How does admissions committee membership work?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

biophilia

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 2, 2004
Messages
20
Reaction score
5
How does adcom membership work at your school (or at some of the schools you are interested in)?

How many members sit on a typical med school admissions committee?

Is membership typically by invitation only? Is there a cap on the number of years a member can serve?

Are members paid?

Are admissions committees generally balanced in terms of gender, age, academic discipline, MDs/PhDs, etc.? If so, how/by what mechanism is this balance maintained over time?

After reviewing an applicant's file, what does an admissions committee member typically do? For example, does he/she report his/her evaluation/recommendation to the committee for further consideration and discussion? Or does the member make a decision (e.g., acceptance, rejection, etc.) as a representative of the committee? How much power does a single admissions member have?

What role do student med admissions members typically play? Minor? Significant?

If these questions have been answered elsewhere, could you please direct me to the thread where I might find the answers? Thanks!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
The only answer that would generally apply would be that adcoms are not paid extra to sit on the committee.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I think I remember reading that LizzyM said that she received around 50 files to review per week during the peak of the cycle. If we knew how many students applied to her school, then we could estimate the number of committee members, assuming each member is assigned a similar number of files to review. But maybe that is not even a valid assumption?
Just a heads up that you aren't allowed to speculate about what schools any of the advisors are at
 
Just a heads up that you aren't allowed to speculate about what schools any of the advisors are at

Thanks for the heads up, but I wasn't speculating nor was I suggesting that others should speculate. Sorry if that wasn't clear. As I understand it, the advisors here at SDN wish to demystify the med school admissions process.
With this goal in mind, I think my questions are perfectly appropriate. My hope is that I will get some answers that will give me a better sense of how committee membership works in general.

How many members serve on a typical committee? If >50 members serve on a committee, then it doesn't seem likely that members meet weekly to present their evaluations of particular applicants to the committee as a whole. Instead, it seems that a large committee would be more likely to ask individual members to make decisions individually on behalf of the committee. Personally, I think it would be interesting to know if a group of 15 individuals collectively reviewed my application or if a single individual member out of a group of 100 committee members reviewed my file and was responsible for evaluating whether or not I was a good "fit" at that particular school. I am also generally interested in how membership itself works? I am curious about if and how members are selected to be on an admissions committee? If the process is not by-invitation only, then does one self-nominate?

I initially asked my questions in a very general way, but bleargh comment indicated that it's so highly variable that asking about a typical admissions committee is essentially worthless. In response to his comment, I changed the heading to one that would make it clear that answers about specific schools - as opposed to responses only about schools in general -- were acceptable.

The intention was never to speculate about any particular SDN member's school. I really don't care to speculate about where LizzyM is located. But I am interested in how many members serve on her school's adcom (or any other adcom member here who is capable of answering the question), how membership is determined, etc.
 
I know some professors who were asked to be on a committee in the past.
They referred to it as their penance and hated the extra work sans extra pay.

This is a random thread, but I am entertained by the constant desire to learn absolutely irrelevant minutae about admissions on this board.
 
I can tell you that the where I go to school the adcom is made up many of the professors you will have during your four years at the school. Also many school have students on adcoms with full voting roles.

My understand is you get computer screen then a support type staff member (or sometimes a professor on the adcom) reviews your file to determine if you are going to get an interview, then post interview the whole committee meets to decide what they are doing with you. So basically the people deciding your fate are for the most far professors, students, and assistant dean types.
 
OK, every school is a bit different and my school has changed things a bit over the past decade but this is roughly how it goes:

There are about 30-40 reviewers. Most are faculty members, some are upperclassmen in the med school. Each application is reviewed three times before interview. The initial reviewer reviews and makes comments, the second reviewer reviews the first reviewers comments and the application and makes more comments, then the file goes to someone with the power to make an interview offer (that is a paid position of considerable power but recommending an interview after 2 reviewers say "no" takes balls and isn't done very often -- otherwise, questions are raised about why these counterintuitive decisions are made). If the first reviewer is very good at identifying a select group for interview and making a good case for them, that reviewer will be very influential in the process as others are likely to go along with the assessment. On the flip side, when such a reviewer recommends "no interview", the application is half way sunk, despite 2 additional reviews.

After interview, the reviewers work in teams of 10-15.

After interview, the file is reviewed by every member of the team and each comments independently about the file and classifies the application (admit for sure, maybe admit, waitlist, ick) The team then meets and discusses discrepancies (why the "ick" when several though this was an "admit now"?) and each indpendently assigns a rating. These ratings are combined and provided to a smaller group of senior faculty (usually 5-9 people) that receive reports from all the teams and make the final decisions. (The members of the smaller group also serves as a team leaders when the teams meet). A majority need to approve an offer of admission or other disposition of an applicant so no one person has the power to admit or deny. Sometimes, a single vote makes the difference but most are unanimous decisions.

Membership on the adcom is by invitation and it is actually, officially, an appointment by the Dean. In truth, the admissions office begs for volunteers and then sends the names of the volunteers to the Dean for appointment. It is considered "good citizenship" in the university to serve on a committee and so some of us do it. Plus it can be fun to learn about applicants and useful to faculty members with kids who want to know more about admissoins (my kids have no interest at this point but what I know has helped understand college admissions). Much of it is drudgery and it takes hours each week to get through the reviews (mostly at home) as well as the frequent group meetings. We don't get paid. We might get some modest refreshments at meetings or a modest gift at the end of the year. I have no idea how they manage to balance the group but it always is balanced. Some of us serve for years and others are appointed for 3 yrs and not reappointed (sometimes because they don't seem to "get it" or aren't willing to carry their share of the load).

Med students read applications and recommend interviews, review applications after interview and make admission recommendations, and discuss the recommendations and then pass those recommendations onto the small group. They work together with faculty at every step.

Other schools are different and have the interviewers present the applicant's file to the group that votes up or down (or waitlist), or have some other mechanism for deciding how to make interview invites. The rules for med school accreditation do require that admission decisions be made by a faculty committee and there were some fireworks a few years ago when a Dean went over the committee's head at one school and admitted an applicant with political connections. (In the end, the Dean's head rolled like the sacrifical lamb that he was but the guy with the connections matriculated.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Thanks for the heads up, but I wasn't speculating nor was I suggesting that others should speculate. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
Oh I wasn't saying that you were speculating about it. I just thought the thread might go a bad direction. It's all good:)

LizzyM's post is really interesting. I can understand why there aren't too many people lining up to get involved in the process! It sounds like a ton of extra work to add to a professor's already full plate
 
.
 
Last edited:
Third year students read and evaluate, fourth year students do interviews. (first & second yr students give tours).

We start reading sometime between mid-July and mid-August depending on the scheduling of adcom training, vacations, etc. Interviews begin sometime between mid-September and early October. The first offers go out sometime between mid-October and late November. (I'm being deliberately vague here.) We read through mid-January and interview until some time in February. The last offers go out in February or March.

If your secondary arrives close to the deadline date for secondaries, we will have already given away about half of the interview slots. Let's say we have 5000 applications and 500 interview slots. By the deadline date you are competing with 4,750 applicants for 250 slots.... Your chances of an interview are 1 in 20 compared with 1 in 10 for the entire pool.


People do apply late and get in but the best odds are with the early birds.

Regardless of whether a school is rolling admissions, interview invites are rolling at every school.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
People do apply late and get in but the best odds are with the early birds.

Regardless of whether a school is rolling admissions, interview invites are rolling at every school.

So let's say you turn everything in as early as possible....primaries in June, secondaries as soon as possible...but you're still waiting on your MCAT. Do you continuously get shuffled to the end of the pile until your score gets in, or do adcoms recognize that you were on top of your application and submitted early?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
So let's say you turn everything in as early as possible....primaries in June, secondaries as soon as possible...but you're still waiting on your MCAT. Do you continuously get shuffled to the end of the pile until your score gets in, or do adcoms recognize that you were on top of your application and submitted early?

We can't make an assessment without the MCAT so you'll be in the "incomplete" file until that score is loaded.
 
I'm not sure if third years serve on the admissions committee at our school (I haven't heard about it, but we don't have too much interaction with third years in the first place). Fourth years do, and there is always 1 student interviewer each day. They have as much sway as anyone else on the committee. Fourth years also give tours (but students can sit in on first and second year classes... sometimes).

I think our admissions liaison said that we had 32 voting members. They meet every Friday to determine the fate of the interview pool from that week.
 
I'm not sure if third years serve on the admissions committee at our school (I haven't heard about it, but we don't have too much interaction with third years in the first place). Fourth years do, and there is always 1 student interviewer each day. They have as much sway as anyone else on the committee. Fourth years also give tours (but students can sit in on first and second year classes... sometimes).

I think our admissions liaison said that we had 32 voting members. They meet every Friday to determine the fate of the interview pool from that week.

I wonder, when they meet those days does the office of admissions provide lunch? What kinds of lunches get provided, and if you were late due to a class, would you be stuck with the portobello mushroom wrap instead of roast beef? Can you call dibs on your wrap of choice, even if it's the Dean's favorite, too?
 
I wonder, when they meet those days does the office of admissions provide lunch? What kinds of lunches get provided, and if you were late due to a class, would you be stuck with the portobello mushroom wrap instead of roast beef? Can you call dibs on your wrap of choice, even if it's the Dean's favorite, too?

We met late in the afternoon and the M3s were pretty good at making it to meetings. If not, they had their say through our electronic review system. No sandwiches, just soft drinks and crunchy snacks.
 
I wonder, when they meet those days does the office of admissions provide lunch? What kinds of lunches get provided, and if you were late due to a class, would you be stuck with the portobello mushroom wrap instead of roast beef? Can you call dibs on your wrap of choice, even if it's the Dean's favorite, too?
1253886001_office-no.gif
 
I wonder, when they meet those days does the office of admissions provide lunch? What kinds of lunches get provided, and if you were late due to a class, would you be stuck with the portobello mushroom wrap instead of roast beef? Can you call dibs on your wrap of choice, even if it's the Dean's favorite, too?

:laugh:

Hey! I like portobello mushroom! Probably because I'm vegetarian though...
 
:laugh:

Hey! I like portobello mushroom! Probably because I'm vegetarian though...

I would recruit people like you to my admissions committee, this way there would always be surplus of the deli meat options for me. ;)


That's how my admissions committee membership would work, ftw!!!!!!!
 
I would recruit people like you to my admissions committee, this way there would always be surplus of the deli meat options for me. ;)


That's how my admissions committee membership would work, ftw!!!!!!!
:rofl:
 
Third year students read and evaluate, fourth year students do interviews. (first & second yr students give tours).

We start reading sometime between mid-July and mid-August depending on the scheduling of adcom training, vacations, etc. Interviews begin sometime between mid-September and early October. The first offers go out sometime between mid-October and late November. (I'm being deliberately vague here.) We read through mid-January and interview until some time in February. The last offers go out in February or March.

If your secondary arrives close to the deadline date for secondaries, we will have already given away about half of the interview slots. Let's say we have 5000 applications and 500 interview slots. By the deadline date you are competing with 4,750 applicants for 250 slots.... Your chances of an interview are 1 in 20 compared with 1 in 10 for the entire pool.


People do apply late and get in but the best odds are with the early birds.

Regardless of whether a school is rolling admissions, interview invites are rolling at every school.

Wow I totally missed your post, thank you LizzyM for your reply :)

If I submit early and I'm verified before my scores are back, pre-write my secondaries and have all letters in by the time the scores are out, lets say end of August...considering whatever it takes to be complete (2-3 weeks? so by around mid September) Then, I should still be have good chance? :oops:

:xf:

Thank you for your time LizzyM, it's so great to have you in this forum :thumbup:
 
These days, I think that the person(s) responsible for distributing the applications to those of us who read, evaluate and recommend for interview are sorting (electronically) and "skimming the cream" rather than distributing files as they become complete. A newly arrived application with a 3.8/37 is going to get sent out ahead of someone who submitted early with a 3.4/30. It is must the most efficient way, I guess.

So, if your MCAT arrives and your application is complete you may be looked at almost immediately in which case you'd be among the first 20-25% evaluated or you could languish until Christmas.

It seems like a lot of cash and effort to submit applications & supplementals without knowing your MCAT score.
 
LizzyM i was wondering, if your two interviewers (faculty and student) both really liked you (me), what other roadblocks could prevent one from not getting in, i.e. others on the committee, eventho they havent met you, feel that your stats/ECs etc arent up to snuff?
 
LizzyM i was wondering, if your two interviewers (faculty and student) both really liked you (me), what other roadblocks could prevent one from not getting in, i.e. others on the committee, eventho they havent met you, feel that your stats/ECs etc arent up to snuff?

Dont confuse "like" with "think you'd be a good fit here". Generally, we won't waste an interview slot on someone who is not up to snuff but some schools invite almost all in state appliants or legacies, etc and weed out after interview.
 
.
 
Last edited:
Dont confuse "like" with "think you'd be a good fit here". Generally, we won't waste an interview slot on someone who is not up to snuff but some schools invite almost all in state appliants or legacies, etc and weed out after interview.

thanks, im asking because on my interview, my faculty interviewer explicitally told me that she "really liked me, and will have no problem recommending me to the committee", but turns out i was waitlisted, so it makes me wonder if she is the only 1 of 2 people to actually meet me, and has a high/good opinion of me, then how can my acceptance be either delayed or not at all? like would the other members say "well we know you like him, but his Mcat/ECs/research/etc just isnt good enough right now"

thanks so much for your input Lizzy
 
thanks, im asking because on my interview, my faculty interviewer explicitally told me that she "really liked me, and will have no problem recommending me to the committee", but turns out i was waitlisted, so it makes me wonder if she is the only 1 of 2 people to actually meet me, and has a high/good opinion of me, then how can my acceptance be either delayed or not at all? like would the other members say "well we know you like him, but his Mcat/ECs/research/etc just isnt good enough right now"

thanks so much for your input Lizzy

You are good enough to admit but there are "better" applicants ahead of you. If the interviewers liked you and another pair of interviewers liked someone with a 40/4.0, who gets the offer & who gets waitlisted? It is unlikely, at least at my school, to get rejected for bad LOR or bad numbers after interview but people get waitlisted all the time.
 
You are good enough to admit but there are "better" applicants ahead of you. If the interviewers liked you and another pair of interviewers liked someone with a 40/4.0, who gets the offer & who gets waitlisted? It is unlikely, at least at my school, to get rejected for bad LOR or bad numbers after interview but people get waitlisted all the time.

Are waitlist decisions completely up to the Dean? Or does the committee meet to discuss who to admit off the waitlist in order to fill spots?
 
Are waitlist decisions completely up to the Dean? Or does the committee meet to discuss who to admit off the waitlist in order to fill spots?

I imagine this varies by school. At my school, the Dean handles it alone. I think can be very time consuming and changes day to day as people who were on the waitlist remove themselves, etc.
 
Top