Program-Specific Info / Q's Is there an initial "cut" you have to make before they review the whole application?

[calling4color]

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I was just re-reading some of the admissions webpages and I noticed that some of them had a really short timeline for reviewing all applications and then it seems the timeline to review a smaller pool of applicants(who make it to the next level) is much longer. Specifically for one school it said the better your grades, the more likely you'll receive a full review from admissions. I thought all schools reviewed the application as whole-(essay, gpa/gre scores/ volunteer hours, LOR, etc.) But now I'm thinking they review grades first and THEN if you're good enough they'll review your essay, LOR, etc. It's kind of disappointing considering this should be more of a holistic view as the profession really needs people who are altruistic-not just people who can the highest GRE scores and all. I feel as though my strongest points (and same with most people probably) are all my qualitative measures-volunteering, leadership, essay, etc. I guess I will just hope for the best!

 

[mic1057813]

I think it's more to do with the volume of applicants they get- if they can narrow it to a smaller pool based on numbers, like GPA and scores, then they have an ideally higher quality group and it will take wayyy less time to go through 200 applications completely than 800. It does kind of suck though, since scores and GPA don't really tell the whole story! I'm sure you will be fine though!

 

[cb31]

I was just re-reading some of the admissions webpages and I noticed that some of them had a really short timeline for reviewing all applications and then it seems the timeline to review a smaller pool of applicants(who make it to the next level) is much longer. Specifically for one school it said the better your grades, the more likely you'll receive a full review from admissions. I thought all schools reviewed the application as whole-(essay, gpa/gre scores/ volunteer hours, LOR, etc.) But now I'm thinking they review grades first and THEN if you're good enough they'll review your essay, LOR, etc. It's kind of disappointing considering this should be more of a holistic view as the profession really needs people who are altruistic-not just people who can the highest GRE scores and all. I feel as though my strongest points (and same with most people probably) are all my qualitative measures-volunteering, leadership, essay, etc. I guess I will just hope for the best!

Yup some schools do that exact practice (found that out the hard way) and like you said it is very disappointing. I was pissed when I found out that school(s) I applied to did this so when I applied a second time around I didn't reapply to them (even though my grades and GRE were better and I probably would have made the cut). It really should be a holistic view!