The current issue of the Sarah Lawrence admissions magazine Abstract has an article describing their holistic admissions process. The full article is here. Not sure how much of this is new news but some was new to me.
The main thing that jumped out is this:
At least two counselors read each application and discuss them all in committee … Each reader will note their vote for a file, and if there’s a difference between the first and second reader votes, the committee discusses the case together.
So agreement between two readers will get you in or out, and only the unclear cases go to the committee. I wonder if the process is similar at other SLACs?
Also, admission reader notes are apparently shared with admitted students at Sarah Lawrence, which is kinda cool.
The example admitted applicant who is “Interested in studying economics, writing, and computer science” may be disappointed by SLC’s offerings in economics and computer science.
At least two counselors read each application and discuss them all in committee, where the overall diversity of the class is considered and admission decisions are made.
This seems to contradict the OP’s quote. Are all applications discussed in committee or just the ones that the two readers disagree on?
Two other comments: note the fact that “overall diversity of the class is considered” by the committee. It is important for students to understand that: it is about assembling an interesting (and diverse) class, at schools with holistic admissions (including highly selective schools).
The article also made clear how important “fit” is on both ends- student and school. (Though the comment by @ucbalumnus on CS may seem to contradict the importance of fit for the student- but writing is very strong at SL.)
The final piece of the puzzle (which the article leaves unaddressed) is that SL has revenue goals they must achieve. So at the end of the selection process, if the admitted class’ predicted revenues are short of goal, less financial needy/full pay students will be swapped into the admitted pool for students with high levels of need.