How does Direct Admission work for a School within a university?

Just out of curiosity because I haven’t explored direct admit schools within a larger university, how does the admissions process work in general? I am imagining that it varies among different universities, but the question didn’t come up for my kid because of the particular majors that interested her, but I could see a direct admit school as being a possibility for one of her younger siblings.

Do schools within some universities sometimes have their own admissions committees? What is their role in the process and do they have to coordinate with a central admissions office that handles all applicants? How much say do those schools have in which students they admit ? Similarly with direct admissions to specific majors, how much influence do the faculty who are teaching in that department have in the admissions process? I guess that I am thinking if the individual direct admit school or its faculty play a large role in admissions decisions that might be a reason to tailor the personal statement more towards the direct admit school.

1 Like

It varies.

Sometimes, the major has a higher threshold for admission after the applications are scored.

Sometimes, the major has additional basic requirements (e.g. courses taken) that must be fulfilled to be eligible for that major.

Sometimes, applications for the major are evaluated with greater emphasis on some aspects (e.g. specific types of courses and their grades, specific types of extracurriculars, interest in the major expressed in essays) than applications for general admission.

4 Likes