Admissions officers

[Anonymous]

My friend is an AO for a Virginia University. She’s not from VA and she has no kids and this was pretty much an entry level gig for her.

[Anonymous]

As a bright and well educated person I was amazed throughout life how almost in all areas our fate is decided by people less smart than us. I learned the importance of finding common language and being at ease with “simple” people as early as 3rd grade.
The most important thing is to forget you are intelligent and defer to them, listen to their advice like it’s gold yet not be intimidated by them. It’s a fine line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school hosted a panel with eight AOs, mostly well-known/brand-name schools plus a couple of in-state. They gave the expected answers to questions like, how do you view test scores, using AI in essays, that kind of thing. My big takeaway: the AOs mostly seemed well-meaning but frankly not all that bright. It was like, oh, THIS is who makes these big decisions about my kid? Frankly one that stood out as most impressive was the in-state rep. Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is, it's not like I really thought AOs were a bunch of Harvard MBAs but it was still eye-opening.

AOs usually are people who fell into the role after college (often lesser known college) by working their way up in admissions after other career paths stalled. They are usually nice, people-oriented people but few have intellectual gravitas or are as impressive as the kids they are judging and sometimes rejecting. Most are middle-class and went to lesser known schools and not A students with slates of impressive ECs themselves. The heads of admission at Georgetown, Emory and a few others are exceptions.

It's useful perspective for our kids to know they're being judged by people with lesser credentials and accolades than they have.

Totally. It’s important for the kids to approach their applications in as arrogantly and condescendingly a way as possible, in order to increase their chances (of rejection, but whatever).

Alternatively, you could help your kids understand that there are more important factors in their success than where they get a bachelor’s degree, that an admission or rejection is not a statement of their self-worth, that acceptances and rejections can happen for reasons that seem random and aren’t necessarily anything the kid did right or wrong.

But nah, nevermind, make sure those dumb, middle-class AO poors get reminded of how inferior they are.

[Anonymous]

Many universities employ part-time, seasonal application readers. I have no idea how much influence they have on an application. You can google it and see jobs listed - some highly selective universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve noticed that women are overrepresented as AOs, which raises concerns about the evaluation of male applicants.

They’re also overwhelmingly liberal and from non-tech majors. Cater essays accordingly.

YES I have noticed that as well. It's an interesting data point.

Salary.

[Anonymous]

Relax, they are smart enough to read an application and apply the colleges' criteria to it. They are personably enough to get the vibe people give them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve noticed that women are overrepresented as AOs, which raises concerns about the evaluation of male applicants.

They’re also overwhelmingly liberal and from non-tech majors. Cater essays accordingly.

That probably works in your favor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve noticed that women are overrepresented as AOs, which raises concerns about the evaluation of male applicants.

They’re also overwhelmingly liberal and from non-tech majors. Cater essays accordingly.

YES I have noticed that as well. It's an interesting data point.

Salary.

Higher ed jobs pay relatively little but generally offer nice benefits and good family/life balance. If it’s seriously an interesting data point to someone that it’s overwhelmingly female, then maybe you (or your kid) aren’t as bright as you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend is an AO for a Virginia University. She’s not from VA and she has no kids and this was pretty much an entry level gig for her.

Here we go with the childless cat lady trope….

[Anonymous]

They’re smart enough to understand basic concepts and laws that people here fret about for pages upon pages. How set are you if you don’t understand the admission process when they do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The AOs I've met, granted they have been more senior, have impressive undergrad degrees (often from the school they now represent).
On campus, most of the few junior people we were in contact with had also attended the school.

+1

Honestly, it seems like someone in this thread is trying to preemptively soothe themselves by saying the forthcoming rejections are coming from stupid people.

It’s not rational.

Agree. The AOs I and my kids have met have been both bright and personable. Sounds like entitlement at play. If they can't buy their way in, change the narrative .

These are the same people who will say they were yield protected when the decisions come out.

And they’ll suddenly hate everything about a college they loved a couple hours prior to getting the decision.

[Anonymous]

covid wiped out a lot of seasoned AOs who were not department heads. people who decided, I'm done going on the road, sitting in school cafeterias and making 45k.

it's too bad because these were people who loved the job and knew the high schools, and were willing to deal with the low pay. but covid ended that - colleges who were quick to move kids to remote schooling kept the AOs on the hook for too long and they balked. so now you have a LOT of teams of two 24 year olds reading files, whereas before you had a 24 year old paired with a 45 year old reading files

[Anonymous]

I play pickleball with "senior" AOs from Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. They themselves admitted that admission is pretty much a crap-shoot. It was an eye-opening for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I play pickleball with "senior" AOs from Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. They themselves admitted that admission is pretty much a crap-shoot. It was an eye-opening for me.

They're just trying to gently let you down, since your kid isn't getting in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school hosted a panel with eight AOs, mostly well-known/brand-name schools plus a couple of in-state. They gave the expected answers to questions like, how do you view test scores, using AI in essays, that kind of thing. My big takeaway: the AOs mostly seemed well-meaning but frankly not all that bright. It was like, oh, THIS is who makes these big decisions about my kid? Frankly one that stood out as most impressive was the in-state rep. Anyway, I'm not sure what my point is, it's not like I really thought AOs were a bunch of Harvard MBAs but it was still eye-opening.

LOL. It really says something that this is what you think of when you think “smart.” Good lord.