Does holistic admission mean it's random? UCLA, BERKELEY, STANFORD, TUFTS, CORNELL, DARTMOUTH

I would not say random, though it can feel that way. There is always something that causes a decision to be the way it is. One of the biggest is institutional priorities. For example, they might want more first gen students or less students from a certain state or county. That can make it feel random when comparing people with similar stats and everything. For that reason, it can make it difficult to chance me’s because no one outside of admissions knows them.That being said, I think you have a very well balanced list, although I recommend just waiting to see at this point. You can’t really change anything now, so it’s not worth it to get your hopes up just a few days before you know for sure. But I get it, the wait is brutal! Good luck to you.