<p>or do they just select the one best application and reject the other 9 without justification?</p>
<p>Your sentence contradicts itself. If they "choose" the "best application" they have a "justification" to reject the other 9.</p>
<p>but they dont pick out a flaw in the other 9</p>
<p>the flaw is that its not good enough : ]</p>
<p>if i was an adcom, and it was gettin late on a friday night, i would totally just do eeny meeny miney mo, and just start picking kids, cause i know that they're probably qualified anyway.</p>
<p>They have a "reason" but they don't have to articulate it. They don't have to say, "This is why we rejected X." All they say is that X wasn't as strong an applicant as Y.</p>
<p>^^^ Actually they don't</p>
<p>There is not applicant X and applicant Y, as each applicant is considered individually and holistically to the entire class of students, not to any individual applicant.</p>
<p>I specifically asked this question to admissions councils that visited my area recently. Statements like those above are common misconceptions.</p>
<p>They are looking for reasons to accept you, not to reject you.</p>