50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

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Q&a
DR. MICHELE HERNANDEz 
Former Assistant Director of Admissions, Dartmouth College
Author of A is for Admission
Q:
  Can you give students an idea of what happens to their appli-
cations and essays after they are received by the college?
A:
 First, admissions officers collect all the different parts of the ap-
plication. Then, all the pieces are scanned and date stamped. It’s all 
done electronically like an electronic file cabinet. Once everything is 
assembled, admissions officers start to read them one by one (now they 
often do them on the computer instead of in hard copy).
Unlike many colleges, Dartmouth doesn’t sort the applications at 
first into regional categories or schools. They are placed into complete-
ly random groups that correspond with a particular admissions officer’s 
group of states.

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50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays
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Once an admissions officer reads one application folder, it is passed 
on to someone else who will also review it. If after two reads it’s a tie, 
the file goes to committee or to the director. After reading all the appli-
cations, the admissions officers start meeting and discussing the merits 
of each applicant one by one through committee meetings.
Admissions officers don’t only look at the applicants at the top end 
of an academic or extracurricular scale. Every single application is re-
viewed through this process.
Q: