<p>In the intro app. letter from Columbia I got---it says "The admissions officer who covers your school will read your responses carefully, looking for the curiosuty, dynamism and individuality that have always been treasured resources on our campus."</p>
<p>ok my question is what does it mean by -the admissions officer who covers your school - is there like a admissions officer for every school? So how many admissions officers are there?</p>
<p>There are regional admissions officers, they deal with certain parts of the country/the world at large. For example, there could be a regional admissions officer who deals with the Bay Area, and maybe a few countries.</p>
<p>so that means I would have to be better qualified than the other applicants in the area the admissions officer is covering to be accepted?</p>
<p>well, I think it depends on the area. They'll probably take more kids from a better qualified area and fewer from a not so great area. I don't think they have specific quotas or anything by geography.</p>
<p>I think you're compared more on a large scale than by specific areas.</p>
<p>But I'm just guessing.</p>
<p>The regional admissions officer exists so that the difficulty of high schools can be taken into account. You know how everyone says "oh it's so easy to be ranked 1 at that school, because AP/Honors classes aren't given any weight!" or "That school is impossible to do well at." These officers are supposed to know the schools well so that they can take each bit of information with the proverbial grain of salt.</p>
<p>The regional officer does the initial read. Most decisions are made by the the whole office.</p>