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Likely Letters Ofer Comfort, Provoke Confusion in Students
By BREANNA MASCI Sun Staff Writer
For students enduring the stress of the college application process, receiving a “likely letter” from a university warrants a sigh of relief. These letters indicate that the student is “likely” to receive an acceptance from the respective university.
It is common for private universities, such as Cornell, to distribute likely letters, yet the reason for doing so is unclear. The Cornell Admissions Office declined to provide a statement to The Sun about why and how the University carries out this process.
Because university admission teams do not share reasons for acceptance, students who received likely letters will never know what specifically made their application stand out.
“I was pretty surprised because I don’t know who normally gets likely letters, and it wasn’t like my application was particularly outstanding or anything,” MacLean said.
Nia Denis ’26 was also surprised to receive a likely letter in March 2022. Though she expressed appreciation for the letter’s appearance in her inbox, she questioned why only a small number of applicants are sent likely letters. Denis believes if a student is a strong enough applicant to receive an acceptance, then they will be admitted regardless of whether or not they receive a likely letter.
“It’s weird that [they] just a select few people get likely letters because I mean, if you’re accepted, you’re accepted,” Denis said.
Isaac Saadi ’26, another student who received a likely letter in March 2022, said he believes colleges send likely letters to encourage applicants to accept that school’s offer of admission.
“I have heard that likely letters are given to strong applicants to entice them to come to the school by notifying them earlier,” Saadi said.
Shelby Williams’s ’25 experience, which involved her receiving a likely letter in March 2021, serves as an example of this idea.
Students who won the lottery received codes via email enabling them to purchase the $77 general admission tickets on the concert’s website until 11:59 a.m. on Friday, according to the email, which was obtained by The Sun. Student lottery winners may transfer their tickets only to other Cornell students, as the concert will require student attendees to show their IDs at the door.
Skyler Shapiro ’25, a fan of both the Grateful Dead and Dead and Company, awaited the lottery announcement with hope that he would win a ticket. Although he never received an email confirming whether he had been selected, Shapiro figured he had not won when other students began to comment on their own lottery results on Wednesday morning.
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