How Do Selective Colleges Hire Their Admissions Officers?

[Anonymous]

The phrase “not the sharpest knife in the drawer” comes to mind.

[Anonymous]

Parents of kids who did research: Of course AOs are brilliant and capable of separating the wheat from the chaff!

Reality: A STEM-majoring kid listed on Common App a science/math EC that reads "Presented at a regional science fair a research poster entitled 'Apparatus for Validating the Moisturity of Hydroxic Acid in Polyethylene Terephthalate at 298.15 Kelvin.'" Sounds super impressive, the two AOs reviewing the application nodded, preparing to give the kid a 10 out of 10. Only if they know that this is just a fancy way of saying 'Method for showing that water inside a plastic bottle at room temperature is wet.'

It is VERY easy to fool AOs, unfortunately.





Not trained


Not knowing what the scientific terms mean, AOs

are super-impressed with the

[Anonymous]

(Ignore the three lines on the bottom of the above post that should've been removed.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First job for alums who weren't successful in finding a job through recruitment. The alum may have previously worked as a student assistant (work study) in the Admissions office before getting hired to the entry-level FT role. So might already be "known" to the office.

Ugh, I hate it when the recent alums of the school my kid is dying to get into are too dumb to appreciate my brilliant kid! And how can they possibly be savvy enough to understand how some kids and parents try to game the system? It’s only been, what, five or six years since they tried to do the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The phrase “not the sharpest knife in the drawer” comes to mind.

Ouch !!! I cut myself.

[Anonymous]

You’re lucky if you get a young alum or a humanities or stem major from a decent lac. My kid’s app was read by a FGLi grad student who had completed her undergrad at a not even top 200 university. She almost threw out my kid’s app but her boss read it and clearly loved my kid. Kid accepted to multiple HYPSM.

[Anonymous]

My sister who has a communications degree from UF is one

She’s nuts I wouldn’t have hired her

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re lucky if you get a young alum or a humanities or stem major from a decent lac. My kid’s app was read by a FGLi grad student who had completed her undergrad at a not even top 200 university. She almost threw out my kid’s app but her boss read it and clearly loved my kid. Kid accepted to multiple HYPSM.

How on earth do you know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents of kids who did research: Of course AOs are brilliant and capable of separating the wheat from the chaff!

Reality: A STEM-majoring kid listed on Common App a science/math EC that reads "Presented at a regional science fair a research poster entitled 'Apparatus for Validating the Moisturity of Hydroxic Acid in Polyethylene Terephthalate at 298.15 Kelvin.'" Sounds super impressive, the two AOs reviewing the application nodded, preparing to give the kid a 10 out of 10. Only if they know that this is just a fancy way of saying 'Method for showing that water inside a plastic bottle at room temperature is wet.'

It is VERY easy to fool AOs, unfortunately.





Not trained


Not knowing what the scientific terms mean, AOs

are super-impressed with the

No AO would admit bc of this. Why? Bc its not easy for the committee to understand.

[Anonymous]

None of them are subject matter experts and sadly this shows when they get taken for a ride by dishonest applicants who have "won international competitions in their instrument" or "published a scientific research paper". I know all the shenanigans in these two areas, because I'm a research scientist and my kid actually did participate in international music competitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents of kids who did research: Of course AOs are brilliant and capable of separating the wheat from the chaff!

Reality: A STEM-majoring kid listed on Common App a science/math EC that reads "Presented at a regional science fair a research poster entitled 'Apparatus for Validating the Moisturity of Hydroxic Acid in Polyethylene Terephthalate at 298.15 Kelvin.'" Sounds super impressive, the two AOs reviewing the application nodded, preparing to give the kid a 10 out of 10. Only if they know that this is just a fancy way of saying 'Method for showing that water inside a plastic bottle at room temperature is wet.'

It is VERY easy to fool AOs, unfortunately.





Not trained


Not knowing what the scientific terms mean, AOs

are super-impressed with the

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re lucky if you get a young alum or a humanities or stem major from a decent lac. My kid’s app was read by a FGLi grad student who had completed her undergrad at a not even top 200 university. She almost threw out my kid’s app but her boss read it and clearly loved my kid. Kid accepted to multiple HYPSM.

How on earth do you know this?

Admissions file. Had AOs info —easy to look up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Are they subject-matter experts, and if not, how accurately can they evaluate applicants for STEM programs — especially when it comes to understanding academic rigor and grading standards?

Definitely NOT subject-matter experts and definitely unable to evaluate research ECs. I say this as an engineering professor. I can barely understand the research papers colleagues in my department published if they were outside my area. High-level overview, yes, but nitty gritty details, no. Even if their paper is bad or wrong, they can make it sound really great with their writing because I wouldn't be able to tell. Now imagine an AO who has to know all areas of biology, chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, math, etc. They don't even remotely exist.

With that said, the typical AOs know all the available AP courses because there are only so many of them and this is their job. They know which ones are fluff. They know multivariable calculus is supposed to happen after AP Calculus BC. They know linear algebra is another advanced math but is less tied to Calculus BC. If they are assigned to your region, they know the rigor at private/public high schools there.

But they are not god, you can easily throw them off with a little technical jargon in your EC description, making your research sounds more impressive than it really is. It's sad but this is what it has come down to in the college application arm race.

Thank you.

I’ve been observing the college admissions landscape for my own children, and as a hiring manager myself, I can say with confidence that the tech industry is still largely merit-based. I hope that colleges, especially the selective ones, take a truly serious approach to identifying the right students. Otherwise, degrees and higher education risk losing their value in the hiring pipeline.

Prestigious degrees are only prestigious as long as they are still a strong signalling device.

So many schools have diluted their brand in an effort to give unqualified URM candidates the benefit of the prestige signal that their degree gives to employers but eventually the inconsistency in merit and ability of graduates from these schools leads to reduced prestige signal for ALL URM graduates from these schools. The test optional COVID era was particularly detrimental to the perceived prestige signal and the halo effect is largely reduced as we see selective employers broaden their talent search and apply more filters in the hiring process. You can no longer hire an undergrad from Cal and assume they meet the historical standards.

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of money to be made in private college counseling. I would think a few years as an AO at a top school would be valuable experience from that perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re lucky if you get a young alum or a humanities or stem major from a decent lac. My kid’s app was read by a FGLi grad student who had completed her undergrad at a not even top 200 university. She almost threw out my kid’s app but her boss read it and clearly loved my kid. Kid accepted to multiple HYPSM.

How on earth do you know this?

Admissions file. Had AOs info —easy to look up!

Pp here. The post after mine reminded me this AO is also URM. We are Asian and full pay. Graduate degrees for both parents. I think she just could not relate to my kid and wasn’t aware of the STEM awards my kid had won. They were not ISEF or USAMO level — I think that’s all these AOs all know about.