<p>a must-read for princeton prospectives:</p>
<p>Q: What is the overall enrollment rate of those who are accepted for admission?</p>
<p>A: When we look at regular decision, the yield has been somewhere around the 50 percent mark. So this decision is going to mean that our yield will change, and it is unlikely that our yield will be at the 69 to 70 to 71 percent mark again. But the yield in and of itself does not indicate quality of intellect; it only has indicated selectivity, and its only been a measure thrust upon us by outside organizations. And frankly, that didnt seem to me to be a reason to hold onto early decision or early action, because weve also had that in the last 35 years. In fact, we are in the strongest possible position in the world of higher education to make this decision and to say that while yield is important, it is not going to be the driving force. </p>
<p>Q: "The New York Times recently published a chart projecting how selective schools would fare in competing for students with multiple acceptances. Does Princeton have its own projections like this?"</p>
<p>A: "Our numbers are slightly different when I look at the students we lose, and who we lose them to. Our biggest losses every year are to Yale, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. A large portion of the Stanford losses are engineers And our biggest losses are to Harvard, and that will continue. I know that makes our graduates very uncomfortable, but that has been true forever. Again, there is no one stronger than Princeton to stand up to Harvard, and I am willing to have those admitted [student] overlaps and to try very hard to convince them to come to Princeton. And this is where we need alumni to help us to help us convince these students that Princeton is the very best place to be an undergraduate in this country."</p>
<p>Q: Will this affect the recruiting of athletes?</p>
<p>A: Ive been asked about athletics this week, and it was something that we gave quite a bit of thought to. We have 38 Division I sports, and we care about the recruitment of those scholar-athletes; we want the very best scholar-athletes to come to Princeton and not go to our competitors. The vehicle weve been using for many years is the likely letter </p>
<p>Q: Are the likely letters a strong commitment?</p>
<p>In the likely letter, we say that as long as you continue to perform at the same high level the only reason I would not send [an official notice of admittance] would be if they were not achieving their high school goals. But short of an academic failure, we honor that. Its up to the student to honor their side of the academic commitment...</p>
<p>Q: Are likely letters also sent to students who are not athletes?</p>
<p>A: Likely letters can be used for other students, and in fact that is very much a part of the language of the Ivy agreement. Because we have been using early decision, we had not been using likely letters in that form in the past. But its very likely well consider that seriously moving forward.</p>
<p>Q: In what types of areas?</p>
<p>A: I think we have institutional priorities [such as] a terrific student or a scholar. I think what we want to avoid, if we go down that path, is, in two or three years, sending as many likely letters as early-decision letters, and then weve defeated the whole purpose. Likely letters could be used for many reasons you want a student to think seriously about Princeton University a great violinist, [or] a particular talent in the creative arts.</p>
<p>Thanks for putting this up -literally made my day. I got two 83’s, one 85, and the rest high 90s in my classes, but since Princeton has gotten rid of early, as a recruited athlete, I received only a likely letter (which, to be honest, wasn’t that reassuringly worded - something along the lines of “as long as you continue your level of academic achievement” or something or other), and I’ve been paranoid about my grades and getting my application rescinded, especially since I didn’t apply anywhere else. hahaah “short of academic failure” is much, much better. PHEW - thanks! You’re a lifesaver.</p>