# S5E8: Inside the Minds of Elite Admissions Officers: How AOs Are Trained To Review Your Application (Interview with Former Duke AO)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/admittedly-college-admissions-with-thomas-caleel-6069707/s5e8-inside-the-minds-of-elite-admissions-officers-how-aos-are-trained-to-review-your-application-interview-with-former-duke-ao
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/admittedly-college-admissions-with-thomas-caleel-6069707/s5e8-inside-the-minds-of-elite-admissions-officers-how-aos-are-trained-to-review-your-application-interview-with-former-duke-ao.md
Podcast: [Admittedly: College Admissions with Thomas Caleel](https://stenobird.com/podcast/admittedly-college-admissions-with-thomas-caleel-6069707)
Published: 2026-02-21T00:09:00+00:00
Episode link: https://0d82b450-fcc2-4086-b871-7e76ac366a12.libsyn.com/s5e8-inside-the-minds-of-elite-admissions-officers-how-aos-are-trained-to-review-your-application-interview-with-former-duke-ao
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/0d82b450-fcc2-4086-b871-7e76ac366a12/SONAM_FULL_EPISODE_AUDIO_.mp3?dest-id=3894051
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/admittedly-college-admissions-with-thomas-caleel-6069707/episodes/s5e8-inside-the-minds-of-elite-admissions-officers-how-aos-are-trained-to-review-your-application-interview-with-former-duke-ao
Duration seconds: 1921

## Resource

To speak with an advisor and map out your student's next steps, book a Complimentary Strategy Call at admittedly.co/apply. In this episode of the Admittedly Podcast , Thomas sits down with Admittedly's Interim Director of College Counseling and former Senior Admissions Officer at Duke University, Sonam, for a candid look inside how highly selective admissions offices actually evaluate applications. Sonam reviewed more than 10,000 applications during her time in admissions. She holds degrees from Duke and an MBA from Rice, and she has worked across nearly every side of the process — inside a top university admissions office, in high schools, and in community-based organizations. In short: she understands both how decisions are made and how students should prepare. Together, Thomas and Sonam pull back the curtain on how admissions officers are trained, how institutional priorities shape decisions, and why the process is far more nuanced than most families realize. They discuss the return of standardized testing, what transcripts really signal, how committee rooms actually function, and why trying to "reverse engineer" a school's priorities is often a mistake. The conversation also dives deep into extracurricular strategy — what meaningful involvement looks like, how admissions officers spot inconsistencies, and why students don't need ten perfectly aligned activities to be compelling. From late bloomers to school list strategy to regional admissions nuances, this episode gives families a rare insider perspective grounded in real experience. This is especially valuable for parents and students aiming at highly selective colleges who want clarity about how decisions are made — and how to position themselves with intention rather than guesswork. Key Takeaways: • Admissions…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/admittedly-college-admissions-with-thomas-caleel-6069707/episodes/s5e8-inside-the-minds-of-elite-admissions-officers-how-aos-are-trained-to-review-your-application-interview-with-former-duke-ao/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/admittedly-college-admissions-with-thomas-caleel-6069707/s5e8-inside-the-minds-of-elite-admissions-officers-how-aos-are-trained-to-review-your-application-interview-with-former-duke-ao.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.