College Admissions Evaluation

College Admissions Evaluation March 29 As weve said for many years, definite admits and definite denies are often only evaluated by one admissions officer at top colleges. The Washington Post reported on this a couple of days ago. When you apply to a highly selective college, you may wonder how many admissions officers actually review your application. Weve discussed this a number of times before on our admissions blog but an article published a couple of days ago in The Washington Post sheds some good insight that we figured wed share. In an article entitled One and done: Many applications to selective colleges just get a single read written by Nick Anderson, Anderson discusses how applications that make a clear case for admission or denial are often only reviewed by one reader, before being sent for sign-off to the dean of admissions. At some highly selective colleges, it doesnt even go to the dean of admissions for sign-off on applicants to deny. A straight D student who served time in prison and plays the violin averagely (sorry, we write about college admissions every day so need to add a little humor) isnt going to get into Stanford. This application doesnt need a committee to decide the outcome. That wo uld be a waste of time. As written in Andersons piece on college admissions evaluations, [Jon]  Reider, [a former senior admissions officer at Stanford], said the volume of applications at many elite schools — there were about 39,000, for example, at Stanford for a fall 2013 freshman class of about 1,675 — means that admissions officers must triage.  Reider said some files are read once, receive a denial recommendation and are never looked at again. Others get a quick yes on first read, with high ratings of an applicant’s academic potential and personal qualities. We called it the jump for joy, Reider said. When a case was clear-cut, he said, the reader would just put those through for a sign-off from the dean of admissions. Are you surprised that some applications are only reviewed by one admissions officer in spite of all of the hard work (or not so hard work) that you put into your application? Do Jon Reiders comments surprise you? If so, let us know why. Were curious to hear your thoughts.