<p>Data,
This is not from the article but from being involved</p>
<p>The readers are not “part-time”, but full members of the committee. And yes LA has more readers than (eg) Kentucky. The reason is beneficial to the applicant as they know the schools in their area, To my understanding, most schools do this although some smaller ones have everybody read.</p>
<p>Legacies also get an assistant Dean read and “super-legacies” (large donors, heavily involved in alumni affairs) also have the Dean read. Supposedly all on the committee have an equal vote.</p>
<p>The reader does present the application to the group - so if he/she does not like the applicant (or feels that an “A” at their school is not the same as an “A” at another) they obviously don’t get presented with as much enthusiasm - but they are pretty honest with that bias)</p>
<p>It is a majority vote: accept, defer (also to larger group), reject.</p>
<p>However, while Richard is trying to change it, it remains that an applicant from an unknown school really needs the WOW factor over one from a known/proven school!</p>