How many true Adcom voting members make the decision?

[Nessy]

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Members don't see this ad.

figured it out on my own, sorry

 

[RogueUnicorn]

can't call out members in the thread title friend

 

[texahn]

whats the answer

 

[Nessy]

Dang, busted so quickly. Story of my life. Sorry, big time 🙁

 

[texahn]

oh haha
i just wanted to know..

 

[Nessy]

I know a lot of faculty interview applicants at schools, but I'm curious about when it comes down to it, the down and dirty, how many people are truly involved in the vote? 5,10,15 or more?????

PS: I didn't mean to anger the administrators earlier I'm really very timid and if I'm not playing by the rules, I'll go away real fast 😱

 

[Nessy]

I don't really have an answer. I was just freaked by being reprimanded and wanted to ditch out of here real quickly. I posted my question in a different posting.

 

[Mace1370]

I'm sure it varies by school.

 

[QofQuimica]

I know a lot of faculty interview applicants at schools, but I'm curious about when it comes down to it, the down and dirty, how many people are truly involved in the vote? 5,10,15 or more?????

At my school, more in the 25-30 range. There are a lot more people than that on the adcom, but that's about how many of us show up to any given meeting to vote.

PS: I didn't mean to anger the administrators earlier I'm really very timid and if I'm not playing by the rules, I'll go away real fast 😱

I don't know what you're referring to here. But if you're talking about the SDN administrators, don't violate the TOS rules you agreed to when you joined the site, and you'll be fine.

 

[Nessy]

At my school, more in the 25-30 range. There are a lot more people than that on the adcom, but that's about how many of us show up to any given meeting to vote.

You answered my question, and I thank you.

I misunderstood something about postings threads, but I'm good now 🙂

 

[RogueUnicorn]

relax pal, just a friendly reminder

 

[gravitywave]

srsly tho. bleargh, post your LizzyM beacon pic in the other thread.

just do it before you get too drunk, i saw you had some good news today 🙂

 

[RogueUnicorn]

lol thank you. done.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

 

[BaronVonZ]

Herp Derp

 

[gravitywave]

I can't imagine it'd be that many people voting on each applicant - that would mean 25 people had to familiarize themselves with each student. I'd guess your admissions fate usually comes down to one person looking it over and maybe bringing it up in a meeting if they're borderline on you or to make sure noone objects to their decision.

at some places it is definitely a room full of strangers deciding your fate, at least until waitlist season. i can recall one interview where they were very specific about how the two interviewers would each present your file and have a little back and forth in front of the adcom of 25-50 people, who would then vote on you.

but yes, every school is different.

 

[rHinO1]

This apparently varies by school.

At one of my interviews they told us the adcom that votes on whether we get in or not consisted of only 5 people. However, at another school they told us the adcom consisted of 20 people.

 

[QofQuimica]

I can't imagine it'd be that many people voting on each applicant - that would mean 25 people had to familiarize themselves with each student. I'd guess your admissions fate usually comes down to one person looking it over and maybe bringing it up in a meeting if they're borderline on you or to make sure noone objects to their decision.

At this school at least, I'm afraid my experience is a better description of reality than your imagination is. 😉

But all kidding aside, you're right that not every adcom reviews every application equally thoroughly. All of us have access to the students' AMCAS and secondary essays, and we all can skim through all of the apps. Faculty interviewers usually read the app thoroughly before they interview a student, while student interviewers who are also adcoms do not read the app until afterward. (Not all interviewers are adcoms, especially student interviewers.)

After the interview, every interviewer fills out a form describing their impressions and gives a recommendation to the adcom. Both student and faculty interviewers do this, regardless of whether they are actually on the adcom or not. If the interviewer is an adcom and is at the meeting, they present the students they interviewed. If they're not present or it was a non-adcom interviewer, someone else reads their comments and recommendation to the rest of the committee. All adcoms who are present vote on every application up for decision during that meeting. So there are 25-30 people voting on each application, not just the interviewers. Often we choose to follow the interviewers' recommendation, especially if they all agree, while other times we don't for various reasons.

As others have pointed out, different schools do things differently, and I'm not meaning to suggest that every school works the way mine does. But FWIW, this is how we do things here.

 

[BaronVonZ]

I stand corrected 😀

Is so much care given to decisions pre-interview, or is the initial reject/interview decision made by a single adcom member?

 

[FIREitUP]

At this school at least, I'm afraid my experience is a better description of reality than your imagination is. 😉

But all kidding aside, you're right that not every adcom reviews every application equally thoroughly. All of us have access to the students' AMCAS and secondary essays, and we all can skim through all of the apps. Faculty interviewers usually read the app thoroughly before they interview a student, while student interviewers who are also adcoms do not read the app until afterward. (Not all interviewers are adcoms, especially student interviewers.)

After the interview, every interviewer fills out a form describing their impressions and gives a recommendation to the adcom. Both student and faculty interviewers do this, regardless of whether they are actually on the adcom or not. If the interviewer is an adcom and is at the meeting, they present the students they interviewed. If they're not present or it was a non-adcom interviewer, someone else reads their comments and recommendation to the rest of the committee. All adcoms who are present vote on every application up for decision during that meeting. So there are 25-30 people voting on each application, not just the interviewers. Often we choose to follow the interviewers' recommendation, especially if they all agree, while other times we don't for various reasons.

As others have pointed out, different schools do things differently, and I'm not meaning to suggest that every school works the way mine does. But FWIW, this is how we do things here.

What would be a typical reason why you wouldn't follow the interviewers' recommendations?

 

[apumic]

What would be a typical reason why you wouldn't follow the interviewers' recommendations?

Examples would probably include information coming up of which the interviewer was unaware (e.g., an institutional action that was discovered post-interview); observations by faculty/staff who observed the student outside the interview room and made a comment to someone on the adcom about a student's unprofessional or otherwise questionable conduct; other data in a student's file (esp. in the case of a closed interview); anything casting doubt on the interviewer's recommendation (positively or negatively); etc.

 

[QofQuimica]

I stand corrected 😀

Is so much care given to decisions pre-interview, or is the initial reject/interview decision made by a single adcom member?

I'm not involved with the screening process, so I don't know all the nitty gritty details of how applicants are selected to interview. But I do know that each app is screened independently by two people, and their recommendations go to the admissions dean. The screeners do review the apps very thoroughly--I've seen their checklist, and it's quite extensive.

What would be a typical reason why you wouldn't follow the interviewers' recommendations?

Probably the biggest reason is if there is additional info that comes up during the meeting, like input from non-interviewers who interacted with the student, follow-up calls to LOR writers, updates sent by the student, etc.

 

[LizzyM]

It varies by school. At my school the final decision is made by a relatively small group (the size has varied over the years but is between 4 and 8 with half plus 1 needed for a quorum) but the recommendations of a larger subcommittee (over 12) who review and discuss and submit recommendations are weighed very heavily.

 

[Myuu]

Merging duplicate threads.

 

[theWUbear]

Herp Derp

👍

 

[Nessy]

It varies by school. At my school the final decision is made by a relatively small group (the size has varied over the years but is between 4 and 8 with half plus 1 needed for a quorum) but the recommendations of a larger subcommittee (over 12) who review and discuss and submit recommendations are weighed very heavily.

Thanks Lizzy M and others who have provided input. I wish the whole behind-the-scenes adcom process wasn't so covert, but I guess maybe it has to be.

 

[Caesar]

Thanks Lizzy M and others who have provided input. I wish the whole behind-the-scenes adcom process wasn't so covert, but I guess maybe it has to be.

It's not really. Ask the school you are interested in and they will likely tell you how many people are on the committee. I'm fairly certain they will give a general number.

 

[apumic]

Thanks Lizzy M and others who have provided input. I wish the whole behind-the-scenes adcom process wasn't so covert, but I guess maybe it has to be.

Why the concern with it? What difference does it make? As Cesar mentioned, most schools will probably give you general information on it should you ask, but the value of that information to an applicant is so low there'd be no value in publishing it. What they care to see is far more valuable....

 

[LizzyM]

Are you wondering how many cookies to bake?? Do you think that the committee can be bought? 😉

 

[apumic]

Are you wondering how many cookies to bake?? Do you think that the committee can be bought? 😉

Good point. Can you be bought, Lizzy? How many? j/k.

 

[Nessy]

Are you wondering how many cookies to bake?? Do you think that the committee can be bought? 😉

No, no cookies! I'm just thinking about the many adcoms across the country that are getting together today to seal some of our fates, and just going a little looney.🤣
Good luck to everyone.

 

[Cleavername]

Are you wondering how many cookies to bake?? Do you think that the committee can be bought? 😉

every man has his price. including women. it may not necessarily be currency.