<p>Does anyone know whether colleges tend to send out just one round of early writes or whether they might come in rolling sorts of “waves”, i.e., multiple batches?</p>
<p>I would guess since all applications are not read yet that early writes go out in waves where the admissions committes decide that they really want to tap a certain student into coming to their school.</p>
<p>I agree with sybbie - the colleges I’m familiar with that send likely letters all do them in “waves” which, as far as I can tell, are based solely on when the apps are read.</p>
<p>Oh, I hope so. Our HS’s midyear report went out quite late, so son’s app may not have been read by some yet.</p>
<p>The time between waves can’t be too big - it seems as though EWs come late February to March 15th. After that, it doesn’t make much sense, since RD are due April 1st or so. Amherst’s are already out - just within the last couple days. I think the “waves” there are the differences in notification times with USPS, etc., and geographic location. Perhaps the larger schools have more waves.</p>
<p>BTW, interesting tidbit from Amherst’s board, that many of those that reported receiving EWs filed later, so don’t panic. Time of filing and submitting don’t matter at Amherst, anyway.</p>
<p>Does anyone else think ‘early writes’ are just add to the distress?</p>
<p>Getting the first one really helped the stress. Now, knowing that others do them too, it kind of suggests stress everytime the mailbox doesn’t have one in it. But worrying is what Bethies do best…</p>
<p>Here’s a quote from Dean J (UVA adcom) on her admissions blog written the middle of Feb.</p>
<p>“if you get a letter that says we’re impressed by your application, that is a “Likely Letter” and you can be reasonably sure that you’ll have a congratulatory letter in your mailbox in late March/early April. We send these letters out in waves, so if you don’t have one, don’t assume that you will not be admitted. We haven’t made final decisions at this time. More letters will be sent in a few weeks.”</p>
<p>UVA is a big school and ejr1 may be correct that larger schools have more waves (with longer time between mailings) than small schools, reflecting the larger number of apps.</p>