Admissions Beat
Admissions Beat
Lee Coffin • Vice President and Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid at Dartmouth College
Reading an Application: The Work of the Work
39 minutes Posted Mar 11, 2025 at 8:00 am.
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For any college admissions officer, reading and evaluating an application is the work of the work. It is the heart of the admissions process itself, its most essential task. Reading season is the moment when recruitment yields to selection, when assessing merit and potential becomes a blend of reflection and decision as each application is evaluated and a class is shaped. The Dartmouth-based cast of last year's "Learning to Read," AB's most downloaded episode, reunites for a second, heartfelt conversation about their work as admission readers in a most selective admissions environment. The trio offer insights into "what counts" as each moves from file to file, and each reveals the invisible humanity that animates the work of the work.