<p>I am supposed to hear from the college I applied to on March 30. Would you think many colleges have already decided who to accept by now and are holding off until the reply date or is it possible that the admissions staff are still deliberating?</p>
<p>Holding off is probably accurate to a point, but I think that they are in the process of preparing the envelopes, etc...</p>
<p>I would think so, too. Does anyone here work at an admissions office?</p>
<p>It's "clean up" time. Most decisions are done, but there are always a few loose ends (students that were late sending in documents getting one last look). It takes a large university about a week to do all the printing, double checking, envelope stuffing, etc. that's associated with decision letters.</p>
<p>Although some colleges may be holding back the decisions deliberately (for some strange reason), I don't think that it is a common practice; simply because it doesn't make much sense. They've been doing this for many many years and the colleges know exactly what they are dealing with, i.e. they know how many applicants they will get, how they want to go about the process of making decisions, how long each application will take, etc. etc. Taking all of that into account they set an approximate date for completion and publishing of the decisions.</p>
<p>at harvard, the admissions officers told us that they spent about 40 minutes on each application.</p>
<p>That's awful...so awful, I doubt it's true. Hopefully Dean J will come back and comment, because I know UVa pours over each application, unless its deifnently a reject, but even those im sure they spend more than 15min on. But most colleges I would assume have 98% decisions done, and the ones left are being bounced around between the waitlist or being admitted or waiting on more info that was late. This leaves all of next week to stuff envelopes and double check everything, and mail on the 30th and have decisions online then. I doubt colleges "hold" all decisions, they just don't want to let only 98% of their applicants know at one time, then the rest a few weeks later.</p>
<p>We want to get this process squared away. We have no interest in dragging things out!</p>
<p>It would be impossible to spend 40 minutes on an application. Perhaps Harvard was talking about an application that went to committee (meaning, the readers couldn't come to an agreement and it went to a vote). Committee cases can take a while. I've never seen discussion go more than 20-30 minutes, though.</p>
<p>We read everything (and I mean everything, even when you send a dozen recs that all say the same thing) and the average folder takes 10-15 minutes to read. It's a little quicker if we already know the high school and don't need to look at the profile to understand the grading scale and curriculum offered.</p>
<p>^You're right (obviously). Now that I think about it--they said 20 minutes, with a max of 40.</p>
<p>Just another example of inaccurate information on the internet :)</p>
<p>Dean J, I thought the committee usually decide who to accept out of the strongest applicants. Could it be possible that committees are still meeting this late in the selection process? Also, does the high school you attended play a large part in selection? My school has traditionally sent a lot of students to the college I applied to. Would that help me?</p>
<p>Schools use committee differently. If all readers agree to admit a student, there's no need to bring the application to committee. </p>
<p>I would imagine that most schools are out of committee at this point and have moved onto double checking their lists and making sure mistakes haven't been made.</p>
<p>Dean J why do schools make kids wait? if you are a clear accept or a clear deny why not just tell the kids and the parents as those decisions are rendered. This endless wait of what could be up to 6 months just to me makes little sense. It could be time spent on enjoying your senior year or being able to work the plan B asa higher priority.</p>
<p>I thought this blog entry by an admissions officer was neat; it describes lots of the little details, right down to stuffing envelopes, proof-reading them, signing, stamping, and even having the admissions staff help load the mail truck:</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Dean J why do schools make kids wait? if you are a clear accept or a clear deny why not just tell the kids and the parents as those decisions are rendered.
[/QUOTE]
Decisions may change as the process progresses.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I am now crossing my fingers and hoping it all works out.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I want to ask Dean J if the high school I attended plays a major part in the selection process. My high school traditionally sends students to the college I applied to, and I am wondering whether that will benefit me.</p>
<p>Too long. [10 char] Hehe. ;-)</p>
<p>Nervousguy: The fact that your target school is attended by alumni of your HS says that the admissions office is confident that they know the strengths & weaknesses of the HS. It just allows them to know more of what they're looking for and therefore be more efficient at deciding. Now how that relates to your chances, we can't tell. How much are you like the others who were offered admissions? Maybe that will be a better indicator.</p>
<p>That being said, applicants from completely unknown schools aren't necessarily disadvantaged -- it just takes the dilligent admissions officer more work to discover the background and the setting of the school. I'm an alumni rep/interviewer for an Ivy and we get apps from obscure schools every year. We do our best to inform the adcom about the context in which the student is coming from. Our selective school really searches for "diamonds in the rough" so I don't think the HS per se affects you positively or negatively -- it's what you did when you were there.</p>
<p>Someone I know in another state who I did not even think was a very compelling candidate to a particular school they applied to just found out they were accepted. How can that be the case? This is a school that does not release its decisions until the end of this month. Since this applicant is not a development admit, legacy or recruited athlete, how would they be privy to that information? I am assuming that the guidance counselor at this applicants private school got a heads up as to who was to be accepted. That is my only guess, but how could guidance counselors be given a heads up ten days before decisions are due when I have heard things change up to the last minuite.</p>
<p>some specific schools within a college have rolling decisions, such as Cornell; other schools can also send likely letters</p>