@momofmusician17 it looks that way on the FA part and on the application part. They are two different tabs.
There’s overage in the FA budget, built in. With the 2008 crash, lots of kids needed more support or first time aid and the pool of funds available was substantial. That’s ime at one wealthy Meet Full Need.
Committee forms and finalist numbers will vary by college. IME, with a high number of apps, low admit rate, it’s no 25% that get to final discussions. “Committee” doesn’t mean they sit around, en masse, chatting, like the old Amherst video. No time. The decisions have been culled to true finalists. Maybe a few alternates. AOs have weighed in, 2nd readers, another AO, often, then the regional rep made the short list.
Some depends on your region or sub region. More apps from the Bay Area means more to weigh. But smaller area breakdowns may just have the area rep, another AO with his or her perspective, then maybe an observer. All the main vetting has been done.
Please understand that former AOs can write a book to make money. Not as a public service. If they want to help kids, they mentor. Many former reps I know do that, not write books or articles.
@lookingforward Hm. So in your experience, do they still need to cut a considerable number once all of this culling has been done. Sounds different than what used to happen at Yale above.
Not a substantial number. Depends on the region. 300 could be the Bay area, maybe another N CA district or two thrown in, or metro NYC. But there won’t be more than 10% of that from other sub areas. Some of this is driven by geo diversity.
Typically, ime, an AO will have the short list. But even then, there can be finalists who are great for different reasons or purposes. In coming up with the final lists, admits, they try to balance and meet the target number for that area or district.
@lookingforward you’re killing me over here. This makes me think the nice email S19 just got from his AO saying she would make sure the committee would see his update and the fact that I saw she posted that update to his portal yesterday is giving me some serious hope that he’s in this last bunch.
What is “with committee” or “without committee”. It’s all “with committee” .
@lostaccount I’m not sure where you are seeing those terms in this thread. I understand that apps are read by more than one reader. Our son got an email from an AO recently saying that she’s glad he’s kept in touch, congrats on the updates he sent, and that she will “put them in his file so that the committee will see them”. And I can see they were added on his portal. Whether that means there’s a committee sitting around a table looking at apps at the end or just a few people making a final decision on his app, she wanted those readers to see the update.
I would believe her.
But always remember the final decisions are very institutional. Excruciatingly so. The student and family have no control at this point. Revel in the fact you got this close. And that you got the nice letter. I’d be happy. Because what matters is that a kid is satisfied he really did his best, during hs and in the app, that he gave it his very best shot.
I agree with BKSquared that about 6000 could be Yale finalists. Not sure what “1 committee” means. Other comments from Ivies have similarly said final table is roughly 3x. But that’s distributed across all the sub areas. And different regions often display different strengths and, of course, different numbers of applicants and then finalists.
You will know soon. Best wishes.
@lookingforward thx. So you think a few get culled? Or 1/3 get cut? Now I’m confused. Either way, you are right. 20 more days or so. The school is not Yale. 
I think about 1/3 to half tend to make it past first cut, for various reasons. Obviously, most that don’t make it past that are flat out not qualified. But as colleges get overwhelmed by apps and still need to manage costs, the very first cull can be severe. Then they go through more review layers for the “semi finalists.”
By saying the finalists are about 3x, I mean that if there are roughly 2000 to be admitted, the final considerations could be around 6k. Not bad for a college with sub 10% admitted.
But the final chance depends a lot on that sub pool. If xxx kids from the Bay Area apply and the vast majority are stem, those kids’ chances are lower than, say, that fabulous humanities kid. Or the proverbial male classics or English major. Or the one tuba player they need. And more.
Be happy he apparently got this far.
@homerdog I also received a similar email from my AO when I emailed him with an update on my application, however, I never saw anything new on my portal, although the format of it did change from portrait to landscape I think (but idk, the last time I checked the portal was in January). Where do you see the added material on your portal?
Do T20s do it differently to everyone else? The kind of next tier my D was looking at, I know of one where committee only gets the ones that the AOs are undecided on. But for another school, which had 84k applications this year, a published adcom description says that every application goes to the committee, albeit beginning with the AO’s summary & recommendation.
@teddy10143 for this particular school, it showed as “additional admissions material” under all of the other parts of the app. BUT for some other schools, they confirmed they received my update by sending an email but said it won’t show on portal.
@SJ2727 I cannot imagine any school that can discuss 84,000 apps.
I know, I am assuming it’s a formality , so if the AO says “I think this dude is great and we should take him” they just say “ok, next”.
Although… that’s not what they say, this is from 2016 when they had 20k fewer apps, a few years ago…maybe it’s more streamlined now.
Here’s how committee works:
Our team re-reviews the notes the first reader took on your application. The first reader will discuss your grades, the rigor of your curriculum, extra-curricular involvement, fit for NYU, quality of your essays, and what your teachers/counselor had to say about you.
Once we read those notes, the committee discusses what to do with your application. We may vote to admit, deny, wait list, or refer a student to a different program at NYU–there are lots of different outcomes for each application.
Sometimes committee goes smoothly and other times the group is split between a particular decision. While we all get along well, we will get into arguments over some students. The benefit of committee comes from the diverse perspective each admissions counselor brings to the group–one counselor may see something in an application that another counselor doesn’t, and that dialogue is really important as we build the class.
We do this 63,000 times! Then we go back and look at our admissions decisions one last time to make sure all students received an individualized and holistic review. Once our decisions are finalized, applications are sent over to the Office of Financial Aid where students are packaged with scholarships, loans, grants and work study
But 63000 at 1 minute each could be 26 weeks (at 40 hours per week.) Even with committes divided by school or program, no way. Note the full article says they meet over a few weeks. Not months.
Remember, most kids won’t be true finalists. It could be that piles of apps that rate low (and all readers agreed,) are grouped. And so on. Anyone on committee would have access to review notes (very short, btw,) and only rare cases of those discussed. Adcoms like efficiency.
In committee, the real contenders (where all reviewers already agreed,) might get reviewed for geo/sub geo or other diversity/balance, then rubber stamped. Borderline, especially where there were no clear cut better contenders (or where prior readers disagreed,) would get discussion. Still quick.
I’m so tired of analyzing but it’s hard to stop. Lol. @lookingforward got any insight into why portals are now formatted differently. One more changed yesterday. Again from portrait to landscape.
20 more days until all decisions in…
Could be anything, including just some awaited IT change. Before assuming anything, I think you’d have to know if past admits shared this change.