I don’t believe so. The only reason their acceptance rates were lower this year was due to the fact more students applied for the same number of spots. So unless they underestimated their yield, next year can still be completely unpredictable. Though for schools over enrolled THIS year, they may accept less next year. Take Andover for example, they were over enrolled this year. So they may have to accept less next year to accommodate.
I don’t think that a 50% yield is that low. My guess is that is considered a great yield for many schools outside of the typical top 5-10.
I think a lot of people out in the world are grasping at straws to explain why their kid did not get in, when of course they should have. I have mentioned before that I know many people like this. People who have been told their kid is the “top recruit” only to be denied admission. Then you find out 4 much better players we’re admitted. Just an example, parents really don’t know what they are talking about for the most part.
Is there any explanation for more students applying?
Test optional. Same phenomenon as with college applications this year.
Is the fact that people are leaving cities also a factor?
Mainly test optional. Also with everything online, materials and applying is much easier, so students may apply to more schools and get into more schools.
Does anyone have last year’s rates so we can easily compare directly to the acceptance rates this year?
I saw posted on this board that Taft went from 20% to 12% this year, to add to the list above.
Last year: Exeter 15% Andover 13% Loomis 28% Concord 25% these are the ones I knew of when applying
Does test optional mean that more students apply or that schools have fewer “certified” competent options, so they have to waitlist/reject those that don’t send in their tests?
It means more applicants. A percentage of those may be unqualified.
I think the increase was largely driven by wealthy people leaving NYC for the country and not wanting to put their kids in subpar rural schools. (Kingston and Hudson NY were the two towns in the nation with the largest in-migration during COVID). Another pool of applicants were from families unhappy with how their schools (public and private) handled COVID. Seeing many boarding schools able to have in person classes etc was something that was appealing.
I think test optional may have encouraged kids to aim higher but it didn’t cause the influx of many more into the applicant pool. In my opinion 
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Do you think they’ll require tests for next admissions season?
Can’t speak overall, but I’ve gotten some pretty hard numbers from my AOs when I asked about 10th grade admission rates
Middlesex - 4.5%
Hotchkiss - about 4.5%
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I don’t want to believe that…
Oh lord that’s scarily low…they’re equivalent to Harvard’s acceptance numbers this year…
Others said it was like 13%
Which school?
H’kiss
Oh ok. Was it overall admit rate? Or just tenth? 4.5 was the number for tenth
Not sure what you mean