<p>Do they skim through them and sort them in different piles for more detailed analysis? Or just read them out loud at a round table with other adcoms listening and sipping tea.</p>
<p>Perhaps somebody here knows the system and would share?</p>
<p>It depends on the school Larger schools will have maybe two people read your application thoroughly-ish, I believe.</p>
<p>Guys take my word for this. I was visiting Harvard and snuck away for a second. I broke into the admissions office and saw:</p>
<ol>
<li>They have a list for kids who should get in (USAMO, USACO, Intel STS, RSI) </li>
</ol>
<p>Then, they make a dartboard. Not just any dartboard, but one with one small circle within the dartboard. This circle is approximately 7% of the entire board. They have a dart shooter device that uses random numbers to shoot darts at random on the board. Each dart is assigned to a great student. This is how they accept one good student over another good student… and why kids get into Yale and not Harvard.</p>
<p>Lol JK. This is how Dartmouth does it (for real):</p>
<p>They have 2 reviewers. They review them independently. Each reviewer puts either an Acceptance, Denial, or Waitlist (or something of the sort) on the application. Then:</p>
<ol>
<li>If there are 2 acceptances: Kid gets accepted</li>
<li>If there are 2 rejected: Kid gets rejected</li>
<li>If there is 1 accept and 1 reject: Application goes to a third party who decides on the fate of your application.</li>
</ol>
<p>I think the processes may be similar at other top-tier colleges.</p>
<p>My experience, three reviewers, each makes brief comments. Some quick numerical score. Fast-paced but fair. They have a solid feel for what works for their school- academically and socially. Then meet to discuss the apps and cull through them. Appropriate level of talk re each candidate. Meet again until cut to a final list.</p>
<p>Sounds professional, just hope the adcoms reading mine are on a happy mood with no spilled coffee or something.</p>
<p>Brown uses a single-read system according to my college counselor. Which sucks, because the guy who reads for my school/area is a math/science geek, we’ve never gotten a prospective humanities major into Brown.</p>
<p>Depends on the school. Private schools may have several people read an application a couple of times, and then discuss each app at a committee meeting.</p>
<p>I saw an article a few years ago that described admissions at, I think, U of S. Florida. Admissions counselors typically took 10 mins. to review an application, mainly checking the stats and making sure the application was complete. Then they’d make a decision.</p>
<p>Public school admissions are mainly numbers based so applications are reviewed quickly.</p>
<p>Brown does NOT use a single-read system. Perhaps there is some confusion about this local guy’s real role. Sounds like an alumni interviewer. His input is far from what makes your admit decision.</p>
<p>^If it was the alumni interviewer, it wouldn’t explain why we only get math/science kids in to Brown. My school isn’t particularly known for that. </p>
<p>This is what I heard from my college counselor at school, who spoke to other admissions officers at Brown. I don’t have a citation but he has no reason to lie about it.</p>
<p>Yo! Because Brown is nutso about taking kids in math/sci/engineering/biomed/computer sci and all that. Blame today’s world and the emphasis on technology. </p>
<p>Getting into Brown is incredibly difficult. 75% of valedictorians who apply are rejected. Your counselor might want to call and ask how to improve lib arts admissions.</p>
<p>^75%? Really? The most recent quote that I was given was that Princeton only rejected 50% of valedictorians a year. My quote could be wrong… but I wouldn’t expect Brown to accept that much less than Princeton, considering that Princeton is harder to get into.</p>
<p>Have a look: [Brown</a> Admission: Facts & Figures](<a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University) also note that 2008- 20% of grads got Sc.B degree.</p>
<p>Okay, but how do you know that Brown doesn’t practice a single-read process? I’m still finding it hard to believe that I was flat out lied to.</p>
<p>Some CC respondants have professional (or highly related) experience. Some have been through an exact situation noted in an OP and have specific information to offer. Some have done much qualified research. Others offer purely speculative responses. I was referring to the evaluation of qualified apps.</p>
<p>I was told by a Purdue admissions officer that two people review each application, and if they don’t get the results they want (probably conflicting decisions) that it goes to a third person.</p>