<p>There are around 30 thousand applications, for example, each year to each of HYP. How do the adcoms sit and read each app, reasoning out their applicant's sublime personality, and scrutinizing each application essay?</p>
<p>Harvard promises that each app gets read by at least two different members of the committee, but how long they spend on each one I wouldn’t know. Certainly some will be easy to dismiss but others will require much more consideration. </p>
<p>I read a statement by a Stanford adcom a few years ago that on the first read-through each app gets about 15 or 20 minutes.</p>
<p>15-20 minutes are not enough to recognize all the subtle points…</p>
<p>Nah, just a quick skim.</p>
<p>Yeah I wonder a little to. Do they automatically separate and reject based on SAT scores or something?</p>
<p>To answer seriously, most (if not all) competitive colleges have the admissions representative read all of the applications from their region and then have each application go to another random admissions representative. In these readings, each rep compiles their own “summary” of the applicant’s profile and essay. That is presented to the committee at large which must come to a consensus.</p>
<p>@dblazer- absolutely not. They take into account factors such as ethnicity, resources available, etc and of course they look at other parts of you app. There probably is some cutoff, but they’re quite fair as far as test scores go.</p>
<p>Yes, they do.</p>
<p>15-20 seems long for a first read. Those worth a 2nd look get about 12-15 min for 2nd read. And, there can be more reads after that. Very few kids get to “committee” without a 3rd and possibly 4th read (these latter are a quicker scan of the comments so far and high points.)</p>
<p>You say it’s not long enough to get subtle points. Adcoms aren’t there to look for the fine, “subtle” messages or to try try to figure out the meanings behind your life and school choices. You either portray yourself well in the CA or you don’t. More energy and time is spent further down the line, trying to cull through a big list of possible admits.</p>
<p>Remember, the first pages of the CA show your hs, ethnicity, 1st-gen, legacy, probable major, etc. So, they can read with a bit of perspective. How low your SATs can be is a matter of what else you offer. No significant advantage goes to URMs or 1st-gen, etc, just for that status. Athletes usually need some strong feedback from the coach and legacies still need to be adequate performers for that school.</p>
<p>With 20 minutes how can they take all of those factors into account?</p>
<p>Around 10-15 minutes.</p>
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<p>Like anything else you get good with practice. After reading your first thousand or so apps you probably get pretty good at it.</p>
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<p>Which why you better not rely on subtle points to convey who you are. If there is something important about you that the adcoms need to know, tell them. Don’t rely on their ability or willingness to synthesize some Great Truth about you by adding up half-hidden clues that you’ve scattered throughout your app. Tell them!</p>
<p>Watch it carefully around the 1 minute mark for time spent reading the application.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Harvard Admissions Video (On Harvard Time)](<a href=“Harvard Admissions Video (On Harvard Time) - YouTube”>Harvard Admissions Video (On Harvard Time) - YouTube)</p>
<p><a href=“Inside a Harvard Admissions Decision (On Harvard Time) - YouTube”>Inside a Harvard Admissions Decision (On Harvard Time) - YouTube;
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/614939-how-does-yale-select-who-accept-answered.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/614939-how-does-yale-select-who-accept-answered.html</a></p>
<p>It certainly doesn’t take 20 minutes to come up with a subjective decision.</p>
<p>How low do you think it should take? Twenty minutes is a lot of time! They are very adept at this. They aren’t looking aren’t looking at your SSN, DOB, or other random data points. They know what they are looking for and focus on those things. The long paragraph where you have to pledge you’ve told the truth…they skip…the computer’s told them you’ve done that. All the mumbo jumbo on the Common App that you have to read through and the mark N/A, they skip. </p>
<p>The pertinent data they need to consider is much less then what you think. Your transcript, essays, LORs (for top schools, others may not look), ECs (again, top schools). This is easily done in under 20 min, even for schools that read holistically. For numbers based schools this could be much less. I do believe applications get read. They just don’t have to read every scrap of information you have to enter when making their decision.</p>
<p>My regional admissions person for Penn said it takes about 25 minutes. Then she either sends the application to the dean of admissions to be confirmed as an acceptance or rejection(if it’s a clear-cut case), or if it is a close one she sends it to the committee to be discussed and voted on.</p>
<p>Actually, the LORs are pretty inportant to many readers. A skilled teacher can really round out the picture of the applicant and often lead us to high points about the kid. Since, aAfter a while, they all say the same things, that’s where you look for subtleties, but you id them fast or that’s that. ECs also show what sort of kid you are- engaged or bored, dedicated, concerned for others or just making the moves. They reveal a lot more than you think, positive and negative. And, many of us look for academic, critical thinking and humanistic strengths in every essay or supp answer. Readers have a solid idea of what the college is looking for, what makes success (small things, too.) Often, when the 2nd id’s something the first missed, it does flag the app for a closer look.<br>
Don’t be afraid, just do your best.</p>
<p>Well, I am pretty sure that without outstanding ec’s/medals, they do not bother looking at your app if your Sat is less than 1950 or U.W g.p.a is less than 3.7 and class rank is over 25.</p>
<p>But to be more realistic, without outstanding ec’s/medals I am pretty sure there is about a 2100 sat cutoff and a 3.8 g.p.a cutoff. These are the applications that they just throw into the rejection pile. ;D</p>
<p>woodrowwilson - When your regional rep forwards it, it just means the first cut was made. It does nt mean an admission but it means further review is deserved.</p>