What admissions committees are really like

lakehaus
Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:26:50 +0000

I stand by my original comment. The NPR piece just illustrates something that I think has become common knowledge. Admission to highly competitive schools is more than a numbers game. Successful candidates have an application that resonates with the decision makers. The transcript of the piece is brief and I suppose it doesn’t say anything we didn’t already know. But at the same time, it does remind you that human beings (with emotions and flaws like everyone else) make these admission decisions.

here’s a quick excerpt

"SMITH: The committee buys it and the kid gets in. What’s surprising is how much is consensus and how much everyone relies on the vibe they get from the two initial readers.

Ms. NUEVES: Overall, a great young woman. Obviously a strong student, but I feel like I’m missing something.

Mr. PARKER: You know, to make it through, you’ve got to have genuine enthusiasm from the readers, and it wasn’t there.

SMITH: Just missing that je ne sais quoi.

Mr. PARKER: Yeah, absolutely, yeah. And that’s the appropriate phrase, because you can’t quite name it.

SMITH: One committee member calls it the magic; another, the soul. We’re trying to separate the James Browns from the James Taylors, he says, and it’s a daunting task.