Now that you have submitted your application, what happens?

Firstly, it is read. Often times, twice. Cover to cover.

Often its is debated.

Ultimately it is decided, not just on its own merits, but also in the context of all the other students they are reviewing for admission. They can only take a limited number. Some thoughts from Fred Haradagon, former dean of admission (Princeton, Stanford and Swarthmore):

As the house lights dimmed, even this group of alums were slightly intimidated. On a large screen at the front of the room, a graphic appeared, showing that 1,534 high school valedictorians had applied for admission to Princeton the previous year. “Now,” the dean said, “of that 1,534, how many do you think we offered admission to?”
Hargadon paused.

“About 495.”

“We try to distinguish between who wants to come here for the learning,” he told me, “and who wants to come here to get another set of credentials on top of the ones they have in order to do the next step.”

“Many candidates are driven to make themselves look like they know as much and have accomplished as much as possible,” Hargadon said one day after wading through yet another pile of applications. “I think it’s the rare student in our schools who isn’t worried about impressing and who has a very good perspective on life and is comfortable admitting what it is they don’t know.”

A myth has grown up that every candidate has a one-in-six or one-in-seven chance of being offered admissions, as calculated by taking the total number of acceptances offered and dividing the total number of students who apply. “There’s no candiate I meet that I can tell them the odds are one out of six, because the odds aren’t one out of six for everybody. Some candidates have a one-out-of-two chance, some a one out of forty.” Hargadon says.

“Do you know how many times I read, ‘Best student I’ve had in ten years,’ ‘Best math student in twenty years’? How many times?!” Hargadon asks plaintively. “I”d be shocked if I was some of the kids that I turn down.”

“Spot the students who will give the best questions, not those who can give the best answers.”

For every student that a school like Princeton offers to admit, it has no choice but to turn down five or six other applicants, some of whom are deserving of a spot in the next freshman class. Sadly, sometimes Princeton rejects deserving students for whom Princeton is the first choice, in favor of candidates who have no intention of going to Princeton if they are also accepted by, say, Harvard of Stanford.

“What really wears me down,” the dean says, “is trying to distinguish between candidates all of whom are really excellent.”

Source: Getting In by Bill Paul (Originally posted in College Confidential)

This short news segment (2014) focusing on Grinnell gives you a sense of what many highly selective colleges do:

A new, contemporary approach (here is a brief history and overview of admissions in the USA), called Committee Based Evaluation, pioneered by PENN and used by Swarthmore, NYU, and several others (like Georgia Institute of Technology, Rice University and Bucknell University), pairs two readers to speed up the process. One reads the student portion of the file, while the other focuses on the school documents and then they discuss it.  The Wall Street Journal does a good job summarizing the 8 minutes they spend  along with this article from Eric Hoover. Georgia Tech shared how this works in a two part feature on their blog–Part 1, Part 2.

Some folks at CC have crowdsourced some of their favorites for understanding the process:

My personal favorites include:

Claremont Mckenna: Admissions by Design (2006) 

  • I especially like the inside look at their rating scale. I wish it was more in-depth…

Amherst : The Best and The Brightest (2004) Put together by PBS. The Video below is the original and an updated (2013) take on the process is here.

  • What does it take to get into a top liberal arts college? Education correspondent John Merrow takes a behind-the-scenes look at the admissions process at Amherst College.

Georgetown -glossed over by ABC, but gives some insight (2003).

Williams and Mary,  Beyond the Numbers by folks who are there (2007)

While outdated now (2009), but University of Chicago offers some fascinating insights.

A look at athletic recruiting and college admissions. From a New York Times series (2005-06)

NPR has a great series investigating college admissions (2007)

Check out the New York Times’ Choice blog (2009):

Unigo and the Wall Street Journal did a series on the admission process:

The Secrets of College Admissions

Getting into a top college

Playlist on Paying for College

More

Duke did a great three part series (2010):

A couple of essential articles on holistic admissions

UCSD demystifies their process (2004) with more detail here and even more detail for the whole university of California system here.

University of Michigan (2018) is one of the most transparent colleges offering up not only an explanation, but their Michigan Rating Sheet. Here is another look at a large public institution, University of Maryland, which looks at an astounding 26 different factors.

Two articles posted on this thread at College Confidential gives insight on Oberlin’s process especially.

A more recent article (2014) focused on Lehigh University.

Oxford has stellar series of podcasts (2012, archived) and a Guide to Interviews and this PDF.

University of British Columbia’s system of evaluation (2016) was outed by the student newspaper recently. UBC has become increasing competitive, requiring students to have between 85 and 93% for entry in most programs. With over 25,000 applications the university looked for a more refined way to make offers of the 13, 688 students they deemed strong enough. Insiders say the essays basically count for 20% of the grade.

Harvard FAQ

Original Source: Harvard Admission website.

Retrieved via WAYBACK Machine

Frequently Asked Questions: Admissions

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

 Which teachers should write recommendations?

Teachers who know the applicant well and who have taught him or her in academic subjects (preferably in the final two years of secondary school) most often provide us with the most valuable testimony.

 Should students send supplementary recommendations?

While we can make careful evaluations with required recommendations, we are happy to read helpful letters from people directly familiar with applicants’ lives outside the classroom. Such letters are not necessary, however, and it is generally advisable to submit no more than two or three.