> they never mentioned "quotas" There isn't a quota in the sense that there is a permanent fixed number, it's all just politics. So you've got situations like

> they never mentioned "quotas" There isn't a quota in the sense that there is a permanent fixed number, it's all just politics. So you've got situations like someone who donated $100 million to the school had the kid they wrote a recommendation for rejected last year, and now they're pissed so the development office wants to make sure whoever they recommend this year gets in. But then the rowing coach is considering going to another school where they're promised 12 recruits instead of 8, so now you have the AD and the head of development both lobbying the head of admissions to get more slots for their department. And exactly how many each actually gets each year is going to depend partly on how the admissions process is structured, but also on the facts of the situation, who owes who favors, where different people are in their careers and how much they've been contributing to the overall mission and prestige of the university, etc. As well as what the admitted class looks like so far, which can be vastly different a few days or even hours apart.