<p>Really random question. How do the people who decide the fates of millions of high school seniors every year get to where they are?</p>
<p>I've always wondered that as well. That, and how to become a CIA agent. I had the process to the latter detailed to me by a poli sci teacher and it's seriously too awesome.</p>
<p>Read "The Gatekeepers" by Jaques Steinberg</p>
<p>i hear they have to operate on you to remove your heart and soul. you undergo two years of boot camp, during which one ounce of sympathy gets you banished. just what i heard though, i could be wrong.</p>
<p>^love it. lol. seriously, i dont think it takes much. one of my teachers told me she worked in the admissions office shredded applications.</p>
<p>If I worked in the admissions office I think I'd place a shredder right under the slot where the mail comes in.</p>
<p>
[quote]
How do you become an admissions officer?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Stand in front of a mirror and ask yourself: Am I a lazy @$$hole who would like to make a living out of CC addiction?</p>
<p>If the answer is yes, head to your nearest adcom!</p>
<p>Bitter much?</p>
<p>Rachel Toor mentioned briefly about her journey to becoming an admissiosn officer at Duke in her rather well known book, "Admissions Confidential". Check it out, it's a good book.</p>
<p>How much do admissions officers make?</p>
<p>mostly admission officers are alumni of their own colleges
so they know their college in and out and know how a typical student is</p>
<p>I actually second Chad's question. Does anybody know how much they make?</p>
<p>LOL: so much venom directed at the adcoms. Hey guys, don't blame them because the applications to their "selective" schools have tripled over the last 20 years. A generation ago, you and most of your peers would have applied to 2-4 colleges, gotten accepted at most of them and chosen the best fit. This chaos that reigns now isn't the adcoms' fault. A big part of the blame has five initials: </p>
<p>U</p>
<p>S</p>
<p>N</p>
<p>W </p>
<p>R</p>
<p>If I were an adcom, I would publish the numbers to my secret swiss bank account and accept all sorts of donations to same. ;)</p>
<p>It's got to be a tough job, and lots of people will hate you. I am sure there's not enough money in the world to compensate for reading 2000 "Why do you want to go to XXX College" essays. Or even worse, at an Ivy or other elite/prestige college, reading all the ECs of these fantastic kids and knowing that you have to reject them. Awful!</p>
<p>Not that awful fencersmother: I do agree one has to have a dispassionate ability to both advocate and boost for the college and yet then step back and make honest and sincere decisions armed with the knowledge that these wonderful candidates will 99.9% do fine at whatever institution they attend. I interview and recruit for my HYP alma mater. I interview 5-8 kids each season and do one or two college fairs.</p>
<p>I don't find it difficult to put in my write-ups negative remarks or reservations if they are merited. My wife is in dismay at how easily I can do that: possibly (or probably) dashing the applicants (already) thin chances of admission.</p>
<p>I plod along ahead, very confident at the likely futures of these amazing HS seniors, knowing that my school can only physically accept under 2000 kids each year and that we're all doing the best we can.</p>
<p>I love my alma mater and know that this is an imperfect process. Yet it's been here for centuries and will continue on, regardless if it might miss a few gems each year or let slip in some "less than stellar" kids each season.</p>
<p>Best of luck to each of you (parents and students) nonetheless.</p>
<p>I dunno, I think it would be really cool to be an admissions officer. It would be incredibly enlightening to read essays from kids from all over the country and world, and to get to "meet" hundreds and hundreds of these people through their applications. I think it would be fascinating.</p>
<p>^i agree with eravial. i wonder if admissions officers feel a sense of power at being able to crush so many hopes and fulfill so many dreams ever year</p>
<p>us news and world report (the stupid rankings that everyone takes too seriously)</p>
<p>I agree with Eravial08, too. I've often wondered how one becomes an admissions officer. :P</p>
<p>I imagine one might be able to start as an alumni interview, and gradually work your way up?</p>
<p>Someone might also be able to major in something particularly helpful to admissions officers, though I wouldn't have a clue what majors that would be.</p>
<p>I do agree, though, that I would enjoy being an admissions officer. Yes, it would be disheartening to have to reject people, but what about that feeling when you accept someone who supported his/her siblings his/her entire life? In fact, I'd be happy to accept anyone.</p>