<p>I was talking to my guidance counselor who knows an admissions officer from Yale (couldn't tell anything about me lol, unfortunately) but he told me something very interesting about what his friend said.</p>
<p>In this admissions year, Yale has been accepting more "average" applicants than ever. By average he meant like 2200 SAT, you know, the average ivy league applicant. This is apparently because they are afraid of the yield due to the economy, and realize that the highest level of applicant (like near perfect SAT) it is very hard to get them from the grasp of other schools, namely Harvard. Therefore, Yale has been accepting students they know will attend pretty much because the other ivys probably wouldn't accept them. </p>
<p>Of course, he said that these average applicants stand out extraordinarily from the average pack, probably through passion and essays and the like. They are the same type of students that they wanted to accept in past years, but just couldn't get them through due to modest SAT scores and other reasons. The only difference now is that it is EASIER to accept them</p>
<p>IMO, it makes sense a little bit. Let's say you have a 2220 SAT score, average ECs, but great recs and essays. Okay, you're not the genius kid next to you in the pile who has a 2400 SAT score. However, that kid may also be applying to Harvard, and we know that in most cases, Yale will lose that applicant if Harvard accepts them. Meanwhile, your great application for a really average score-wise applicant stands out. Hey, you may not be a genius, but Yale really likes you. You'll make a good addition to the community; you may not conquer cancer, but whatever. And you're probably going to attend. Who do they pick?</p>
<p>whoa. What about the 2000 SAT scorer who has an amazing gpa/courseload and passion in ECs? Would 2000 still be too low or would that be “modest” on their terms?</p>
<p>“Hey, you may not be a genius, but Yale really likes you. You’ll make a good addition to the community; you may not conquer cancer, but whatever. And you’re probably going to attend. Who do they pick?”</p>
<p>Whoa, whoa, since when did a 2400 make one a genius able to cure cancer?</p>
<p>I think he was using a representative example. Come on we all know those kids, the 2400, presidential scholar, published author, fluent in 3 languages, internationally reknowned violin players (3 Grammys).</p>
<p>the OP started the paragraph with IMO. I guess I’m really hoping it’s true. After outstanding students getting merely waitlisted at schools like jhu, duke, nu, etc., maybe those schools were being conservative and trying to preserve their yield?</p>
<p>yeah it was just an exaggerated example lol</p>
<p>Maybe 2000 would be “average” idk, but when we talk about the average ivy applicant on CC we mean like 2100+. I have no idea what goes through adcoms heads though.</p>
<p>Claims like this are just not credible. H and Y are more similar than they are different, and the decision between them is a really tough one for the vast majority of cross-admits. Many students, though, choose Y over H. </p>
<p>I realize that the 2005 Revealed Preference study that is cited frequently on CC says that among H/Y cross-admits, 35% would supposedly choose Yale and 65% Harvard. But those figures are based on data collected before 2005 from a group of “theoretical” cross-admits. (Participants were asked, “If School X and School Y were both to accept you, which would you choose?”)
SSRN-A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities by Christopher Avery, Mark Glickman, Caroline Hoxby, Andrew Metrick <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/we...leonhardt.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/we...leonhardt.html</a> </p>
<p>Like the Revealed Preference Study, the 2008 statistical model may or may not be accurate. I sure can’t vouch for the math or the methodology used in either study. But it’s just not true that Y is accepting less desirable candidates because that it knows it can’t get the “highest level of applicant.”</p>
<p>From the numbers I have seen, mediocre students are not going to be getting much if any advantage from schools like Yale. I think the schools that are as expensive and do not have the name recognition are going to be in trouble but apps were up for the most highly selected schools.</p>
<p>Huh I always thought that yale lost the battle. I wish all reports would coincide</p>
<p>I don’t think he meant them as “less desirable,”: they are great applicants with just average scores. It’s probably true that they wouldnt take that average person over someone more qualified score-wise if it came down to just that, but in separate processes, the adcom gave these average applicants a better look.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t it then suck for the “average” applicant because they’d get waitlisted/rejected at top but not top notch schools due to yield protection, but they rejected from HYP places because they’re just “average.” I’m just wondering.</p>
<p>This is probably the silliest thing I have ever read. I can just envision 93% of CC thinking after their rejections, “Maybe my SATs were too high, or maybe my EC’s were too good.” Harvard may have a yield of 80%, but among Harvard-Yale cross-admits, Yale does not worry about losing 80% of them to Harvard (in fact, I read somewhere that more chose Yale than Harvard). There’s certainly no Tufts syndrome here.</p>
<p>(And since when is 2200 “average” or “mediocre” anywhere but CC?)</p>
<p>This is just what this adcom, a personal friend to my counselor, told her.</p>
<p>I’m sure they’re still taking these amazing people, they are just paying more attention to people who have passion and will attend, even if they don’t have the best sat score in the world.</p>