We as students/parents often think about what are the parameters on which the school decides to give admission. There are multiple factors that play role in the final decision. First, let’s understand who all are part of the admission committee.

Admission Committee

To figure out the best admission strategy, let’s shed some light on who all are part of the admission committee. Usually, the people who read the application are part of the university’s admission committee. They read all the applications they receive that year and can go through many applications in an hour. The process is swift and well organized. The admission committee collectively decides upon the final decision for all applications. If you have not heard from them at all, means they want you to wait as they want to go through other applications before making the final decision.

Admission Officer

Another person you might have heard about is an admission officer. They oversea one of the specific regions, so each school has multiple officers taking care of their region. They are usually from a diverse group that represents the university and, in many cases, they are alums of the university too. Therefore, it is always a good idea to keep your essays free from any political controversies and religious issues.

Admission officers tend to be younger to have liberal views. This helps the university to create a cohort of a uniquely diverse set of students. You can find out the names of admission officers on the university's official website, but writing to them individually doesn’t make sense. And neither finding their background nor tweaking your own essays is a good idea.

Undergrad College Admission Process

The admission process is very organized and is not dependent on one person. However, the admission process differs from university to university. The process starts with the reader who scans your academic scores and then decides to send the application for the next step. If the scores given to the same application by two readers are vastly different than the other members of the admission committee or subcommittee, then it is sent to be read again and then the final decision is made.

The flow of reviewing an application is first looking for academics and then extra-co-curricular activities or any specific unique part of the application.

Often in MIT, Harvard, and other IVYs the number of people reading your application and giving a score is 3-4.

The scores get bucketed in:

1) scores which are given to the applications which are accepted,

2) scores that are given to applications that need further reviewing,

3) scores given to the applications which are rejected, and

4) scores given to the applications which are almost rejected.

Applications review is not a complicated process, there is a very logical way of doing it. Therefore, colleges that are making SAT score optional, would also like to have SAT score. If you have given SAT and got a good score then please send them as it makes their first decision easy and directly, they would look into your application in detail. Therefore, good marks are necessary and then a strong narrative in an application will sail you through.

 All the Best!

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