Peeking Behind the Admissions Curtain

Prep School Admissions
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<p>Why I Avoid Chances Threads<br>
by Nylecoj007</p>

<p>What actually goes on during the admissions evaluation? I have no idea. I am not an admissions person. The closest I've been to the admissions office was the series of 25minute chats I've had as part of the parent interviews. Still, I have some thoughts on the process. Please take a moment to absorb the disclaimer before lighting torches and tossing flames. These are my opinions, not expressed or implied facts:</p>

<p>Step 1: The files: Thousands of pieces of correspondence descend upon prep school admissions office right around deadlines: the apps, recommendations, transcripts, ssat scores; all opened, date-stamped and sorted.</p>

<p>Step 2: First Glance: the app is read by two people in admissions. Of these two one may be the admissions person who recruited in a particular region, country or made specific presentations to families of color. </p>

<p>Step 3: Read and Rate: One of the two people above reads the app and extracts key information and assigns codes electronically for an “at a glance” summary view later. Both readers prepare general summary comments. These summary comments may be about the essays, letters of rec, interview and any other personal qualities that convey who this student is above and beyond academics. These comments may be read out loud later if the app finds its way to the admissions committee discussion.</p>

<p>Step 4: Still More Ratings: A deeper level of ratings are assigned along multiple dimensions: academic qualifications and personal qualifications as well as an overall rating that combines the two in some way. A school may use a scale e.g., 1 – 10. Academic achievement, intellectual curiosity and commitment, and SSAT scores get rolled up into academic achievement. A 5 may be used for apps with solid academic coursework while a 6 or 7 may be used for an excellent academic record/demanding curriculum. An 8 or 9 may be used to tag a flawless academic record/most demanding curriculum. Personal qualities may be rated in a similar manner. FA needs (even at so-called need-blind schools), developmental abilities and legacy considerations begin to emerge and are quantified. Opinions of advocates/consultants/feeder school administrators may weigh heavily at this stage, particularly if they have established “relationships” with receiving schools. The opinions of the prep school's athletic, art or music department head may receive careful consideration at this stage as well. </p>

<p>Step 5: Clear-cut/Tentative/Gray Zone: Occasionally, the decision is clear-cut. Some applicants are so outstanding in variables important to the school that the decision is obvious to both reviewers of the file: admit. Conversely, both readers can independently recommend: reject. With highly competitive schools, this may be the fate of many apps which are not distinguishable in some way. The ratings described above may be used to establish a low-end threshold and applicants below the threshold may be denied w/o additional review. The hardest decisions are made for those in the middle of the road. They may receive deny-plus or admit-minus ratings. This is where the process may get more personal, human and ultimately, more unpredictable.</p>

<p>Step 6: Finally, A Final Decision: The final round may be a review by committee. Interestingly, this committee may contain many of the first-round admissions reps who worked the files previously as well as a small group of faculty and, of course, the Director of Admissions. Questions may fly back and forth, issues discussed and debated and then a vote to admit, reject or wait-list. This subjective decision-making process is a function of the not only the app but also the institutional needs of the school, it's ability to craft the desired class and yield-sensitive considerations. If two highly qualified apps apply and one is admitted, the other wait-listed. Why? Who knows? The answers are neither easy to explain nor to defend.</p>

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<p>Well now that we are playing the guessing game - Within 1 to 2 months they need to process 1000+ applications, do they have time to do what you said to each and every application? More likely - I think - is that the two faculty reviewers would use some sort of “cut off” criteria based on experience (what the applicantion pool was like last year) and divide the applications into 2 or 3 piles. The top pile will then get reviewed carefully and many of the winners will come from this pile. The second pile then get reviewed and some winners and waitlist will then come from there. The third pile may never get reviewed again - they were effectively screened out the first round. OK, don’t forget what I said in the beginning - “guessing game”.</p>

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<p>bump :smiley: really interesting</p>

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<p>ya I got you watertester…the underlying premise of the entire forum is about guessing…and we’re all game :)</p>

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<p>nylecoj007 – You might enjoy reading “The Gatekeepers” [Amazon.com:</a> The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admissions Process of a Premier College: Jacques Steinberg: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Gatekeepers-Admissions-Process-Premier-College/dp/0142003085/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228653271&sr=1-11]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Gatekeepers-Admissions-Process-Premier-College/dp/0142003085/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228653271&sr=1-11). I think boarding schools follow a similar evaluation process.</p>

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<p>I work in a competitive masters program where part of my job is interviewing and participating in admissions decisions. FWIW here is our process:</p>

<p>The files are reviewed by the admissions department for completeness. Is everything there, do they have all the prerequisites, test scores and letters of rec ? Do they meet our minimum GPA?</p>

<p>They are then forwarded on to interview stage. Most of the people who make it to interview stage have already met the requirements for grades/prereqs ect… However, a bad interview can bump someone to reject right away. We read their essays and recs the day before the interview. There are two people who interview each candidate and they each write accept, reject or waitlist as their recommendation. If they both agree to accept or reject that is the end of it and the decision letter goes out within a week. If they aren’t sure or disagree they will refer the file to committee. We then sit around the table and discuss each candidate in committee and usually come to a consensus. Occasionally it will come to a vote. However, usually the discussion brings things out that make a vote unnecessary and we end up agreeing in the end. It is interesting how discussing it in a group can change your opinion. Sometimes someone else looks at a piece of info in a way you never would have thought about and it changes your opinion. All in all we do everything we can to give a candidate a chance for admission. On the other hand we are keenly aware that with each accept we give there are then fewer seats available and the choices get harder and harder as the available seats dwindle.</p>

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<p>I know that at least a couple of schools (as described to us by admissions themselves) have the interviewer review the complete application and then they “present” that student (well, their application, not the actual student…LOL) to a committee - possibly, but not always, with a recommendation. </p>

<p>Another person - who served on many admissions committees as a faculty rep - said that many times your success as an applicant depends on WHEN the committee reviews you. For example, she said if they are looking for green hair basket weavers when they review you and that’s your interest, it helps. But if they did them the day before, you may not be as lucky (unless of course you are the top ranked GHBW in the country). Which I think goes along with what PA-C said - the later you are reviewed the harder it is. </p>

<p>Another person told me he used to be the “Admissions Director for 10th grade” at a school. So I think at some schools each grade is done with a different group of people - which makes sense when you think about the volume of applications.</p>