<p>"15 minutes, yes or no, move on" is definitely wrong for the majority of applicants, admissions officers usually spend about 30-45 min on each applicant. idk where you got your info biz17.</p>
<p>lets look ar harvard.</p>
<p>they start deliberations on 11/17 and end on 12/9, except for the select 5-10 cases they mull over until the 15th.</p>
<p>so 4000 applicants and 17 business days, working 8 hours a day, which means about 136 hours.</p>
<p>So about 136/4000 hours per person, which means about .034 hours per applicant</p>
<p>.034 hours multiplied by 60 minutes in a hour= a grand total of 2.04 minutes per applicant.</p>
<p>Obviously with only 2.04 minutes a candidate average,</p>
<p>THEY MUST BE DOING SOME KIND OF EXPEIDENT DIFFERENTIATION</p>
<p>^^ thats assuming theres only one person working in the admissions office</p>
<p>theres probably about ten, which makes it about 20 minutes</p>
<p>20 minutes sounds about right. I can't imagine spending 45 minutes per applicant.</p>
<p>but doesnt the committe have to vote on each applicant with Fitzsimmions agreeing, so if thats the case the whole committee has to mull over the application thus returning us to the 2.04 minute paradigm. One possible thing is that each memeber is trained to spot one thing. for example with 10 adcoms, each would have a job. One to highlight TEST/GRADES, ECS, PERSONAL QUALITIES. ......</p>