Acceptance Rates and Yield Rates of top USNWR Nat’l Unis and LACs

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Sometimes observers of the college scene look at Acceptance Rates and Yield Rates as decent proxies for how much a school is in demand in any given year. We all know about the surge in high school graduates and how this has increased overall college applications and thus led to lower acceptance rates at top colleges. But the overall freshman spaces at these colleges have remained relatively fixed over time and so their yields may be a good indicator of the college’s brand power among college matriculates. </p>

<p>The data below is from the entering class for Fall, 2006. If others have the information for Fall, 2007 (or historically) for any of the colleges below, then please post as that would be helpful to understanding which colleges are seeing improved yields. </p>

<p>NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES </p>

<p>Rank by Yield , Yield , Accept Rate , College</p>

<p>1 , 78% , 9% , Harvard
2 , 70% , 10% , Yale
3 , 68% , 11% , Princeton
4 , 67% , 11% , Stanford
4 , 67% , 14% , MIT
6 , 65% , 21% , U Penn
7 , 60% , 11% , Columbia
8 , 57% , 34% , *<em>U North Carolina
9 , 56% , 15% , Brown
10 , 55% , 32% , Notre Dame
11 , 51% , 37% , *</em>U Virginia
12 , 50% , 16% , Dartmouth
13 , 47% , 21% , Georgetown
14 , 46% , 25% , Cornell
15 , 43% , 22% , Duke
16 , 41% , 47% , *<em>U Michigan
16 , 41% , 24% , *</em>UC Berkeley
16 , 41% , 30% , Northwestern
19 , 39% , 35% , Vanderbilt
19 , 39% , 27% , **UCLA
19 , 39% , 39% , Wake Forest
22 , 37% , 37% , Emory
22 , 37% , 17% , Cal Tech
22 , 37% , 25% , Rice
25 , 34% , 38% , U Chicago
26 , 32% , 27% , J Hopkins
26 , 32% , 25% , USC
26 , 32% , 21% , Wash U StL
29 , 31% , 27% , Tufts
30 , 23% , 39% , Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>**Public Universities-Yield and Acceptance Rates shown are for the blend of both IS and OOS students. Numbers for each of those groups will vary, perhaps significantly, for each university. </p>

<p>LACs </p>

<p>Rank by Yield , Yield , Accept Rate , College</p>

<p>1 , 47% , 19% , Williams
2 , 45% , 24% , Middlebury
3 , 41% , 36% , Wellesley
3 , 41% , 22% , Bowdoin
5 , 40% , 19% , Swarthmore
6 , 39% , 18% , Pomona
6 , 39% , 30% , Davidson
6 , 39% , 27% , W&L
9 , 38% , 19% , Amherst
10 , 37% , 28% , Wesleyan
10 , 37% , 22% , CMC
10 , 37% , 30% , Vassar
13 , 36% , 26% , Haverford
13 , 36% , 52% , Smith
13 , 36% , 32% , Carleton
16 , 35% , 33% , Hamilton
17 , 34% , 33% , Colby
17 , 34% , 28% , Colgate
19 , 29% , 45% , Grinnell
20 , 27% , 44% , Bryn Mawr
21 , 26% , 36% , Harvey Mudd</p>

2

<p>WOW, 66% of the people that could go to Chicago don't???? THEY BETTER ACCEPT ME!</p>

3

<p>Yield rate is directly correlated with acceptance rate; one more reason by acceptance rate weight should be shafted in USNWR.</p>

4

<p>Amherst's low yield is a bit misleading. They put a cap on how many students they accept ED - it's usually about 28%.</p>

5

<p>8 of the top 12 "brands" (as measured by yield) among private universities are the Ivy colleges. Pretty impressive and just shows how strongly the history, prestige, and quality of these colleges affect the ultimate choices. </p>

<p>I also found it interesting that only one private college outside of the NE made it into the top 12. That school was ND and they likely have less applicant overlap with the Ivies than many of the others that ranked lower. </p>

<p>Also interesting is that the best of the LACs (Willliams) would have beaten only one of the Ivies (Cornell) in a straight comparison of yield and then only by a single point.</p>

6

<p>Yield rate is the most depressing statistic ever.</p>

7

<p>perhaps coincidental? Both USC and WashU chase high stat kids with merit money, but they still seem to go elsewhere.</p>

<p>Those Carolinians just love the home cookin' :)</p>

8

<p>There are schools outside of the top 20 who are not only more selective but also have a higher yeild. It's weird to see Wash at 21% acceptance but only 32% yeild, when a school like Bard has a 27% acceptence and 34% yeild and is not a top 20. What can be said about schools with low acceptence rates and low yeilds?</p>

9

<p>It is very depressing indeed. I wonder where those 22% who were accepted but chose not to attend Harvard ended up going? Perhaps some of the most prestigious universities overseas -- where the best in your own country is simply not "special" enough.</p>

<p>I suspect, however, that this is the end result of a rather open application policy, where people do not have limits on the selectivity or the number of school they are allowed to apply to. Most high achieving students would at least apply to one "safety" school, which is perfectly understandable. But factor in the sheer number of applicants across the country each year, and it's not a surprise that these yield rates are so incredibly embarrassing. Where as in the UK -- the only other system I have knowledge of -- you'd have to obtain high enough scores on the level exams to even be allowed to apply to certain schools, and even then, your choices are limited to a certain number. Such measures significantly limit students who apply to super reaches and super safeties and forces them to really consider their choices, which I suspect would also greatly increase the yield rates.</p>

<p>That wasn't an attempt to debate the merits of each system, but rather just an observation instead.</p>

10

<p>what's yield rate???? The percent of admittees who go to the college? If so, wow, the top colleges have some low yield rates... When do they determine this? Does anyone know?</p>

11

<p>The percentage of accepted students that actually enroll.</p>

12

<p>I'm surprised at some of the yield rates, like Northwestern's, Duke's, Georgetown's, and especially JHU's. I'm also a bit surprised that Tufts and CMU have such low yield rates; they both seem underrated.</p>

<p>Also, some of them are higher; I believe 71% chose to attend Stanford, and I think Berkeley's is slightly higher too (42-43%).</p>

<p>Thanks for the info, hawkette; as always, your posts are very informative. =)</p>

13

<p>Northwestern only accepts about a quarter of its incoming class ED ... not sure if that's typical, but it might account for its low(ish) yield rate.</p>

14

<p>i think tufts is known for low yield rates...</p>

15

<p>
[quote]
I wonder where those 22% who were accepted but chose not to attend Harvard ended up going?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Some take the merit money at other colleges; some may go to the others in the HYPSM class; MIT for the math-science focus, Stanford for D1 sports and the weather, Princeton for the undergrad focus....or Emory/WashU/et al. for a full ride.</p>

16

<p>There is a great power to HYPSM, but the still strong yields of the non-HYP Ivies is perhaps most impressive to me and reflective of the draw that the Ivy brand has. Common peers to these schools include Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt, Emory, JHU, Wash U, etc. and none of these were able even to out-yield the lowest Ivy-Cornell (ok, Georgetown did by one percentage point, but the point is pretty clear). </p>

<p>If anyone has any historical data on yields for any of these colleges, please post it. I wonder how this Ivy preference compares to 5 or 10 years and if certain schools have outperformed/underperformed.</p>

17

<p>To be honest, I'm most impressed by the publics. Berkeley and Michigan are in the 40s, UCLA nearly there, and UVA just past 50%. That's pretty impressive.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
I wonder where those 22% who were accepted but chose not to attend Harvard ended up going?<br>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>
[quote]
Some take the merit money at other colleges; some may go to the others in the HYPSM class; MIT for the math-science focus, Stanford for D1 sports and the weather, Princeton for the undergrad focus....or Emory/WashU/et al. for a full ride.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>As far as MIT goes, I think you mean to say that some people turn down Harvard for MIT for the engineering/technology focus. After all, I don't think that MIT really has an edge over Harvard when it comes to math/science. Harvard is a pretty darn good math/science school. </p>

<p>Along those lines, other people turn down Harvard for specialized programs elsewhere. For example, surely some people turn down Harvard to go to Penn for the Wharton School to give them the best chance of getting a finance/banking job after graduation. Some people will take BS/MD programs that guarantee them a place in med school. Some people turn down Harvard because they actually want to *play <a href="and%20not%20just%20watch">/i</a> D1 sports, and more specifically, because they have a strong reason to believe that they can actually make it to the pros. I know one guy who turned down some Ivies for his state school because it is a perennial football national championship contender and he was a star high school player who has legitimate reason to believe that he could make it to the NFL. Granted, he didn't turn down Harvard specifically, but he probably would have, again, because Harvard would not really have helped him achieve his goal of getting to the NFL. </p>

<p>{Now, to be sure, there are a few Harvard football players who do make it to the NFL. But I think we can agree that it is far easier to make it if you play for one of the NFL 'factory schools', and his state school is clearly one of them. If he does make an NFL roster, even as just a backup for just one year, he will make at least the NFL rookie minimum of $285k, which is clearly far more than the vast vast majority of graduates from any college will ever make. He also figures that even if he doesn't make it to the NFL at all, he still got a football scholarship that completely pays for his degree and he got to experience first-hand the pagaentry and excitement of playing bigtime college football, including major bowl games. That's a pretty darn good deal. Frankly, I wish I had that.}</p>

19

<p>actually no, I said what I meant. :)</p>

20

<p>LACs </p>

<p>Rank by Yield , Yield , Accept Rate , College</p>

<p>1 , 47% , 19% , Williams
2 , 45% , 24% , Middlebury
3 , 41% , 36% , Wellesley
3 , 41% , 22% , Bowdoin
5 , 40% , 19% , Swarthmore
6 , 39% , 18% , Pomona
6 , 39% , 30% , Davidson
6 , 39% , 27% , W&L
9 , 38% , 19% , Amherst
10 , 37% , 28% , Wesleyan
10 , 37% , 22% , CMC
10 , 37% , 30% , Vassar
13 , 36% , 26% , Haverford
13 , 36% , 52% , Smith
13 , 36% , 32% , Carleton
16 , 35% , 33% , Hamilton
17 , 34% , 33% , Colby
17 , 34% , 28% , Colgate
19 , 29% , 45% , Grinnell
20 , 27% , 44% , Bryn Mawr
21 , 26% , 36% , Harvey Mudd</p>

<p>i'm very surprised to see harvey mudd, considered the most selective lac by usnwr, being last on the list.</p>