Secrets of the Admissions Office: AMA With a Former AdCom Member

Admissions committees read for things applicants rarely think to control: whether an essay's examples actually match the activities list, whether recommendation letters describe the same person the application does, and whether an interview report contradicts anything on the page. This AMA is a chance to ask directly about what a reader notices in the first few minutes of a file, and what quietly moves an application to the maybe pile instead of the no pile. Skyler Adams spent years reading applications on the inside at Northwestern and Chicago Booth before advising students from the other side, so the answers come from having actually sat in committee meetings, not from guessing at what committees want. Bring your specific questions. This is the rare chance to ask them directly to someone who's been in the room.