The Best Job in the World?

What is it like to be an admissions officer at a prestigious university?

I was asked to answer this question on the website quora.com

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Your question would, if I wanted to give a great answer, require a book. (Or two). There are a few already out there:  Mitchell Stevens' "Creating a Class" is a pretty good one, as it details the admission process over a year at an unnamed college (it’s Hamilton in case you are interested). And then there is “The Gatekeepers”, Jacques Steinberg’s very good book on the process at Wesleyan. It largely follows one person over a year and some of the students who applied and what happened to them. It was a part of Steinberg’s NY Times blog, which, sad to say, is no longer active. The Tina Fey film, “Admission”, largely skips over the many fine things about admission that were in Jean Hanff Korelitz's book on which it is based. That is too bad, but it’s still got a few moments that are somewhat accurate (and far more than a few that are just wrong or misleading).

Here are a few things that aren’t often mentioned either because they are not deemed important or are not a part of the experience others may have had.

1.    Going to parties and social events requires discretion or possibly a disguise. If I was ever at a party with parents of students and they found out what I did the rest of my evening was already blocked out. Questions and theories and queries and complaints. Or a request for advice or the ‘real’ story or whether I could answer questions about quotas and scores and legacies and athletes and more.  Much more. 

If it sounds like I am complaining I’m not. I have observed doctors answering medical questions all night at the same parties. In my case, I liked the chance to talk with people who cared about education. It often gave me a chance to put to rest some urban legends but also gave me a opportunity to say what I have said again and again: it isn't about the name of the school, it’s about fit and about the performance of a student once he or she arrives on a campus, whatever its name or ranking.

In addition, my job also gave me the opportunity to meet many people who I never would have had the chance to get to know had I not had my job. People, who have been very successful in whatever field, would want to chat with me. I learned a great deal from them and many are still friends today. It expanded my knowledge and experience base in ways I never could have imagined. It also gave me a chance to encourage parents and students at the other end of the economic scale: single parents who worked blue collar jobs but believed in education. And students who overcame tremendous odds. Incredibly inspiring. 

2.    Sometimes the job is remarkably draining. Traveling around the globe can be fun but flying to 5 countries in 5 days, getting taxis and making it to schools or presentations with a few minutes to spare is stressful. So too is the evaluation process. Having read untold thousands of applications I can say that there is almost nothing like reading an application essay that sings or springs off the page. This doesn’t happen enough, but when it does, it’s life affirming. I would often write the students just to tell them how great their essays were and this sometimes resulted in an ongoing conversation that has lasted over many years. But having to read, for months and months, what at ties seems an endless stream of applications, many of which have similar credentials and lists of activities, and recommendations and essay topics, takes a toll. Some get cynical after a while (“oh another valedictorian, ho hum”), or some adapt a somewhat formulaic approach “(only 5 APS, forget it”), but most try to keep an open mind and try to advocate for students. That is the fun part. 

3.     The not so fun part is that the vast majority of students don’t get in. Most are stars in some way, and some are quite remarkable and would put anything I did in secondary school to shame.  Having had a child go through the process, I also have seen how personal the no’s can be for hard working and accomplished students. No one likes a no, and it is hard to see students have their dream schools say no. But after a year almost all of these students tend to be pretty happy or over the top happy wherever they are, so while it isn’t much ado about nothing, the whole process is way over hyped by the media, parents, and educators and yes, the schools at the top too. Does it really make a huge difference if a student attends a top 10 or top 50? Studies show it doesn’t so as long as a student does well wherever he or she is.

4.     For many years while working in admission I said that I had the best job in the world (now I say I have the best job in the world too). Back then I got to travel, meet great people and help select a class of exceptional students. That’s pretty damn good. But it gets way better. During my time in admission I would spend at least several hours a day talking with students I had helped to select. In some cases I was teaching them, but in the vast majority of cases I was just chatting. I can’t even begin to count all the coffees I have had with students. Thousands for sure. In almost every case I learned something valuable. I might have learned about their family or school or their country or neighborhood. Or I might have learned about a great class or major. Or I might have learned what they wanted to do and I might have been able to help them in some way. But mostly we talked about the meaning of life. Really. We talked about learning and partying, books and Facebook, politics and religion. Nothing was out of bounds. I was honored that these students trusted me. I think most knew I had their best interest at heart even when I sometimes gave them a hard time for slacking off or not doing what they should do. 

I have said this a lot, but it’s accurate and worth saying again. I could not possibly have paid for the education the parents and students have given me with their words and deeds.  I have learned about the world, family dynamics, psychology, business, politics, history, literature, art, film and much more because of my conversations. I have been changed dramatically through this education and it has given me a passion to advocate for students and education that I don’t think will ever fade.