I just want to weigh in with my thoughts on the matter, specifically with regards to stats. Not specifically addressed to either of you, just thoughts that come to mind when I read posts sometimes. Is what I say fact? Maybe not. But it's hardly just made up. I realize that the notion that all the hard work we put into our applications being simplified to a mechanical, lifeless process is very annoying. Almost offensive. In the back of my mind, I like to think that every school out there gives every application a fair look and does't just look at the numbers. Surely they will look past the 2.8GPA and take a moment to read my PS so they can see where my heart is before adding me to the queue of reject letters. I mean, it's only 4500 characters. That might work for Georgia or Tennessee or ECU - schools with only hundreds of applications might have time for that. But then you have schools like NYU with close to 5,000 applications. 'Filter' might be a harsh term, but how else do you process 5,000 applications? A third of the schools pull in 2,000 plus applications per year. That's massive. Last cycle, there were 116,024 applications submitted (11,655 applications averaging 9.95 applications each). I really wish it were otherwise, but it's just not reasonable to think they are not filtering applicants. I like that they have added this coversheet. It does lead you to believe that they are reviewing you holistically, but not everyone is going to have their coversheet reviewed. Even that isn't practical in the early stages.
This is a DAT/GPA game. What better way to crunch those numbers than on a computer? Only a handful of schools explicitly state cutoffs for DAT. And many who state a GPA minimum are so terribly low that it's rarely mentioned. Behind the scenes they can filter anyone they want (and probably why the majority don't have hard cut-offs). Right out of the gates, you see a lot of the sub-3.0s getting the immediate rejects - that auto-reject is the product of filtering the applications by GPA. ASDOH is an example. Those applications go through the AT Still main campus in Missouri. They are explicit in telling you that you will receive a secondary if you meet a minimum GPA standard. ASDOH in AZ doesn't even see your application before it goes through there. They're not reading statements and assessing volunteer hours in Missouri. They're filtering. You see a handful of schools crank out secondaries just hours after the first batch goes out. All a product of filtering on stats.
Bear with me on this part. As for the whole 'batch' and 'date mailed' thing, I'm sure almost everyone on SDN knows by now that applications are not literally mailed to schools where they sort them into nice stacks of 'yes', 'no', 'maybe', 'waiting on DAT', etc. It's all digital. Schools can see your apps immediately. They have an admissions portal that looks just like your AADSAS portal. You don't even have to submit. As soon as you start an application, all you have to do is select a school name and that school instantly has access to your name and email. I doubt they do anything with that info at that point. They can see when you started your application, when you submitted, if you're waiting on letters, etc. Pretty much what you see, but at varying quantity as you progress through the stages to a 'completed application'. Some schools work off of this a lot. I saw the online portal actually pulled up at my interview because he wanted to see my DAT scores. Ever wonder how Case pulls of emailing those interested in the program before the first batch goes out? This is a nice little system, but it's the Admissions Client that gets gnarly. This is an actual application, not just the online portal. Batches and mailings are when AADSAS bundles all the newly completed and updated applications into one nice file. It's a Microsoft Access database file (.db) packed up into a .zip file. It's actually a growing file of all completed and updated apps. Duplicates and updated applications are handled as they import locally. When there's a mailing, schools can log on to their AADSAS portal and go to the mailings tab and there it is for download. That new database file can then be imported into their Admissions Client. It's basically a nice little interface with this Access database file behind the scenes. This is where they can filter to their heart's content. And being a database file, schools can develop their own system nd manipulate the data how they choose as well. GPA and DAT? As easy as clicking the header of any score or GPA column...kind of like in Excel. Want to give the kids who went to the Ivy's a 5% increase in GPA? Easy. Schools who use their own scoring systems can apply normalization to your application (T-scores, Z-scores) that immediately update each applicant's score when new applicants are added to their applicant pool. If a school uses this sort of approach, you can see where the 'apply early' thing is true. I wondered why I was interviewing at Temple when they mentioned average DAT scores at the interview. I was a good amount below. But we were later told they take the cream of the crop as the cycle goes on. Being in first batch and having a high GPA is what put me in that creamy layer. Had I applied later, my name may have never even been looked at: auto-filtered to the bottom of the list on import. Come December or January, schools who require the full list of pre-reqs (A&P, BCH, Mico) may wish to only see applicants who have all three or at least 2 of the 3 as they may think it's not possible for applicants missing all three to complete them before a potential matriculation. The options go on and on with how they can filter and analyze without even getting into the 'real you' stuff like ECs, dental experience, personal statement, etc: ethnicity, residency, workload analysis. That's the beauty of databases. Other features like 2x2 import, form letter creation, avery label generation, contact log for those kids who call every two days, interview scheduling, etc are available.
I know all schools don't use this client and I'd hope that those who do don't process everyone very heavily. But there was a lot of development into this process for a reason (you have Buffalo to thank since it was their in-house program before it morphed into something all schools could use). Some use their own portals/systems. But it's not far-fetched or some myth of SDN to believe that we are just put through a machine a lot of times. Down the road, perhaps at the interview or when they are picking acceptances out of interviewees is when we may emerge from that massive pool of applicants.
Sorry to go on and on. But the info should be put out there.
.. I believe that schools have a cut off and if you don't have what they want, they don't even open your application to review the rest of things you have accomplished in life!! Its sad that we have to send EXTRA $$ for them to open our application and they don't review everyones.. I am sure there is no way they can review 5000 application, like I feel they encourage applicants to apply eventhough they know there is no way for interview.. why? because they making $$$ just from applications process, let's say 80$ per 5000 applicants.. how much is that ? wow, they just made 400K only on applications Haha
