A Note on Letters of Enthusiasm

This picture of Yale’s Woolsey Hall is from a long time ago. Don’t wait too long to write your Letter of Enthusiasm!

We sometimes get emails from parents who come to us not only after their child was deferred admission to their Early Decision or Early Action college but around now, after they’ve already sent out all of their Regular Decision applications. They’re inquiring about the Letter of Enthusiasm because they’ve read about the importance of the Letter of Enthusiasm on our college admissions blog. But in some instances, we receive emails from parents after their child has already submitted his or her Letter of Enthusiasm. They tell us that they already submitted the letter but they want us to review it to ensure them that it’s great.

Yes, you read that correctly. So they want us to read their awful letters and tell them they’re great. Well, if you’re a regular reader of our college admissions blog, you know that we hold nothing back. We are unapologetic. And we are honest. It’s a big part of why we’re good at what we do. But we feel badly when they email us after the patient is already dead on arrival to see if he’s in great shape. He’s not in great shape. He’s dead. But it does this parent no good to hear this. And so we write back something along the lines of, “No need to worry. It’s out of your hands.” We aren’t sure what to write in these cases. We don’t want them to lose sleep over the fact that they could have done more. They didn’t “put their best foot forward,” even though they sure think they did.

So if you ever get an email from us in which we say something along the lines of “No need to worry,” know that you’ve put yourself in a bit of a pickle. You came to us too late. Don’t come to us so late. Come to us when the patient is still alive and kicking. Kick, kick, kick. Just like a swim coach would tell you in a freestyle sprint.