Admission Impossible

[Lauraa]

I am confused about the usages of "admission"
1. "He nodded in (an) admission of guilt."
2. "There are always trouble spots in the college admission(s) process."

For 1., is "an" necessary/optional?

For 2., it seems that "admissions" means something different from "admission". Even when referring to the departments of schools that handles admitting new students, those departments are always called "admissions department", not "admission department".

[JohnParis]

Hello Lauraa,

No, "an" is not necessary in your first sentence. The verb "to admit" is a reporting verb here, and it means "to confess to be true or to be the case, typically with reluctance."

"Even when referring to the departments of schools that handles admitting new students, those departments are always called "admissions department", not "admission department".
That's correct. That's probably because it's the department where all admissions to the university are considered and decided - not just one.

Hope this helps,
John