How Admissions Works: What’s Important and Why
According to the University of Maryland, College Park, “Our admission process has one mission: to identify applicants, who as individuals and as a group, will enrich and benefit from the campus learning environment and the entire student body.”
This is the objective of all colleges and universities. Admissions counselors are looking for students who shine as individuals, those who will enhance the richness and diversity of the incoming class, and those who are aligned academically with the rigor of the school and thus can be successful. Through the college admissions process, colleges and universities are trying to build a student body that matches the programs the college has and the breadth of what these programs offer. Each incoming class is composed of individual students expected to thrive academically and socially and to go on to become future alumni who will contribute to the college community.
Of late, the emphasis has been for admissions teams to take a holistic approach to assessing a prospective student's fit, but quantitative factors such as GPA, rigor of curriculum, and test scores - where and when submitted - certainly are persuasive determinants. Colleges and universities focus on basing their decisions on the overall strength of each application when compared to their enrollment objectives and the overall pool of applicants competing for admission spots in the upcoming class. Sometimes they are looking for people with specific demographics or skill sets. When evaluating an applicant holistically, admissions officers place emphasis on the applicant as a whole person, not just on his or her academic achievements, with the goal of giving soft factors as much consideration as the empirically based data comprising the hard factors.
To satisfy these efforts, many admissions offices are guided by an admissions ‘rubric’ of sorts. These rubrics are not one-size-fits-all and will differ from school to school. However, certain core components factor into all school’s evaluative criteria and may be stressed by each school to a different degree. These factors will include but may not be limited to a student’s:
GPA
Course Rigor
Standardized Test Scores
Extracurricular Activities
Recommendation Letters
Strength of High School School
Supplementary Essays
Demonstrated Interest
Determinations are made on an above, equal to, or below the standard outlined in the rubric. For example, if the average ACT score of the previous year’s class was a 32, applicants applying with a 32 will receive the rubric equivalent for equal, scores of 34 would receive above and a 29, correspondingly, would receive a score of below. From these core factors, every school isolates which benchmarks are important to them. The University of Maryland College Park’s 26 criteria can be found here.
While this will be straightforward with the objective factors, the more subjective factors such as the applicant’s common application main essay are more nuanced. However, a rubric can be utilized here as well. Hard factors such as good writing including voice, word choice, sentence fluency, choice of ideas, supporting information, proper syntax and grammar can all be fairly straightforwardly addressed. But essays may also be evaluated for how much admissions counselors learn about the applicant, especially since this is the intention of the essay. Essays that are captivating, creative, well written and seamlessly reveal a lot about the applicant may receive an above average score. A well written essay that reveals sparsely may only receive an average response, and poorly written essays in which little is learned about the applicant will likely garner a poor grade. Reading, understanding and answering the prompt properly and comprehensively is key; equally, not writing a 5 paragraph high school expository essay with a thesis statement is just as important.
Another soft factor of great importance are the supplementary writing pieces required by many schools. A simple test of just how important these supplements are is to ask yourself, “When a school such as University of Michigan receives in excess of 65,000 applications in a given admissions cycle, why would they want to review 2 more essays from these applicants?”
I suspect the answer is self-explanatory, they are IMPORTANT to the school. Traditionally, UMichigan has two prompts. In one they want you to explain your academic objectives and how you will achieve them at UMichigan. In a second prompt asked in the previous years, they have inquired about a community to which you belong and what your place is in this community. From these questions a savvy applicant can glean that they want to be assured that UMichigan is a good academic and social fit for you, as well as how you view yourself within a community defined by a certain communal objective. The University of Pennsylvania offers this advice to applicants when speaking about the importance of writing pieces: “The Penn application process includes a personal essay as well as two Penn-specific essays. We read your words carefully, as they are yet another window into how you think, what you value, and how you see the world. Through your writing, we get a glimpse of what you might bring to our community, such as your voice and creativity.”
Other noteworthy facets of your application are the reinvigorated importance of teacher recommendations in light of the growth in test optional admissions; choose your teachers wisely. For extracurriculars, start early, and invest your time in activities that are important to you and help build the picture of who you are academically and personally. As your list begins to take form, demonstrating interest to colleges of interest to you not only helps you gain additional insight into the school but lets the school know you have taken the steps to ‘not just read 3rd party reviews’ about the school online or merely meandered around the school’s own website. Find creative ways to show them that getting to know what that school is really about is a key aspect of you selecting to apply.
Behind the closed doors of admissions offices, all of your hard work academically, extracurricularly, athletically and more will be treated with care.
Applications are usually stored in an electronic file. Other pieces of your application, such as teacher recommendations and transcripts, will be added to the file as they arrive. The college's admission staff will let you know if something is missing, but do not panic. Sometimes there is a lag time from when something is sent and when it is noted in the admissions portal you will be prompted to set up when you submit.
Most colleges standardize your GPA so they can compare your GPA with the GPAs of students attending high schools that use different grading methods. They will also note how difficult the curriculum is at your high school - also known as rigor. Typically they will acknowledge the number of advanced classes your school offers ( AP, IB, Honors) and how many you have taken relative to that number and to other applicants from your school who are also applying for admissions.
At universities with large numbers of applications, applicants who do not meet the college's minimum GPA and test-score standards may receive an automatic denial.
In most cases, multiple members of the admission staff read each application, noting their comments and impressions as they go.
Readers will score each section and then score the overall application.
Readers look for a consistent effort to take challenging courses.
If you are planning to major in a specialized field, such as engineering or business, reviewers will look to see that you have fulfilled additional requirements, such as certain math or science courses.
Readers use the essay, short-answer questions, and extracurricular sections to get a better idea of who you are.
If you have an average academic record but are strong in some of your extracurricular activities, or if you write a great essay, this could give your admission chances a boost.
Supplemental essays - as mentioned above - depending on the question(s) help schools determine that you understand their academic philosophy and campus tenor as well as the other nuanced information generated by the prompts they require.
Teacher and counselor recommendations help application readers learn more about you as a student and as an individual. They provide a critical context for your academic performance by documenting the efforts you have made in and out of class, and can shed light on any personal issues that might have affected your academics.
If the first reader is able to render a definite admit, your application may skip the second and third readers and go straight to the admission director. Most "maybes" go to a committee comprised of admission staff.
Elements that can tip applications in one direction or the other include writing skills, recommendation letters, legacy connections, interview notes (if you have had an interview), your demonstrated interest, and a bid for an early decision / binding spot in a class. Early action applicants who are not clear admits, will often be carried over and reviewed again as part of the regular decisions process.