Schools say they operate on rolling admission. However, why do some students who turned in their application later recieve their decisions sooner than those that turned in all their materials and application sooner? Is there a reason? Thank you.
What school? When did you apply? Are you relying on word-of-mouth to prove that others got their decisions earlier?
@bodangles… there’s a decision dicussion board where people post their decisions, statistics, and the date of application submission (Although their majors are different. I’m not sure if that plays a role?).
You’re right, that might make a difference, especially for specialized programs like music or an honors college. Also I’d imagine that it would be a heck of a lot of work to consider every application as they come in, so perhaps ones submitted close together (like from the same week, maybe?) would be considered at the same time. But that’s just speculation on my part.
I’d be really surprised if someone who submitted in late August got their decision back later than someone from November. But I could see late August/early September overlapping. At least it’s more “rolling” than normal “all decisions released at once” admissions?
Oh okay I see. Yes it was one to two weeks apart in terms of submission date.
Speaking from rolling med school admissions rather than undergrad (so maybe it’s different but I doubt it). First off, bodangles is right, it’s usually not a strict first come first serve deli line for apps where if you submit your app a second before someone else then it’s guaranteed that yours is evaluated first. They usually get sent to the committee in bunches every so often. Rolling admissions also does not guarantee that you get a decision in the order your app was received. It means they evaluate you in order. They can read your app and say “this kid is good enough, but I’m not totally sold yet, let’s read some more apps and reevaluate this kid later on.”
In response to a question at a Wisconsin open house, an admissions officer said that at Wisconsin your application is read by at least 3 officers, and any one can offer you an admissions spot.
So if the first officer said “no brainer”, that person might get an offer before someone who got in because of the 3rd officer.
Rolling means little if you are in the grey area. If your stat is above their admission average, earlier submission is likely to get your earlier admission. If you are around or below the admission average, they may want to see more applications before they make the decision. Basically, it just has no fixed announcement time.
Seems kind of like EA – you may get a decision soon if you are a clear admit or a clear reject, but the school may wait a while before deciding if you are in the range where you may be above or below the admit threshold for the school (or division or major).
One to two weeks apart could mean that your app was at the bottom of one AdCom’s pile, and your friend’s was on the top of someone else’s. Or that your Adcom had a family emergency and need to take some time off, and her’s didn’t. Or that there’s something about either one of the applications that meant either it got pushed ahead, or stalled. Or that they had trouble verifying something on your application-- say, your guidance counselor wasn’t in when they called, but hers was.
Two weeks translates to “roughly the same time.”
@newbee18: All applications fundamentally fall into three categories: (a) we want this kid; (b) we don’t want him; or © we’re not yet sure. At a rolling admissions institutions, those candidates in groups a and b will likely be notified promptly. However, category c is more difficult. Universities may – dependent on the quality and the quantity of later applications – eventually accept or deny the “c applicants,” so the school appropriately waits to render its decision. If that approach is too difficult for you, it is your prerogative to withdraw your application.
Keep in mind that they won’t read your file before it is complete, so although you might submit your portion two weeks before someone else, the admissions office is waiting for your transcript and recommendations to be sent from your high school (or uploaded to naviance) and for your test scores to arrive from College Board or the ACT organization.
Rolling admissions != first-come, first-served.