By Evan Bailyn

Ever wonder what happens to your application once it is received by the admissions committee? The Penn Group has your answers.

What happens to my paper or electronic application?

As soon as the admissions office receives your application, all your information is entered into the computer by the staff. You are given a file, which is updated each time you send additional materials until your application is complete. Additionally, they generate a card for you, on which all of the committee's notes about you are written.

Who are my admissions officers?

• Your admissions officers are educators or other professionals. Usually, they have backgrounds in psychology or sociology.

How does the committee review my application?

• Piles of applications are brought into a room full of admissions officers. The applications are usually divided by region, and every reader sees each application from a particular region at least once. They scribble notes on your card as they go. The final reader is usually the director of admissions.
  
  
• The stack of applications dwindles as each is given a "Reject" of "Possible Admit" sticker. The Rejects get-well, you know-and the Possible Admits are sent to a subcommittee.

Once an application gets to the subcommittee, how is it evaluated?

• First, your General Information section is perused for indicators of your socioeconomic background, your educational background, your parents' occupations, and your minority status, if applicable. Every school weighs these factors differently. Some schools look favorably on a privileged background; others are looking specifically for applicants who have not had the same advantages as other people.
  
  
• Next, your Academic Background section (which includes your test scores and class rank) is checked against your official ETS score reports.
  
  
• The committee then turns to your essay and short answer section. In the extracurriculars section, they like to see concise, well-written answers that do not seem to exaggerate the applicant's involvement in an activity. In the essay section, they like to see thoughtful, personal responses that reflect the applicant's personality and depth of thought.
  
  
• After that, letters of recommendation from your teachers and guidance counselor are reviewed. They are looking to see if all of the points of view coincide, or at least add up to one and the same person. Your guidance counselor's report will indicate how strong your academic schedule was as compared to other students in the school.
  
  
• Finally, the committee takes a look at your transcript to see if your academic records concurs with the other parts of your application.
  
  
• All the while, readers are taking notes and giving you numerical scores. Applications that receive scores above a certain number are Definite Admits. A lower range of scores give rise to Possible Admits. Below that are Rejects.
  
  
• The last phase of review is the admissions director's. He personally considers each Definite Admit, and later, when the subcommittee has divided all the Possible Admits into Definites and Rejects, all the new Definites.

And then?

• A final list is generated, and acceptance and rejection letters are sent out.

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