Thursday, February 1, 2018

Colleges that get a lot of applications read each one quickly (WSJ)

How to deal with congestion?  Move fast...  Here's the story from the WSJ:

Some Elite Colleges Review an Application in 8 Minutes (or Less)
With so many applying, fewer schools have one person read a whole application; plowing through 500 files in a day

"As application numbers surge, admissions officers at some elite colleges say they don’t have time to read an entire file.

"Instead, staffers from more schools—including the Georgia Institute of Technology, Rice University and Bucknell University in Pennsylvania—now divvy up individual applications. One person might review transcripts, test scores and counselor recommendations, while the other handles extracurricular activities and essays.

"They read through their portions simultaneously, discuss their impressions about a candidate’s qualifications, flag some for admission or rejection, and move on. While their decision isn’t always final, in many cases theirs are the last eyes to look at the application itself.

"The entire process can take less than eight minutes.
...
"Efficiency is crucial, since more students are using the Common Application, which allows them to submit material to multiple schools. Nearly 902,000 students used it last year. As of Jan. 15 this year, the number was already 898,000 students submitting to an average of 4.8 schools.

"Applications to Georgia Tech jumped by 13% for the coming academic year, to 35,600. The current freshman class has roughly 2,800 students."


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