one doesn’t know ahead of time which admissions officers will be reading one’s application
At one East Coast university I’m familiar with, this is not true. Admissions officers are assigned geographic territories so the location of your high school determines which particular admission officer will be reading your application.
It’s true that admissions officers are assigned geographic territories, though I don’t know that the admissions officer from the territory is the only one to read one’s application. One would have to go to heroic efforts to determine the biases of that particular admissions officer.
though I don’t know that the admissions officer from the territory is the only one to read one’s application.
In the system that I’m familiar with, the admissions officer to whom the school “belongs” is the primary reader of the application. Whatever he rejects is briefly scanned by a second reader and whatever he passes goes to the admissions committee for the offer-or-reject decision.
Admission officers also travel fairly extensively in the fall, visiting “their” high schools and holding orientation sessions. A high school senior from one of the schools visited can meet and talk to the person who will be reading his/her applicaton.
At one East Coast university I’m familiar with, this is not true. Admissions officers are assigned geographic territories so the location of your high school determines which particular admission officer will be reading your application.
It’s true that admissions officers are assigned geographic territories, though I don’t know that the admissions officer from the territory is the only one to read one’s application. One would have to go to heroic efforts to determine the biases of that particular admissions officer.
In the system that I’m familiar with, the admissions officer to whom the school “belongs” is the primary reader of the application. Whatever he rejects is briefly scanned by a second reader and whatever he passes goes to the admissions committee for the offer-or-reject decision.
Admission officers also travel fairly extensively in the fall, visiting “their” high schools and holding orientation sessions. A high school senior from one of the schools visited can meet and talk to the person who will be reading his/her applicaton.