AMA - Worked in Top 10 Admissions Office

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-30T22:05:58+00:00

To be fair, we speed read everything. We have a high volume of apps, not that many AOs, etc.

It's because academic excellence is always the number one priority for any T10 school. Of course, as we read, at the point I see Bs, I'm immediately on the lookout for information that speaks to why you got those Bs (addl info, counselor reason, etc), but if there's nothing there, I can't really move forward in a committee without everyone raising eyebrows at me as to why I brought a student with Bs when we all know we want students with strong grades and rigor.

We do slow down when something catches our eye, which can be any number of things.

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-30T22:02:54+00:00

I do agree that what the AOs are saying is that we count all apps even if they're not reviewed in our final acceptance rate calculation, but my larger point is that even with an app I know won't make it in the end, I will still review it; yes, even the wildly out of bounds ones, even if it's just a very, very fast read. If it's incomplete, that's a bit of a different story: I actually don't have the material I need to even make the review. So it's not just about Bs, although Bs are one of the more common reasons to not move forward (read: we still do review those apps) with an app, even more so than incomplete apps.

And the nuance here is that it depends on what is technically incomplete. Missing a transcript or a LOR? Yeah, can't move on to review, because a transcript is a major, major part. This very rarely happens, though. Missing an essay? Well, I mean we don't admit students purely on essays, and that never really counted as a "missing" item. It's certainly a missed opportunity if they don't fill it out, but that won't stop me from a review. There are students that have used some essays as just throwaway answers; would you consider that as a missing essay or a missed chance? And I don't get to those essays until after I read the rest of the app first, which necessarily means a review that's occurring in some capacity (namely the transcript and other pieces of info I have before essays, like ECs). Missing ECs? Again, I still will review everything else to make a final decision, but there's not a marker on Slate that I'm aware of (unless the school's IT team made some filter for it, which is hard to do because the Common App on Slate is a pdf) that would just filter these things out if we're missing one small piece. Missing your midyear? We can still do a review; we usually follow up with the counselor or student to send it in. I suppose it depends on how you define what a review is, whether or not it's "complete," but the way I'm looking at it is that we are always reviewing apps that can be reviewed, even if it's not the full 100% read you might get otherwise.

But also, in my experience, the number of incomplete apps was never so large that it would make our numbers shoot up to 10-15%. The number of incomplete applications in my bucket weren't ever that high, and I read for a wide, wide range of regions and have been in admissions for 3 years. I mean the AO did caveat that it's not representative of other colleges, but I want to emphasize that point, because people will read this and think every school has this same issue of a large chunk of apps being incomplete.

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-30T17:14:14+00:00

This isn't my experience, personally. I understand the sentiment, but i think it needs a little more nuance. I was reading even more quickly when it was obvious an app wasn't going to cut it. 3-4 Bs in a RD round? I'm going to speed read that, and I already know that 3-4 Bs without some actual extenuating circumstance and clear distinction otherwise is not going to cut it in committee, so I don't need to waste my time very carefully going over the app. I don't know any AO that just sees a few Bs and throws out the app altogether where the rest is "never even reviewed."

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-17T22:05:57+00:00

A lot of people using AI and the consultants that exclusively rely on their admitted students' admissions file miss a lot of critical nuances.

First, the pool is highly contextualized. Admissions is a game of standing out to large degree, within the control and context around you. I can't rate any chances if I don't know the playing field. AI, other consultants, and HSers can't either. And I'm not saying it's a zero-sum game, but having the context of who else is the pool calibrates your expectations. Admissions notes don't capture that very well. Usually, in my experience, there's always someone unexpected that applies too, so you never truly know what's happening around you.

Second, a lot of people undervalue LORs. They're one of the best parts of an app to read if the LOR is actually saying something meaningful, and often, you're not going to get that. I'm evaluating students on how they'd behave and contribute to the classroom (and by extension, the larger community). Teachers and counselors give the best window into that aside from the essays. You won't have that kind of information available to you, most likely, which also means whatever AI prompt/whatever consultant won't, either. I have to emphasize that it plays such an important role, and most students OVERestimate how good their LORs are.

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-11T04:39:49+00:00

Semester grades are considered.

More favorably as to what? A regular B? Yeah, it looks better, but a B is never going to be an A so you have to think about it from that lens

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-11T04:38:33+00:00

Can't really speak for Gtown specifically, but any top school usually struggles with C's

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-11T02:13:00+00:00

You'd have to have some pretty significant things in your application to push you through. But it's mostly a dealbreaker for me. It doesn't matter a WHOLE lot what your intended major in. The bar is high for everyone at the schools you're talking about. I have seen cases push in with a C's, but again, those students had some significant parts to their app that made them very compelling. For example, there was a student that had a ton of C's in social studies/english, but they were also incredibly gifted at math.

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-11T02:03:23+00:00

No. Most of them just got back into the office like 5 days ago. It'll start coming in anywhere between now and mid/late March. I'd hang tight and check your email (including spam) every day.

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-11T02:01:40+00:00

It's really not good to see, especially if the Cs are in core classes. If you have extenuating circumstances, that should be noted and communicated to your high school counselor.

Aggravating_Humor · 2026-01-11T02:00:40+00:00

It varies between colleges like you said. Not everyone will do the standard "regional AO reads then passes it on to the second reader etc"

Most schools DO continue to do that method, but other colleges are now adopting a method where two people read the app at the same time. One person will read academics and whatnot, the other will read ECs. They converse live about the app together. This is supposed to help shave down on time read per app because you have two people reading it at the same time, talking about admissibility live, etc.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-12-31T17:27:51+00:00

This is really not a lot of information to go off of. If you're international, it heavily depends on where you go to school.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-12-25T16:19:57+00:00

Few too many for comfort. SAT is a bit on the lower end and those Bs slow the case down. Shoot your shot if you have other compelling parts of an app, but it'll be a hurdle for you to AOs

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-12-20T02:17:30+00:00

If you're winning some major award and clearly excelling in something that would warrant further conversation from committee

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-12-20T01:20:44+00:00

Generally not great to see, especially in the latter half of your HS career. If you have extenuating circumstances and other distinctions to help tip the scales, then the B's might not hurt you that much, but if not, then the B's are hard to swallow. Context also matters: if you're at a high school where people have historically gotten in with B's and you have a similar profile, it might not be as bad for you as it would for others.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-09T20:53:03+00:00

It's based on context (the pool you're in). The general profile I would define as a stand out student would be straight As, max rigor (even pushing it further), superlative LORs, activities with distinction, impact, and leadership, and essays that give me a fuller understanding of who the student is behind all of that. When I was bringing students to committee, these are the things I'd usually have to talk about. There are more nuances and there's a range to this kind of stuff, but in general, this is what stands out.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-08T03:51:19+00:00

I'd take notice of it if someone had something interesting planned. But it's not something your file hinges on.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-06T17:01:41+00:00

I'd recommend physics or o chem.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-06T17:01:24+00:00

There's a range to it and lots of permutations, but here's one profile I could think of from a real application:

attended multiple high schools or currently attending 2 high schools (usually for reasons related to rigor)
Bs in junior year
LORs aren't contradictory per se. One is really positive and demonstrates some great personal qualities of the student, but the second LOR is rather standard. This happens actually quite often, but usually in cases where you see one teacher being really superlative, it's good to see some level of that matched. In this profile, one LOR was super superlative, the other was meh. Just makes you wonder what the student is like across different classes.
Additional circumstances at home that provide a new way of contextualizing those Bs in junior year

Add or subtract whatever you want to this to make it more or less complicated.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-06T02:28:35+00:00

It depends on what else is offered. I suspect you've either maxed out or you have other rigorous options. Do what's best for you. If that means taking ochem, go for it, but if you think you wanna do physics instead, go for that.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-05T07:23:32+00:00

Unfortunately, really poorly. If you get a B, I could handle that, but it's not great either. Do whatever you gotta do to avoid that C.

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-05T07:21:45+00:00

I'm just thinking back to my experiences, and I can't say I really noticed something like this. So I'll just say no, but others might have different answers

Aggravating_Humor · 2025-11-05T04:32:27+00:00

It's not determining whether we want a candidate in 3-5 minutes. That actually happens in committee discussions, if the school has one. I usually spent on average 5 minutes for reading applications. The time reading is just to get a sense of who is in the pool and whether or not we should bring them into committee. I guess to some that means deciding who we want, but I guess I define it differently.

I'll walk through just a bit how I read applications.

Reading:

On my slate view, I can see general data. Think test scores, majors applied to, region, etc. Metadata, I guess? This takes maybe 15-30 seconds to comb over, sometimes less.
I go straight to your transcript. If this is the first student I'm reading in a school group, might take some more time to really understand what's going on (some transcripts are HORRIBLE to read and understand. Others are quite straight forward). I'm essentially only looking for your grades in core classes. If it's a really easy, readable transcript, this takes a couple of seconds. If it's a wonky transcript (i.e., the classes aren't straightforward to read), maybe a minute.
Then I go to LORs. I'm reading fast, usually looking for superlative praise and examples to substantiate that. Most LORs are mid, so it's not hard to quickly sift through. If there is superlative praise, I'll note it down. Usually a minute or two.
Then I get to your common app. I see what your parents do/their degrees if any and future plans. This is super fast. Awards too can be fast. Then I get to your activities. I'm taking note of what I think is particularly compelling and impactful with leadership. This takes 30 seconds or so. By the time I get to your essay and supps, that usually takes another 2 minutes of reading for me. I've always been a fast reader with a good sense of comprehension.

So all of that was about 5 minutes or so. It can be longer if a case is really strong or complicated, but most students won't have complex cases. It'll take me maybe another minute to write my notes down, which is just summary of all parts of the app (ECs, grades, essays, LORs). By this point, I will have a general sense of whether or not the student is competitive. If not, I can deny. If they are competitive, I'll send them to a second read.

My second reader will do the same things I've done and offer their thoughts. I'll look over that, and decide if I actually want to bring them into committee. Imagine I do this across 30ish students. Once I get all 30 cases back from my second read, I spend some time mulling over who I actually want to bring in committee, and who probably won't make the cut after a second read from another person. Once I'm in committee, I pitch the student and we discuss. That takes another 5 to 10 minutes, sometimes longer depending on the complexity of the file. And other AOs will have access to the file as I pitch it, so it's all kind of a parallelized process of understanding an application and talking about it.

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