Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Learned something new today from a former AO.

For many private T20 universities, your kid's application is read by a "seasonal reader," not by your regional AO. The regional AO often does do a first read for the feeder private schools in their regions, but does not always do it for all of the public schools, given the number and time constraints. That's where the "reader" comes in. They segment the high schools like this and give the private schools to the AO. WTF.
Pissed.

Ask them point-blank about this if you go to the Coast-to-Coast College tour this fall.

Do this only if you want to offend, get labeled a PITA, and your kid's application goes nowhere. This is standard operating procedure at almost all colleges and universities. Even the publics like William & Mary hire seasonal contract workers at about $25 an hour. you can find the job postings on Indeed. Several readers have even posted here. Their job is to cull through the applications and rate the application in a number of areas: GPA, test scores, ECs, legacy if applicable, sports, race, URM/first-generation, and so on. Your kid's essay is not read at this point. Only after the applications are coded do they go to the regional reps. Start reading more on Admissions. There are a number of great books out there about the process. Or hire a consultant who knows the system.

Why the double standard though? Why does the regional admissions officer read the feeder school applications – all of them? How is this not inequitable?

Anonymous wrote:Geez, we’ve read about AI culling, be happy it’s still a human in some form? I don’t know, can see pros and cons.

All schools cull in some fashion and not all schools are same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Learned something new today from a former AO.

For many private T20 universities, your kid's application is read by a "seasonal reader," not by your regional AO. The regional AO often does do a first read for the feeder private schools in their regions, but does not always do it for all of the public schools, given the number and time constraints. That's where the "reader" comes in. They segment the high schools like this and give the private schools to the AO. WTF.
Pissed.

Ask them point-blank about this if you go to the Coast-to-Coast College tour this fall.

Do this only if you want to offend, get labeled a PITA, and your kid's application goes nowhere. This is standard operating procedure at almost all colleges and universities. Even the publics like William & Mary hire seasonal contract workers at about $25 an hour. you can find the job postings on Indeed. Several readers have even posted here. Their job is to cull through the applications and rate the application in a number of areas: GPA, test scores, ECs, legacy if applicable, sports, race, URM/first-generation, and so on. Your kid's essay is not read at this point. Only after the applications are coded do they go to the regional reps. Start reading more on Admissions. There are a number of great books out there about the process. Or hire a consultant who knows the system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Learned something new today from a former AO.

For many private T20 universities, your kid's application is read by a "seasonal reader," not by your regional AO. The regional AO often does do a first read for the feeder private schools in their regions, but does not always do it for all of the public schools, given the number and time constraints. That's where the "reader" comes in. They segment the high schools like this and give the private schools to the AO. WTF.
Pissed.

Ask them point-blank about this if you go to the Coast-to-Coast College tour this fall.

Can confirm this is pretty common as I'm a seasonal reviewer myself!

Anonymous wrote:Learned something new today from a former AO.

For many private T20 universities, your kid's application is read by a "seasonal reader," not by your regional AO. The regional AO often does do a first read for the feeder private schools in their regions, but does not always do it for all of the public schools, given the number and time constraints. That's where the "reader" comes in. They segment the high schools like this and give the private schools to the AO. WTF.
Pissed.

Ask them point-blank about this if you go to the Coast-to-Coast College tour this fall.

Anonymous wrote:Learned something new today from a former AO.

For many private T20 universities, your kid's application is read by a "seasonal reader," not by your regional AO. The regional AO often does do a first read for the feeder private schools in their regions, but does not always do it for all of the public schools, given the number and time constraints. That's where the "reader" comes in. They segment the high schools like this and give the private schools to the AO. WTF.
Pissed.

Ask them point-blank about this if you go to the Coast-to-Coast College tour this fall.

Anonymous wrote:Learned something new today from a former AO.

For many private T20 universities, your kid's application is read by a "seasonal reader," not by your regional AO. The regional AO often does do a first read for the feeder private schools in their regions, but does not always do it for all of the public schools, given the number and time constraints. That's where the "reader" comes in. They segment the high schools like this and give the private schools to the AO. WTF.
Pissed.

Ask them point-blank about this if you go to the Coast-to-Coast College tour this fall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a reader at a top10 school and she said that there was some sort of "first pass" done to the apps based on GPA/stats and then the regional AO reads all apps that pass this first hurdle. The seasonal or temp readers read the rest. A human eye reads every app.

My kids go to private school so I am not saying this because I have public school sour grapes.

How do they deal with lower gpa associated with certain high schools?

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a reader at a top10 school and she said that there was some sort of "first pass" done to the apps based on GPA/stats and then the regional AO reads all apps that pass this first hurdle. The seasonal or temp readers read the rest. A human eye reads every app.

My kids go to private school so I am not saying this because I have public school sour grapes.

Anonymous wrote:My friend was a reader at a top10 school and she said that there was some sort of "first pass" done to the apps based on GPA/stats and then the regional AO reads all apps that pass this first hurdle. The seasonal or temp readers read the rest. A human eye reads every app.

My kids go to private school so I am not saying this because I have public school sour grapes.