It's FINALLY Ready - The College Admissions Office Ratings

<p>I and 12 friends spent one year and one half conducting a MASSIVE research projecting in the hopes of creating a numerated list of college and university admissions offices. The offices are ranked as the “best for students with which to work,” as “1” being the best, etc. etc. Surveys were sent to 1,500 students. Students were asked to rate the offices with which they worked on a scale from 1 to 10 on competentness of the staff, effectiveness at answering questions and relaying information, the presence of efficient and organization method of communication, sense of professionalism among the staff, and friendliness of the staff. If you are curious, this was part of a larger project for a grad stats student. NOTE: THIS ONLY FOCUSES ON THE MOST POPULAR 50 SCHOOLS THAT OUR SURVEYS CONSISTENTLY FOUND THAT STUDENTS APPLIED TO.</p>

<p>HERE ARE THE RESULTS:</p>

<li>University of Wisconsin - Madison</li>
<li>University of Washington in St. Louis</li>
<li>Wesleyan University (CT)</li>
<li>Oberlin College</li>
<li>Macalester College</li>
<li>Swarthmore College</li>
<li>Boston University</li>
<li>Grinnell College</li>
<li>University of Rochester
10.New York University</li>
<li>University of Georgia</li>
<li>Colby College</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>Vanderbilt University</li>
<li>University of Chicago</li>
<li>Rice University</li>
<li>Bates College</li>
<li>Colgate College</li>
<li>Dartmouth</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon University</li>
<li>Pomona College</li>
<li>Carleton College</li>
<li>University of Michigan</li>
<li>Tulane University</li>
<li>Kenyon College</li>
<li>Brown University
27.Trinity College</li>
<li>Wellesley College</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>Barnard College</li>
<li>Bard College</li>
<li>University of Texas - Austin</li>
<li>Emory University </li>
<li>Georgetown University</li>
<li>Johns Hopkins University</li>
<li>Williams College</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Tufts</li>
<li>Harvard University </li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Stanford University</li>
<li>Amherst College</li>
<li>UNC Chapel Hill</li>
<li>Princeton University </li>
<li>Cornell University </li>
<li>UC Santa Barbara</li>
<li>Columbia University</li>
<li>University of Florida</li>
<li>Northwestern University</li>
</ol>

<p>Just as a side not, it is interesting that Northwestern was consistently rated as far, FAR below all the others. It was consistently rated pretty pathetically. Of course, some applicants rated Northwestern at the top or near the top, but the vast majority who rated Northwestern rated it very poorly. ALSO: UC Berkeley’s ratings were not that impressive, but UCLA’s were considerably more impressive than Berkeley’s.</p>

<p>From my experience with applying to some of these schools…</p>

<p>Colby, BU, NYU, and Colgate definitely deserve their high ranking on that list. </p>

<p>Out of all of them though, I have found Colgate to be the most resourceful.</p>

<p>Nice, but it’s Washington University in St. Louis, not vice versa</p>

<p>Oh you’re absolutely right! I’m double-checking my list right now, and it is definitely Washington University in St. Louis. Also, it is Colgate University, not Colgate College. Thanks for pointing that out.</p>

<p>Colgate’s admission process is most personal. They reply to all emails and the acceptance letter is great. Of course, the school is also pretty awesome too.
Colgate Alum</p>

<p>Colgate always sent me very polite mail and emails, so even though I did not end up applying there, I am left with a good feeling about them.</p>

<p>I was thinking Cornell might be toward the bottom, even though the desk people were really nice to us when we needed directions around campus.</p>

<p>I’m surprised MIT’s not higher. And from my personal experience, there’s no way I’d put UMich so high. UChicago definitely deserves its high ranking.</p>

<p>Oberlin definitely deserves the ranking. Fast and helpful responses to e-mails, and the people in the admissions office really went out of their ways to be welcoming and informative when I visited - staff as well as students.</p>

<p>Notice that the schools that receive many more applicants aren’t very high on the list.</p>

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<p>Ditto.</p>

<p>UMich was extremely unhelpful - I had to write to them three times just to have a clear answer to my question (and it wasn’t all that clear in the end). The first two emails in reply basically said a whole lot of nothing and didn’t address my question at all.</p>

<p>I agree with Quaere! And Barnard should really be more higher.</p>

<p>HopefullySWAT,
Congratulations on the completion of your project. I’m sure it took a lot of work to pull it all together, so thanks to you and all of your cohorts. </p>

<p>If you are able, I would love to see more detail on what you have done as a straight numerical ranking does not give a lot of insight into what a school (and its admissions office) does well and not so well and how this compares to peer colleges. I also know that college admissions departments LOVE this kind of feedback, even if it is not all peaches and cream. This is a competitive business and if they can find ways to tweak their approach, then I would hope that most colleges would take the suggestions and amend their practices.</p>

<p>Washington Uni in St. Louis definitely deserves its place on that list IMO. i have contacted them a few times by email and i always received prompt and competent responses.</p>

<p>MIT definitely doesn’t deserve to be at #38 while an office of CMU is at #20. I’ve dealt quite a bit with both and I have to admit (though I probably feel more attached to CMU because I spent a summer there) that CMU’s admission is no where close to MIT. The two are at completely different levels in terms of efficiency, connection with students, website, etc.
I can say similar things about U of C, but that’s just my personal experience. Apparently the masses think differently.</p>

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<p>Number 1 school has 40,000 students at the school..but you’re right when looked at as a whole</p>

<p>Is is interesting to see everyone’s responses after all that hard work - Hawkette, I will PM you.</p>

<p>i’m glad swarthmore and wesleyan are pretty high. they were great.</p>

<p>Hey, thanks for posting this list. Looks like I have some pretty helpful admissions officers to look forward to.</p>

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<p>But only ~25k students apply. That is a lot, but the general trend is there.</p>

<p>Did Yale just not make it on this list?
I’m just wondering because I’ve heard their receptionists can be very terse.</p>