<p>Con someone explain in detail what happens behind the admission office door???</p>
<p>Also is New Jersey/ New York a completive region to compete from, since im from there ???</p>
<p>I don't think anyone knows for sure, however from links to articles that have appeared on cc, the following seems to take place at very selective schools like the ivy league and perhaps others.
1) Applications come into the admission office. They are opened up and tagged for particular things like legacy, development admit, excptional talent in the arts.
2) The development offfice of the school supplies a list to the Dean of Admission at various points in the admission cycle regarding applicants who are important to the development office. ie. legacies who have given signnificant funds to the school and others who are not development admits who have done so or plan to do so. These applicants get a special look by the Dean of Admissions
3) Coaches supply the Dean of Admission with the names of those athletes the coaches are interested in. These applicants also get a special look by the Dean of Admissions
4) Under represented minority applicants may also be handled by an admission officer in charge of multi cultural applications
5) All the applications are then divided by region.
6) Regional admission officers assigned to each region collect and sort the applications in their region. Those who do not have the academic qualifications are taken out of the pool. Those who have weaker but still competitive academic qualifications but interesting or extraordinary extracurriculars or overcame great obstacles ect are kept in the pool
7) Those who are not connected, ie. are not legacies, development admits, recruited athletes ect, get a reading of their application by a regional admission officer and then a second reading by someone in the regional admissions committee.
8) Those who are legacies who have not given substantially to the school will often get a reading in addition by the Dean of Admissions at most schools. Those who have given substantial funds will get special attention from the development office which often leads to special attention from the Dean of Admissions (this is the power of privilege referred to in Goldens Book about the Price of College Admissions)
9) At many schools the application gets rated on a number scale for academics, extra curriculars, sports, and character.
10) Very few applicants will be accepted after a first read. Most will have at least two reads with the final decisions decided withing minuites.
11) The regional admission officer will advocate at the admissions committee for those applicants in his or her region. Some say that he or she advocates first for those who he or she believes are his or her strongest candidates in the region. All the regional admission officers vote at the admission committee meetings but each regional admission officer is also trying to get their own applicants accepted. Some of the regional admission officers are older and more experienced, some are younger and newer to the process.
12) For regular deccision the admissions committee starts reviewing in the beginning of February and ends the third week in March.
14) At the ivy league, one has to have competitive SAT scores and grades. Most applicants have in that range. The admission officers look for applicants who show passion, leadership ect in their extra curriculars, extraordinary talent, extraordinary commitment to community service - any and all.
15) At the admissions committee the regional admission officer discusses the applicants in his or her region. Most applicants believe that the Dean or Senior Admissions officer will read an application. This is usually not the case. Usually the regional admission officer and someone in the regional committee are the only ones who actually see the application of applicants in their region. It is up to that regional admission officer to present the applicant to the admissions committee. ie. discuss what was presented in the application.</p>
<p>While every school is different, collegebound is pretty much on target with that detailed description.</p>
<p>You might want to read "The Gatekeepers," by Jacques Steinberg, which is an inside look at admissions at Wesleyan University. Since the book is about the 1999-2000 admissions cycle, now 7 years old, it is slightly dated. Wes has gotten much more selective since then. </p>
<p>There have been numerous articles written about the process, where journalists have been allowed to sit in on admission committee proceedings. Probably if you posted a question like that in the Parents section, you would be given quite a few links.</p>
<p>As for your other question -- NJ/NY is an incredibly competitive region to apply from, especially if you are interested in schools in the Northeast. Yes, you will be hurt by your geographic location, unless you decide to look in the south or midwest or west.</p>
<p>It is interesting about geographic locations and applicant chances. While it is true that NJ and NY seem more competitive, and perhaps the applicant pool not only large but stronger, the reality is also that a large number of applicants get in from these states. The percent accepted from these states is even higher. So for example, while 400 might apply early from a particular northeastern state 100 might get accepted, whereas another state like North Carolina might have only 70 who apply early, but perhaps only 12 who get in early. Some people think that applying from a state where not a lot apply is an advantage. It really is only an advantage in a state like Wyoming where there may be only four applicants. In states where 70 might apply early for example and only 12 might be taken early, many taken early tend to be the connected applicants, ie. development admits, recruited athletes, legacies who gave money - since they usually apply early, and most of those 12 spots often go to them. So the reality is that it might have actually been an advantage to come from a state like New Jersey where one has a better chance of getting accepted if not in those categories. Also, high schools in New Jersey and New York tend to have closer relationships with the ivy league as more apply from those schools. The ivy league have a track record with many of those northeast high schools and know that students from those high schools have come to that college and performed well. Also many guidance counselors at the competitive high schools in New York and N.J. engage in communications with regional admission officers in which they communicate that a particular student may be planning to go elsewhere and try to rally instead for students who they know will attend that college if accepted. ie. the guidance counselor when told that Julie is going to be accepted to Dartmouth may tell Dartmouth that Julie has been accepted to Harvard and definitely going and instead might push for Peter who Dartmouth was not leaning to take, but who might get an edge as his guidance counselor communicates it is his first choice and he will definitely attend. Colleges are concerned with yield - ie. the percentage of those accepted who attend and this type of interchange often results in a very good relationship between counselors and regional admission officers and results in more applicants being accepted from those high schools in the future
In states where not many applicants apply to the ivy league, resulting in high schools where just a handful applly each year to these schools, the relationships are different. Many regional admission officers come to these states but once or twice a year for college fairs. Most ivy leagues dont have a very strong relationship with these schools, and there is not the same interchange tha goes on. The regional admission officers learn about the curriculum at each school, but it is not the very close relationship that many northeast schools have. At many northeast schools the guidance counselorss speak with admission officers about candidates throughout the entire admission process. In states where small numbers apply usually a guidance counselor will make one telephone call in the spring to advocate for a student. At some large public schools no calls are made
So it depends. It may seem like a disadvantage applying from an area like New Jersey or New York, but it can also be an advantage. It might be harder to stand out in large pile of applicants coming from New York and NJ where so many are high achieving, but the odds of getting in seem to be better.
The reality is that geograhpic location helps when there are just a few applicants from a state applying to a selective ivy league school and the ivy league wants to have at least one or two from that state. Then an appliccant with high SAT score and grades might get accepted without anything else. In all other states, one has to stand out in the crowd</p>
<p>I have heard from quite a few people that Brown is one of the only Ivy League schools who actually give all applicants a fair chance by giving each application a COMPLETE and THOROUGH read through before coming to a decision whereas most schools (although they don't publicize as such) have cutoffs for GPA's and SAT scores. Brown is, however, known to look through everything, even for applicants that look weaker statistically, before coming to a yes or no decision. Can anyone vouch for this or is this just an untrue rumor being spread by word of mouth? </p>
<p>It is kind of credible because I know that Brown is one school that emphasizes character a lot, and only through reading whole apps at a time can someone really get to know each applicant to the fullest extent.</p>
<p>And one last thing, I'm sorry if this is a stupid question but what is a development admit?</p>
<p>There are two types of development admits. One is a legacy development admit. That is someone whose parents or grandparents attended the school and the family has given a large financial gift to the school usually over six figures or gave a building ect. Only a very small percentage of legacies are probably legacy development admits. Then there are development admits. These could be the children of celebrities or very wealthy CEO's for example who promise to give a large amount of money to the school if accepted or bring celebrity.</p>