<p>Dirty</a> Secrets of College Admissions - The Daily Beast</p>
<p>I think this is a pretty interesting article, it shows that the admissions office is composed of people, not some magical sorting hat. People also have flaws and make mistakes.</p>
<p>Here are some quotes that illustrate this:</p>
<p>"One night, I got food poisoning at a restaurant in Buffalo. The next day, I rejected all the Buffalo applications."</p>
<p>Current admissions officer, Ivy League university</p>
<p>"I got sluggish in the afternoon after lunch, so maybe I wasn’t as scrupulous about a candidate as I would have been if I were fresh. Or even if my favorite sports team was in a slump, it affected who made the cut."</p>
<p>Current admissions officer, state university in the Northeast</p>
<p>Granted, these events are often random due to chance (and random factors could play out in your favor too). However, there also seems to be systematic biases as well. These systematic biases have been well known, but it is nice to see that adcoms recognize these biases.</p>
<p>Race: "So if you come off as just another Asian math genius with no personality, then it’s going to be tough for you. An admissions officer is not going to push very hard for you.”</p>
<p>Former admissions officer, Ivy League university</p>
<p>Private vs. public school: “The biggest surprise for me was the difference in how much more contact private-school guidance counselors had with the admissions office vs. public schools. I went back to my own public high school alma mater and the guidance counselor asked, ‘Would it be okay for me to contact school regarding a student?’ I couldn't believe he was asking. That's just commonplace amongst the private school counselors or affluent suburban high schools. We brought in guidance counselors from a bunch of schools, most of them private high school counselors. And we visited those schools for events. We knew the private-school counselors by name and by face, and they've met the admissions officers from the most prestigious universities. That's a big advantage for students. Those counselors are pushing for them, advocating for them. I never got a call from a public school."</p>
<p>Stephen Friedfeld, private college admissions consultant in Princeton, New Jersey. Now works as an admissions officer for Princeton’s graduate engineering program; former admissions officer at Cornell</p>
<p>So for all you seniors who are in a bad mood because you got rejected from your dream school, chill out!</p>