What do admission officers look at (in order)?

common app, transcript, recs. Do officers look at the additional information section of the common app? I wrote something there that I really need accounted for.

I would imagine they look at the entire package in whatever order they want.

They probably each have their own way of doing things. It’s probably likely that most of them start with the transcript. That’s were the most basic and important information is. But who knows? Transcripts are pretty dry compared to essays and teacher recs.

At an info session at Swarthmore, the rep said he looks at the biographical information for context first. Someone else asked if that’s true everywhere and he said no, it depends on each college’s process and priorities. When I visited Temple, they said they look at the transcript first to see if you’re eligible for merit scholarship, so lindagaf’s response sounds right.