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March 24, 2011 3:13 PM
Admittance “Likely”
Because, apparently, the actual acceptance or rejection letter isn’t enough, the University of Pennsylvania now has a website devoted to whether or not a candidate is “likely” to be admitted.
According to a piece by Caitlin Brown at Ivy Gate:
Over 200 lucky high school seniors recently received an email from the University of Pennsylvania admissions office suggesting that they check out “pennlikely.com,” where they would find more information about their coveted status as a likely letter recipient. (For those of you who do not spend your time reading college blogs: likely letter = you’re in.)
Or something. The whole thing seems rather confusing. High school students who got the email were not actually admitted, but were instructed to go to this website. The strangely anonymous Penn portal informed students that,
The Office of Admissions is excited to recognize your accomplishments and potential to contribute to the intellectual and social vitality of the Penn community. For these reasons, you have been designated as a LIKELY candidate for admission to the University of Pennsylvania.
Students, however, aren’t actually admitted yet. They won’t know the official answer until March 30.
Wow, Penn. How about just issuing a letter when you’ve made a decision? Stop jerking people around. [Image via]
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Walker on March 25, 2011 2:33 AM:
"Likely letters" have existed forever; the Ivies love them in particular. I got one from my (future) Alma Mater in 1989.
What they really are is a tacit admission that you are one of their top candidates, and they really, really want you. So much that they are breaking the embargo on admission announcements to tell you so. They also hook you up with a mentor/faculty member to start asking questions ASAP. The goal is to have you so thinking about their school that you have made your decision long before the acceptances come from the competitors.
Walker on March 25, 2011 2:44 AM:
As a follow-up, I will say that the real scandal here is that this was announced in an e-mail and they were directed to a generic, unpersonalized web page for the information.
Whatever, you may think of the likely letter, it is a historical tradition. If these are really your top candidates they deserve a damn letter. Or at least personalize the freakin e-mail (e.g. such as a special faculty member to contact).