What can we expect admissions officers to know?

Applying to College
1

<p>Specifically, just how much can we expect adcoms to know at the top HYPS level schools? This question is pertaining to essays. For example, it'd probably be too much to expect them to understand the minute details of string theory, but would they understand something like Schrodinger's cat? Or if I had an allusion to something from Hamlet or the Tempest, would they pick up on it without my making it blatantly obvious? </p>

<p>I'm not sure just how much explaining I should do in my essays. It'd help if I could assume they would understand what I mean when I say something like "synthetic a priori knowledge" (yes, that's actually a part of my essay) as there is a character or word limit. Of course, I know that the understanding of academic subjects varies with the person reading the application, but generally, how much can we expect the readers to know?</p>

2

<p>Don’t assume anything. They are a huge range of people from those who never took a math class to those who don’t know a sonnet from haiku.</p>

3

<p>But generally speaking, aren’t the admissions officers at the top universities quite well-learned? Aren’t the Ivies known for their liberal artsy curricula? I’d imagine that most of the admissions officers have taken some sort of advanced math class and some sort of lit class…right?</p>

4

<p>The essay should be about you not about math, literature, etc. The point of writing the essay isn’t to show off how erudite you are, but to highlight your personality and strengths.</p>

<p>One can have a wonderful liberal arts education and not have read the “Tempest” and not know about Schrodinger’s cat. </p>

<p>I’m a Harvard grad and never took the kind of advanced math class that you seem to assume that Ivy adcoms have taken.</p>

5

<p>I don’t think you’re grasping what you should do with the essay if that’s where you want to go.</p>

6

<p>My apologies for wrongly assuming. I understand that the essays are about me, but the Stanford supplement asks about an intellectual idea/experience – hence my question about what the adcoms should know. I want to focus the essay mostly on how the idea has impacted me and only minimally describe the idea itself.</p>

<p>Thank you for your replies. I guess I’ll explain any advanced terms the average person wouldn’t know.</p>

7

<p>With that particular prompt it will be OK to assume. Really, they are not reading each essay deeply and given that prompt an intellectual tangent is appropriate.</p>