Field notes
Field Notes
Notes on admissions operations, fair and useful AI, and what we’re learning while building ProgramApply.
Jun 24, 2026 · Product
Your rubric, not oursA generic ‘good applicant’ score is worse than useless — it’s misleading. ProgramApply scores against the criteria your committee already uses, and shows the …
Jun 18, 2026 · Trust & fairness
What 'human-in-the-loop' actually meansIt’s an easy phrase to put on a slide. Here’s what it means in the product: where the AI stops, where the reviewer starts, and why every recommendation carries …
Jun 10, 2026 · Admissions ops
Nine minutes a fileReading season math is brutal: tens of thousands of files, a few weeks, and a small team. Here is the problem we set out to fix — and the line we refuse to …