My D is an AO at a top 30 university. She’s been doing nothing but reading apps for weeks now. I guarantee that they do read all essays both common app and their own supplemental. They are holistic and look at the big picture- grades, rigor, essays, LOR, etc. She spends about 15 min per app. Last year her school received over 80k applications.
1 Like
Essays tell a lot about judgment. If a school with a consistently strong football team has a “Why us?”supplemental essay, there will be many applicants who say they want to go there because of the awesome football. They will likely get lumped into a pile with thousands of other kids who said the same thing and missed an opportunity to distinguish themselves. Or the dreaded “sports injury” essay that AOs are so sick of reading.
1 Like
Not to every school he applied to…
It’s likely because of yield. One of our high stats friends just went through the same thing. If the school doesn’t think you’ll go there because you are overqualified, sometimes they will deny the student to protect their yield.
1 Like
I’ll bet most of us joined this forum for camraderie as we root for our kids to win this admissions puzzle. Sparring with you (a fellow parent, I presume, with no expertise in this field) about the merits of the system is not helpful – and certainly not a good way of spending the weekend awaiting decisions.
1 Like
This. 100%.
1 Like
It is laughable to believe that they read all of the essays and spend 15 minutes on every application. Let’s see, spending 15 minutes per applciation on 80,000 applications results in 20,000 man-hours of labor just to read the applciations. Considering that the bulk of the applications have to be processed in about an 8-12 weeks (or shorter) window, unless the school has at least 40-50 admissions officers (which is highly unlikely) it is not possible to spend 15 minutes on every application. There is no way that they don’t do an initial sort to eliminate a substantial portion of the applicants based on some combination of test scores, GPA, etc. before they do any manual review of the applciations, much less read any essays.
Maybe but i doubt it as I don’t believe that he was overqualified for the school…his academic profile would have been at the higher end of the their academic profile, but it was certainly not off the charts especially for his chosen majors (engineering/computer science). In any case, I think he actually liked that school and may have chosen it.
If you don’t want to spar with me, then why are you sparring with me? In any case, I hope that you have a good weekend and that your child gets admitted to the school(s) of his or her choice and ends up at the school that is the best fit for him or her.
Do you really think that? I don’t what an essay essay really indicates about judgment. It may indicated that the applicant read the recommendations or supposed admissions “experts” regarding what to write about, but that is about all it tells the reader other than whether the applicant has some basic level or writing skills
Since no applicants have been accepted, or denied yet by JMU, maybe we can get back to the impending decision drop date, rather than complaining about a process that hasn’t played out yet.
7 Likes
True they may weed out clearly unqualified candidates. A 2.8 gpa will never bump a 3.8. I don’t know what the initial process is. But after that, they do assess holistically. They are no longer allowed to consider race but her school is about 40% Asian if not more.
Football. I was replying to a post up thread about JMU losing their football coach.
Reminder that CC is supposed to be a friendly and welcoming community.
3 Likes
This is correct. Worked Admissions is some large state schools in Georgia. Don’t know how they are done in every school. But most large state schools do not have the resources to do much of a “holistic” review. Grades and SAT scores might be combined to create an academic score. To this score will be added a score on essays and other parts. These individual parts are placed in a formula. The academic score will be the dominant factor by far, with essays/other parts given very small weight. We had part-time readers (lots of retired teachers) who came in and scored the essays, so they read quickly. We had more application processors than Admissions counselors. As you note, you can sort based on what you want. At the end, you literally start at the top and keep lowering your index score until you have hit your target admission number. Very little “holistic” about it, really. Again, it’s been a few years and imagine each school has it’s own process. But the number of apps and limited resources and time dictate that the process has be streamlined.
5 Likes
Yes, I was more than a bit harsh and do apoloigize for my comments as it is all too easy to talk a bunch of smack online with people you don’t see in the real world. I hope your son gets into the school of his choice.
1 Like
Tuesday — will it be 11:30, 3:00, or evening?
With both of my sons it was after lunch.
1 Like
Anyone old enough to remember checking the mailbox for the thick envelope and dreading a thin one? Such a different kind of waiting.
13 Likes
My JMU application was completely hand written, and I waited for the envelope.