Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 22:39     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:The people who read the applications are admissions officers. Whether new, old, full time, part time... whether listed on the website or not. I think the PP who asked for evidence was trying to say that, albeit badly. You essay is not being read by someone who doesn't matter in your admissions, and they don't just read the essay so they can say someone did.

Read one of the hundreds of books written by ex-admissions officers. Just one. Any one. It's all in there.


I'm in the PP. Yes, they don't read just essays, but people are hired seasonally to read entire applications. They are not considered "officers". They are temporary workers that use a rubric to take the first pass at applications that are ranked and sorted to help admissions officers spend time evaluating viable applicants.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 22:25     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
The people who read the applications are admissions officers. Whether new, old, full time, part time... whether listed on the website or not. I think the PP who asked for evidence was trying to say that, albeit badly. You essay is not being read by someone who doesn't matter in your admissions, and they don't just read the essay so they can say someone did.

Read one of the hundreds of books written by ex-admissions officers. Just one. Any one. It's all in there.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 22:17     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine works as an essay reader. She gets an hourly wage.


For what college? I do not believe it about competitive ones. I could be wrong but need proof.


DP, but here ya go:

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=a9176845a9a27fca&from=serp&prevUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indeed.com%2Fm%2Fjobs%3Fq%3DAdmission%2BReader


That’s not even for an actual college, and there is no proof of what it is. So not sufficient evidence. Not even close.

You know what they call people who read college applications? Admissions officers.


NP: I used to work at JHU (faculty) and can confirm this practice.

See some examples below. The last is a job posting for an Admissions Director at Stanford (note the responsibilities list: "May hire, train and supervise part-time seasonal readers and other staff. Serve as a model and mentor for new and junior-level admission officers."

College counselor service: https://www.toptieradmissions.com/tips-college-applications/

https://www.simplyhired.com/search?q=seasonal+application+reader&job=EtMBsLQnOkKNk2I8bybABpRcf3tqzmIVrBfBQl1J3J1u4H-KaMkV2w

https://careers.insidehighered.com/job/2156872/associate-director-of-admission-for-communications-and-operations/?utm_campaign=google_jobs_apply&utm_source=google_jobs_apply&utm_medium=organic
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 21:33     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine works as an essay reader. She gets an hourly wage.


For what college? I do not believe it about competitive ones. I could be wrong but need proof.


DP, but here ya go:

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=a9176845a9a27fca&from=serp&prevUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indeed.com%2Fm%2Fjobs%3Fq%3DAdmission%2BReader


That’s not even for an actual college, and there is no proof of what it is. So not sufficient evidence. Not even close.

You know what they call people who read college applications? Admissions officers.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 21:30     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It can, is and will be faked. These essays are read by overworked admissions staff, not rocket scientists.
. Ha, ha. It is contracted out to readers who receive an hourly salary. Not the admission staff


Where did you learn this? What college? Without proof it sounds like BS.

Look at the number of applications that Amherst gets. Look at the size of Amherst's admissions staff. Look at the span of time between application deadline and decision day.

You think the admissions office is spending 24/7 reading essays?


Yes.

14 admissions people can read 10,000 applications in 3+ months.

That’s 230 per adcom per month. Yes they are busy. No they probably don’t read essays by kids whose stats eliminate them.

Now that we have put your baseless speculation to rest, how about some actual evidence?
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 21:06     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine works as an essay reader. She gets an hourly wage.


For what college? I do not believe it about competitive ones. I could be wrong but need proof.


DP, but here ya go:

https://www.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=a9176845a9a27fca&from=serp&prevUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indeed.com%2Fm%2Fjobs%3Fq%3DAdmission%2BReader
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 21:06     Subject: Re:They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I vote for no more essay and kids can only take the SAT/ACT once.


Why only once for SAT/ACT? Low income kids can get fee waivers.

Low income meaning literally poverty line.

Middle class kids can't, and those families don't make enough to throw away $70 on multiple tries or 10s of applications
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 21:01     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It can, is and will be faked. These essays are read by overworked admissions staff, not rocket scientists.
. Ha, ha. It is contracted out to readers who receive an hourly salary. Not the admission staff


Where did you learn this? What college? Without proof it sounds like BS.

Look at the number of applications that Amherst gets. Look at the size of Amherst's admissions staff. Look at the span of time between application deadline and decision day.

You think the admissions office is spending 24/7 reading essays?
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 20:59     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:If there are no tests and no essays and grades are fairly subjective...then it's a lottery and what happens to the kids who lottery into MIT but don't make it? $50k/year mistake? This is not good.


First of all, essays are far more subjective than grades.

Secondly, any school other than MIT and Caltech are a breeze to come out with a degree.

And MIT and Caltech expect academic extracurriculars in high school i.e. academic competitions, science fairs that easily differentiates between smart vs. dumb students.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 20:33     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine works as an essay reader. She gets an hourly wage.


For what college? I do not believe it about competitive ones. I could be wrong but need proof.


Many colleges -- including selective ones -- do this. I'm a college counselor and a past position I've had was as an admissions reader. I see openings for this every year and, in fact, I've seen many of these openings over the past month as the colleges manage greater application numbers.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 20:26     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:A friend of mine works as an essay reader. She gets an hourly wage.


For what college? I do not believe it about competitive ones. I could be wrong but need proof.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 16:43     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
A friend of mine works as an essay reader. She gets an hourly wage.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 16:40     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It can, is and will be faked. These essays are read by overworked admissions staff, not rocket scientists.
. Ha, ha. It is contracted out to readers who receive an hourly salary. Not the admission staff


Where did you learn this? What college? Without proof it sounds like BS.
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 16:36     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:It can, is and will be faked. These essays are read by overworked admissions staff, not rocket scientists.
. Ha, ha. It is contracted out to readers who receive an hourly salary. Not the admission staff
Anonymous
Post 06/02/2021 16:29     Subject: They want to go Essay optional as well
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why not keep the essay but make it a proctored, on the spot exercise? Like the old SAT/ACT essays. I would not grade it, just provide it to the colleges so they can read it and get an idea of the student’s critical thinking and organization skills as well as their writing skills as they respond to a prompt. The prompt could be unique, so as to mimimize the prep advantage.


+1
I don’t know why they got rid of the SAT/ACT essay component to begin with.


I think the colleges didn’t value it because they had the other essays.