I interviewed Veronica Hauad, Regional Admissions Representative and Officer of the University of Chicago. During our discussion, she gave me some insight on the “in’s” and “out’s” of the college application process. 

1. How did you become an admissions officer?

“Most admissions counselors or officers get into this line of work kind of the same way. Um, plenty of of us worked in the college admissions office of the college they went to. “

“So the counselors were probably tour guides or they worked in some way in their admissions office in college. and from there kind of realized that they liked the work. many of us realized “oh we like education and this work is fun”. I knew specifically that i wanted to be in education but didn’t want to be a teaching and then kind of learned about administrative options.”

2. How many applications does the University of Chicago receive each year?

“For the last couple of years, we have been around the 30,000 mark. 30,000 total applications for the undergraduate college.”

3. How many applications do you personally review?

“It varies. In our office, most admissions officers are supposed to be reviewing about a thousand applications. But it depends on your territory. I am assigned largely to work on the city of chicago and that can produce anywhere between 1,400 to 1,500. “

4. The University of Chicago is known to have quirky supplemental essays, how do these prompts help you select the best candidates?

“I think a lot of schools are thinking about fit within the institution. So, once i assess that someone is a really hardworking and talented student and a good and active person, which is a majority of our application pool, then the goal is for me to figure out who is the U-Chicago person. Like who would really drive and be successful here. “

5. Out of all of the University of Chicago Prompts, which one is your favorite?

“Oh gosh. Um we’ve had a lot. I’ve been here five years. so it’s been a lot of prompts. I can tell you which one of them has been my least favorite i guess. the “where’s waldo question” was my least favorite from a couple of years ago. Just because normally we ask um like four or five questions to choose from. and students typically pan out pretty well. they don’t all pick the same one. so a couple years ago when we asked “where’s waldo” like  80-90% of the students all picked that question from the city of chicago. and it was hard because all day everyday the applications were the same. so, it was a little less fun on the reader side. “

6. What do you think the biggest mistake an applicant can make, other than missing the deadline.

“I think not putting enough time into the supplement is a common error i tend to see.” “lots of colleges will ask that question, like why is this college a good fit for you, and a lot of students rush through it and they put a plug in paragraph that they give to all schools. It’s just not always well done or fit to the school.”

7. How can a student make sure their application stands out?

“I think the most genuine way to do that is to just be yourself. when i look at those questions every year, it’s hard to out think the process. there’s no right answer there’s no wrong answer. if you are a u chicago fit and you go with your gut, you’ve done it.”