Hot Chicken and Data Days
Nashville has plenty of culinary choices. But there is one type of food which is distinctive to Music City: Hot Chicken.
Hot Chicken is southern-style pan-fried chicken cooked in a cast-iron skillet. There is, however, one twist. The chicken is breaded in a super-secret blend of spices which give the chicken its…hot. And trust me, it is spicy. Dangerous even.
The main purveyor of this delight is called Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. Former Mayor Bill Purcell declared it his favorite restaurant and legend has it that one could garner political favor by stepping up from the milder varieties. The truth is, that I frequently crave Prince’s. Eating it on Tuesday can guarantee that you’ll want it on Wednesday. Fortunately for me, I am eating Prince’s tomorrow. After all it’s a Data Day tradition.
So what are data days? Well, you’re about to find out. Because as much as I’d like to use this blog to promote Hot Chicken, it’s really not the point.
Data Days are the days where we evaluate the overall depth, quality and diversity of our applicant pool just before starting admissions committee. There are three per year, one for each of the Early Decision rounds, and one for Regular Decision. Thom alluded earlier to the admission officer deadline by which all applications must be first and second read. That date was last Wednesday. Since then, our support staff have been frantically entering decisions (admit, deny, waitlist, or committee) into our database so we can have a complete look at the pool by Data Day.
Then, using some fancy schmancy reporting tools (we actually use Business Objects, a French data solutions package) the admissions committee will answer some critical questions:
How many students should be admitted?
This number is calculated by taking the number of spots in the first year class and subtracting the total number already admitted during Early Decision. Then, using a yield projection for Regular Decision we multiply to account for students who are admitted but will not choose to attend. From this number we subtract the regular decision students who have already been admitted or will be shortly. The only students in this group are MOSAIC invitees, Scholarship Finalists (Ingram, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Chancellor’s) and recruited athletes.
The final number will be the total number of admissions letters that leave our office on mailing day. You can try to guess the number, but we do not release it publicly. Remember that we keep it intentionally low to prevent over enrollment. Then we admit from the waiting list to ensure the porridge is just right.
2. How many students can be heard at committee?
An easy calculation. We average about 10 application discussions in a committee hour. With three committees running 6-8 hours every day, five or six days each week for the next month. According to Amy, our committee guru, we have 330 hours scheduled but may need more or less depending on the answer to the next question.
3. What is the threshold by which any student should gain admission?
Ideally any application that reaches committee will include a compelling discussion and the full spectrum of decision options. Although we love hearing about the incredible, bizarre, hilarious and remarkable things that prospective Vanderbilt students accomplish, it is not useful to spend more time on students who are clearly admissible.
On Data Days we take a statistical snapshot (compiled from the espresso-fueled months of reading) and assume that we can admit most qualified applicants in the highest end of our pool. This process is known in our office as “Commando.” The origins of the term are hazy, but if I had my guess it dates back to 1645 when Alan Commando, the former Dean of Oxford decided to admit everyone at once. A carnival was subsequently thrown in his honor.
At the conclusion of Data Days, the entire staff receives an email with “Commando Guidelines.” Any applicant who meets the guidelines is gathered, re-read and barring any concerns, summarily admitted. Remember that every last application has been reviewed in full (twice in fact), received hand-written comments, and a decision recommendation.
The remaining applications are slated for committee review where we will spend the coming weeks discussing everything from extra curricular involvement to grades to curriculum to that essay describing that time you fell offstage at your piano recital.
To a geek like me, Data Days are like Magic Eye posters. For months I’ve closely examined the applicants from Maryland (except Montgomery and Prince George’s counties), Minnesota, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Alaska. Now I am able to inch backward and see how those students fit into the larger group considered for Fall 2009. Now it’s time for some Hot Chicken.
February 24th, 2009
10 applications in an hour.
That’s 6 minutes that can change one’s life.
Quite a sobering notion.
February 24th, 2009
Hillary,
You have no idea. Despite the assumption that we’re unfeeling automatons (that is commonly swallowed whole as truth), we absolutely feel the weight of what we are doing. I sometimes have to guard myself from thinking about the impact of each decision too much. The process is built to get multiple views on the same applicant, redundancies, rationale checks, etc; so as a reviewer, it’s not just up to you. Otherwise it would absolutely eat at you.
Also keep in mind that there’s no egg timer in committee. I’ve been apart of heated debates that run 20+ minutes for one applicant.
February 24th, 2009
By the way Brad, I’m all about Prince’s (the mild sauce for me thanks), but that picture is not right.
February 24th, 2009
It’s important to remember that many schools use computers to make admissions decisions. The average applicant at Vanderbilt gets about a 15-20 minute first read, a 10-15 minute second read, and then six minutes at committee. On the long side, that is 41 minutes per app. Multiply by 19,000 and that explains why we relish trips to the grocery store like a month-long sojourn to Paris.