<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>Does anyone know the typical number of individual's sitting on a PhD Admissions Committee?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I had five.</p>
<p>Edit: Opps, scratch that, I thought you meant dissertation committee. </p>
<p>For admissions, I’m sure it varies. We have one that initially screens to weed out the obvious rejects. Then three narrow to the top group. Then the entire department goes over the top candidates at a faculty meeting.</p>
<p>This question is unanswerable. </p>
<p>In some departments, all faculty comprise the admissions committee. This is the case in my department. In other departments, only some faculty will sit on the committee. However, even in departments with only a few who serve, every faculty member who works with graduate students will still have some input on admissions.</p>
<p>As Prof X said, every dept and program is different… as a result, such a broad question isn’t even close to answerable. Your POI, though, is generally the most important person on the committee as far as you’re concerned.</p>