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RoshanBBQ said:
I don't think so - my understanding is that "decision" letters are generic (perhaps in the case of acceptance, financial aid offers might be included or maybe that would be in a separate e-mail). However, I'd say that the guess is as good as can be.
Admissions to selective colleges are very random, as has been often pointed out (inc. some members here who went to such colleges). I can think of a few things that are certain though:
1) They remain academic institutions and as such, academic prowess is of utmost importance.
2) They're looking to *build a community* and one has to be the kind of person that looks like they'll fit into that community.
One's application consisting of a high school transcript, standardised test scores, recommendation letters, a few essays, list of extra-curricular activities and perhaps an interview, if there is one. Applicants to Harvard and other selective schools do not tend to have any issues with "1)". Guess what, in the application, satisfies criteria "2)"? Sure, a huge list of activities can look impressive but, in my opinion, it does not carry as much weight if the applicant cannot show why their activities are important to them and the only way to do that, it would seem, is through (one of?) the essays and/or the interview.
This might be an interesting read. While the OP does not work for Harvard, he does work for a selective liberal arts college. Apparently, an experienced counsellor will spend about three minutes on a whole application. I'd be surprised if academics alone could get one in. I bet that of those three minutes, only a minute (maybe less) is spent looking at grades, scores and list of extra curricular activities. Actually, somebody who works in the admissions office at MIT (Chris, I think), said that they only give a brief look at academics, and if they conclude that the applicant looks like he's able enough, they won't bother going back there again. Jbmiller, if you're interested in that school, it might be interesting to search physicsforums.com (using google) for posts on the subject. Twofish-quant and Vanadium 50 went there; they made a number of posts on applying and life there, in general.
What he (OP on that thread I linked) says will reflect their own practices but I wouldn't be surprised if similar ones were to be used elsewhere, at say, Harvard, who received about thirty thousand applications last year. (34285, actually)