<p>as others have said, the mail means absolutely nothing. Top schools want to have lots of hi-scoring applicants applying so they can choose who they want. Getting these letters means no more than your parents getting another credit-card offer in the mail. The CEO of Citibank has not taken a personal interest in your parents and is not working to get them as a customer, no matter what the letter seems to say. Everyone knows that, but many 17-year-old kids don’t understand how marketing like this works and get their hopes way up when they receive the college version of these letters.</p>
<p>It’s kind of sad how colleges (actually the PR firms they hire to run the campaign) send letters saying things like “we look forward to receiving your application”, “you’d be one of our top applicants”, and so on to give the impression that they’re a shoo-in.</p>
<p>And if it’s just email they’re being cheap! At least they should fork out the pennies to send a glossy letter ;)</p>