The most common source of information is the High School Profile. Usually sent out by guidance offices, this form provides basic facts for admission offices. It will list information such as class size, course offerings, ranking procedures, and test scores. If the school does not rank students, the High School Profile may give distributions so that admission officers can get approximate ideas of where applicants stand within their class.

The second source of information comes from past applicants. Admission officers with several years of experience may have an implicit knowledge of a school based upon previous interactions. Also, many schools will keep a record of past applicants and information about the school in which to judge students.

The third common source of information comes from when admission officers visit high schools during the summer. They will talk to guidance counselors to get a better idea of the school. More importantly, they will talk to students and may remember some specific information about teachers or classes. For example, they may remember a particular science teacher is a very harsh grader, and take that into consideration when looking at applications.

Over time, admission officers gain a much more intimate knowledge of schools than students usually think. There is a certain amount of random variability based upon whether the admission officer at a particular school is relatively new to the job or quite seasoned, whether there are well-indexed records from past applicants, and whether the high school was proactive in providing useful information.