the institution itself, and Dartmouth students are known to be warm, embracing and easy going--that is, like attracts like; the students are the living body of the historical institutions themselves--one mirrors the other.</p>
<p>Ask yourself, who am I? </p>
<p>---If you can answer the question, go to the place most representative of whom you know yourself to be.</p>
<p>---If you cannot answer this question buy a lottery ticket to Harvard; because, you gotta know, its ranked higher and you will find that you were not alone in being dumb-founded by this question.</p>
<p>Kalidescope -- your points are totally valid, but when I started this thread, I was approaching it from a different angle. There are many schools with arguably similar feels, and an applicant would probably have self-selected himself or herself among those. But then when the likely comes (as you probably experienced), it (1) almost guarantees them an admission and (2) makes them begin to think about going to Dartmouth, imagining themselves there, and whatever else comes with a confirmed admission.</p>
<p>Given that that applicant will get into several of their schools -- and they're not drastically different from one another -- I would say that it is perfectly legitimate and expectable for the likely letter to induce a final choice of Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I agree with Kalidescope. For me, the likely made me visit Dartmouth in early March instead of early April, but the result would have been the same. Dartmouth has something Yale Harvard, and Princeton are all missing for me. It feels like home. That's saying a lot, considering I live 15 min from Yale. The likely simply removed the stress.</p>
<p>"they're not drastically different from one another"</p>
<p>Not to put too fine a point on it, but I believe there are real and substantial differences amongst most of the top schools. Even further, I think a typical Dartmouth student, in particular, sees substantial differences between Dartmouth and most of the other top schools. </p>
<p>If you were accepted by Penn, Columbia, Harvard and Dartmouth I would think you would see substantial, clear and overwhelming differences between all 4 but in particular between Dartmouth and the first three.</p>
<p>I don't really know, but my guess is that Kal and Caw are right, a likely letter will not make anyone do anything they would not have done given time--perhaps there is that peculiar student who would go to Dartmouth because of the likely letter, but it's hard to imagine who this person would be, or how a likely would motivate them to go against their own intersts or desires.</p>
<p>I see the likely as a way of developing commitment and school spirit in those who would have come to Dartmouth--given time to reflect--in any case.</p>
<p>If I'm right, and I think I am, the "likely" seems to be in keeping with the awesome loyalty and devotion Dartmouth inspires amongst its students and Alum: kindness and caring inspires kindness and caring.</p>
<p>I know what you mean. I was born at Yale-New Haven Hospital, spent the first 5 years of my life in the area, and my dad (until about a year ago) lived within 15 minutes of downtown. Nonetheless, I never really liked Yale. </p>
<p>Even though I never visited, I have the feeling that, even had I been accepted to Harvard, I would not want to go there.</p>
<p>You heard of that feeling Notre Dame students have that when they visit campus and feel like they're coming home, and were meant to go there? That's what I have with Dartmouth.</p>