<p>What is the process through which the Ivy League makes admissions decisions?</p>
<p>Also, what kinds of people does each Ivy look for? (ex. Brown likes liberal, artsy kids).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t generalize like that. Brown likes a whole lot of people that are not liberal, artsy kids as well. They really all want a diverse student body.</p>
<p>Fine, brown values volunteer service more than Penn. Like that.</p>
<p>Bump…</p>
<p>I hate to be nit-picky, but I definitely wouldn’t say that Brown values volunteer service more than Penn. Penn’s service initiatives are pretty abundant (Civic House, Academically Based Service Courses, Netter Center, Fox Leadership Program, Harrison Helps, Riepe Mentors, Wharton’s Social Impact & Responsibility Concentration, Management 100, etc, etc, etc). Also, my main extra curricular was service and it doesn’t seem to have negatively affected my admission decision from Penn.</p>
<p>Anyway, I digress. Here are some resources that offer insight into the college admissions process:</p>
<p>On Writing the College Application Essay
<a href=“http://www.the-gatekeepers.com/asp/excerpts.asp[/url]”>http://www.the-gatekeepers.com/asp/excerpts.asp</a>
(Click “Look Inside” once you’ve followed the link, click through the first few pages and you’ll be able to read the very, very beginning of the book.)</p>
<p>This is a short how-to by Harry Bauld, a former admissions officer at both Brown and Columbia and (I think) a former teacher at Horace Mann. Even if you aren’t looking for tips on crafting your personal statement, the first few chapters of the book give excellent insight into what actually goes on in the admissions offices of selective universities. Bauld even includes a play/parody that helps explain the steps that admissions officers take before accepting, deferring, denying or waitlisting an applicant. I highly recommend reading those first few chapters.</p>
<p>The Gatekeepers
<a href=“http://www.the-gatekeepers.com/asp/excerpts.asp[/url]”>http://www.the-gatekeepers.com/asp/excerpts.asp</a></p>
<p>This is a full-fledged docu-book written by journalist Jacques Steinberg, who was granted permission to follow and report on the activities of one of Wesleyan’s admissions officers during a single admissions cycle. It also chronicles the specific stories of six or so applicants, who have different outcomes and end up at different schools. I haven’t read the whole thing (only the online excerpt, actually) and the book is a little outdated, but I’ve heard that it’s pretty informative. At the very least, it provides a comprehensive look at the admissions process.</p>
<p>The Choice
<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/[/url]”>http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/</a></p>
<p>This is an NY Times blog dedicated to each year’s college admissions process. Every cycle, it features a few different students with various stats from app submission through matriculation. There are also always articles on recent college admissions news and usually a few interviews with higher-ups in the admissions world. I find that the blog focuses on the more elite schools, so it caters to what you’re interested in.</p>
<p>I’ll post a basic summary of the process later. (I should stop procrastinating right now!)</p>
<p>As for what each school looks for, I think it does vary but for the most part, each school wants a diverse, talented incoming class. If the adcom thinks there’s a niche for you at their school or they’re looking for a specific trait that you happen to be the best representative of, you’ll get in.</p>
<p>Hope this was helpful 
Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Here are the basic steps in the admissions process:</p>
<p>1. For most schools (not all!), a regional representative does the first read-through of every application from his/her assigned region. If your school hosts any college fairs, the people that you see at the fair are usually regional officers assigned to your district (meaning that if you apply to a school that is represented at the fair, the person who will be reading your app is standing right in front of you). </p>
<p>For states that send many applications per year, a regional officer may be assigned only a few counties from a single state, or counties from several of these high-volume states. For states that send fewer applications, there is usually only one officer for the entire state. Sometimes, an admissions officer is assigned an entire country or countries. </p>
<p>The regional officer drafts a brief write-up on your application. Regional officers are expected to be familiar with the high schools in their region, and with the policies of each high school. A regional officer is the person who looks at your application in comparison to your environment. Every high school sends a “profile” with its students’ applications that shows average SAT scores for the district, as well as providing a list of the previous year’s college acceptances, a cover page that highlights some of the school’s programs, a key to understanding GPA/class rank calculation, etc. This is important information for the regional counselor.</p>
<p>2. Usually, your application is then sent on for a second reading. This time, it is read by an admissions officer who does not look at you in the context of your geographic location. An exception to this rule is Brown. At Brown, applications are first read out of geographic context; the second reading is done by the regional officer so as to try not to immediately sway a regional officer who may be reading the apps of the top 10 ranked kids from a single high school. It makes Brown admissions more holistic than its peers’.</p>
<p>*****I’m not sure exactly when in the process it would occur, but some schools recalculate GPA based on their own scale so as to have a uniform measurement. Certain schools also assign an Academic Index or other type of number to each applicant based on a point system that considers rank, GPA, test scores, ECs, essays, etc. (For example, the officers might evaluate each applicant’s ECs on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being limited involvement and 5 being national recognition, etc.)</p>
<p>3. After your application has been read twice, it is returned to the hands of the regional officer. All of the officers then gather “in committee,” which is overseen by the Dean of Admissions. The regional officer is expected to make a recommendation for each app (accept, deny, defer, waitlist). If an applicant is in the gray area, the regional officer is the person to make a case for him. The Dean of Admissions makes the final call, but usually accepts the regional officer’s suggestion. Here is a real-life example of how a committee meeting might go:</p>
<p>[Behind</a> The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR](<a href=“Behind The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR”>Behind The Scenes: How Do You Get Into Amherst? : NPR)</p>
<p>From there, the process is pretty much over. Letters are mailed or decisions are posted online. I’m sure that there are intricacies that I’ve overlooked, but this summary should give you a fairly accurate idea of what happens to your app (and your fate, if you will) once you’ve pressed “submit.”</p>
<p>Sorry for the essays, by the way!</p>
<p>I just realized that I put the same link under On Writing the College App Essay as under The Gatekeepers in my first post, and it’s now too late to edit it. Here is the link I meant to put under OWtCAE:</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> On Writing the College Application Essay: The Key to Acceptance and the College of your Choice (9780064637220): Harry Bauld: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Writing-College-Application-Essay-Acceptance/dp/0064637220]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Writing-College-Application-Essay-Acceptance/dp/0064637220)</p>
<p>Thanks! Great info.</p>
<p>No problem :)</p>
<p>My god, this is terrifying to consider! Lol… but seriously… such a big part of your life in the hands of these people (I’m not saying it’s <em>which college</em> that matters, but I know people who met spouses, etc in college, and to think that the decision to go somewhere led to that is scary. What if they hadn’t gotten in, etc?)</p>