Reply to "I love you" letter or "first choice letter"

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to ""I love you" letter or "first choice letter""

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Your kid's application can and should make clear why the school is a great fit for the kid, and, if there is a relevant part of the application for this, a great fit for your family. I'm not sure "first choice" letters work at all (it's just more stuff in the file beyond the core things they look at anyway), and though I can't claim to have worked in the admissions office of these schools, I have worked in grad school admissions for years. Part of putting together a good application is being able to convey why the school is one your kid loves and is interested in--in the application itself. The questions in the application cue this question up time and again, and it is a weak application that cannot answer the questions while simultaneously conveying their fit with and interest in the school--in the application. Tacking on a letter would not change this view so much as confirm it. For whatever that is worth.

Perhaps more importantly, a LOT can change in a short time (hello, 2020?). What if your "first choice" in the fall isn't your first choice come spring, for any number of plausible reasons? Given how unnecessary I tend to think a first-choice letter is, this would push it over the edge for me in terms of not including one.

I will include one exception: If you have turned down a school previously and are reapplying the same kid at a later time or a different kid but in the same family, you might want to include something extra in the application that makes 100% clear why you're reapplying, and then you should find some way--whether through that letter or some other communication--to make very clear that, if you get in, you're coming. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics