In today’s episode of “College Admissions Real Talk”, Dr. Legatt discusses Ivy Day and its effects on college admissions.
Have a question? Text 610-222-5762.
Subscribe now wherever you listen to podcasts:
iTunes
Libsyn
YouTube
Transcript:
VO: Welcome to College Admissions Real Talk with Dr. Aviva Legatt, a podcast for students seeking to get admitted to top-tier colleges. Each episode will feature an important tip for your college admission success, delivered with candor and love. If you’ve ever wanted to take a peek inside the mind of a college admissions officer, this is your chance. Have a question? Text Dr. Legatt at 610-222-5762. So, what’s your dream school?
AL: Welcome to College Admissions Real Talk. This is Dr. Aviva Legatt, founder and Elite Admissions Expert at Ivy Insight. Today, we are going to be discussing why Ivy Day was pushed back. What it means and what you should do about it. So in case you haven’t heard of Ivy day, this is the day every year when all of the Ivy League universities reply to regular decision applicants. Normally, this day takes place during the last week of March. However, in 2021, Ivy day is pushed back about one week to the date of April 6th. Why was it pushed back? Well, in case you haven’t heard an inordinate number of applicants have applied to the Ivy League and two elite colleges in general. How did this happen? In short, it was the pandemic. The pandemic cost applicants to go without SAT and ACT scores. This is a normal way that people may disqualify themselves from Ivy League and other elite universities. But this time and this didn’t happen and many people decided to throw their hat in the ring in this SAT optional, quote-on-quote year. As I’ve said on a previous episode, the SAT and ACT weren’t necessarily optional but that was the stated policy. In addition to the lack of test scores impeding people from applying, many people have additional time on their hands at home and decided to use that time to research colleges and to submit the many essays required by these Ivy League universities. So, what can you do about it now, if you’re an Ivy League applicant and you want to make an outstanding impression in this incredibly large and very competitive applicant pool? This isn’t normally the advice I’d give, but I’m giving it to you this year. You want to write a letter of continued interest. What is a letter of continued interest? The letter of continued interest is an opportunity for you, the applicant, to talk about why you remain interested in the university where you’ve applied and why it’s your number one choice. In this letter, you want to give academic and extracurricular updates and how and why these updates relate to your goals at the university and why you’d make a great fit. So, make sure that, whatever you’re sharing, that it is a significant update for you and also that it has some relevance to your application for the university. In terms of timing, I recommend sharing an update from anywhere between every three weeks to about once a month until you receive your final admissions decisions. If you don’t have any personal updates to give, then I would suggest, in lieu of an update letter, you get a letter of recommendation from either an alum of the university, a teacher, or from your school counselor. Now you have to be careful about spreading yourself too thin. You don’t want to write a letter to every single university you’ve applied to. I would choose perhaps one, maybe 2 and even stretch at three universities to really try to court them to ask you to join their class. You want to make a genuine statement that whatever university that you are expressing continued interest in actually is your number one university. So, why am I recommending this? Because colleges care about something called the yield rate. In case you don’t know what that is, the yield rate is the proportion of applicants admitted to the proportion of applicants attending. Having a more favorable yield rate is something that colleges consider a metric of their own success. It counts towards brownie points and publications like US News and World Report and is seen as a metric that reflects the college’s strong reputation And the fact that it’s pulling the students in that it’s accepting. So, when you show your continued interest through your letter and through getting additional letters of recommendation, the colleges will feel more assured that if they admit you you’re actually going to come to campus. So good luck and go get them!
VO: College Admissions Real Talk is hosted by Aviva Legatt, edited by Stephanie Carlin, and produced by Incontrera Consulting. I’m Caroline Stokes and this has been your daily boost of college admissions insight. Have a question? Text Dr. Legatt at 610-222- 5762. For more information on Dr. Legatt and Ivy Insight visit www.ivyinsight.com. And you can pick up Dr. Legatt’s book, “Get Real and Get In”, at major retail outlets across the world. Insight out.
