College Admissions Statistics Class of 2020: Early Decision & Early Action Acceptance Rates

@am61517, I guess there’s no way to know, unless an admissions officer is willing to disclose it, exactly what the Yale SCEA yield is. If you’re right, though, and 95% of SCEA admits accept their offers, that would account for 755 slots, leaving 605 slots to be filled out of the targeted class of 1,360. Yale disclosed 1,972 total admits, implying that 1,177 were admitted RD. If Yale admitted 1,177 students to fill 605 remaining slots, this implies a yield on the RD pool of 51.4%. We also know that Yale waitlisted 1,095 students, of which it is presumably anticipating admitting at least a few. If so, Yale’s yield on its RD admits could be below 50%. My gut tells me that this is low, and your suggested SCEA yield is high. If we ever find out, I’ll bet they’re 55-60% and 80-85% respectively (or maybe 50-55% and 85-90%). If I’m missing something, or you’re aware of other relevant facts, please post - this is an interesting question.

Updating list with Carleton College

https://apps.carleton.edu/admissions/office_blog/?story_id=1392603

Harvard RD 1119 out of 32868 (3.4%)
Stanford RD 1318 out of 36175 (3.6%)
Yale RD 1177 out of 26793 (4.4%)
Princeton RD 1109 out of 25074 (4.4%) (1237 waitlisted=4.9%)(rej=90.6%)
Columbia ED/RD 2193 out of 36292 (6.0%)
Penn RD 2326 out of 33156 (7.0%)
MIT RD 829 out of 11253 (7.4%) (437 waitlisted)
Brown RD 2250 out of 29360 (7.7%)(~133 deferred accepted=7%)(~1000 waitlisted=3.4%)
University of Chicago EA/RD 2482 out of 31,411 (7.9%)(yield=66%)
Pomona RD ~566 out of 7190 (~7.9%)
Northwestern RD 2690 out of 32077 (8.4%)
MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%) (4776 deferred=61.5%) (2175 rejected=28%)
Duke RD 2501 out of 28600 (8.7%) (49 deferred accepted=2.9%)
Vanderbilt RD 2526 out of 28700 (8.8%)
Dartmouth RD 1682 out of 18748 (9.0%)
Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
Johns Hopkins RD 2539 out of 25188 (10.1%)
Harvey Mudd RD 421 out of 3716 (11.3%)
Bowdoin RD 687 out of 5918 (11.6%)
Tufts RD ~2168 out of 18152 (~11.9%)
Amherst College RD 969 out of 7943 (12.2%)
Cornell RD 4939 out of 40084 (12.3%) (4572 waitlisted=11.4%)(rej=76.3%)
Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7,717 (12.5%)
Georgetown EA 892 out of 7027 (12.7%) (remainder deferred=87%)
UC Berkeley (OOS) 2734 out of 21213 (12.9%)
Pitzer College ED/RD (12.9%)
Notre Dame RD 1955 out of 14,178 (13.8%)
Carnegie Mellon University ED/RD ~5270 out of 37,247 (14.1%) (enrollment 1503=28.5% Yield)
Middlebury RD 1042 out of 7866 (14.2%)
Boston University ED2 ~245 out of 1721 (~14.2%)
Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%) (4673 def=75.7%) (464 rej=7.5%)
Williams College RD 960 out of 6397 (15.0%)
Barnard College ED/RD ~1131 out of 7071 (~16%)
Georgetown RD 3276 out of 20002 (16.4%)
USC RD 8920 out of 54100 (16.5%)
Harvey Mudd ED1/ED2 ~77 out of 464 (16.6%)
Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%) (53% def) (29% rej)
Colby College ED/RD ~1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
Grinnell College ED/RD ~1326 out of 7368 (~18%)
UC Berkeley (IS) 8363 out of 45,773 (18.3%)
Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
Middlebury College ED2 60 out of 318 (18.9%) (40 def=12.6%) (218 rej=68.6%)
Pomona ED1/ED2 ~177 out of 914 (19.4%)
Georgia Tech RD ~3206 out of 15,659 (~20.5%)
Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%) (1905 def=62.9%) (456 rej=15.0%)
Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD ~1430 out of ~6500 (~22%) (200 ED acceptances)
Scripps RD ~632 out of 2743 (23%)
Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
Duke ED 813 out of 3455 (23.5%) (1663 def=19.2%)
Vanderbilt ED1/ED2 ~800 out of ~3390 (23.6%)
UVA EA (OOS) 2955 out of 12308 (24.0%) (3005 def=24.4%) (6348 rej=51.6%)
Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
Lehigh University ED/RD 3420 out of 13,408 (25.5%)
Skidmore College RD ~2200 out of 8608 (~25.6%)
Dartmouth ED 494 out of 1927 (25.6%)
Kenyon College ED/RD 1688 out of ~6400 (~26.4%)
Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
UVA RD (IS/OOS) 4166 out of 15658 (26.6%)
Cornell ED 1338 out of 4882 (27.4%) (1153 def=23.6%) (2391 rej=49.0%)
Pitzer ED1/ED2 ~118 out of 423 (27.8%)
Wellesley ED/RD ~1368 out of 4888 (~28%)
Lafayette ED/RD 2291 out of 8121 (28.2%)
Georgia Tech EA 4424 out of 14861 (29.8%)
Bowdoin ED2 ~77 out of 256 (~30.1%)
Notre Dame EA 1610 out of 5321 (30.3%) (818 def=15.4%) (2893 rej=54.4%)
Johns Hopkins ED 584 out of 1929 (30.3%)
Boston University ED1/ED2 ~1050 out of 3421 (~30.7%)
Boston College EA ~2700 out of 8600 (~31.4%)
Tufts ED ~663 out of 2070 (~32%)
Bowdoin College ED1 207 out of 614 (33.7%)
UNC EA 6948 out of 19842 (35.0%)
Northwestern ED 1061 out of 3022 (35.1%)
College of William & Mary ED/RD 5095 out of 14380 (35.4%)
Amherst College ED 180 out of 454 (39.6%)
Middlebury College ED1/ED2 398 out of 954 (41.7%)
George Washington RD 10101 out of 24168 (41.8%)
Williams College ED 246 out of 585 (42.1%)
University of Florida RD 13,624 out of 32,000+ (~42.5%)
Dickinson ED1/ED2/EA/RD 2636 out of 6171 (42.7%)
Fordham ED/EA/RD ~19,650 out of 44,697 (~44%)
Occidental College ED/RD ~2884 out of 6409 (~45%)
Davidson College ED 207 out of 458 (45.2%)
Boston University ED1 ~805 out of 1700 (~47.4%)
Scripps ED 113 out of 235 (47.9%)
UVA EA (In-State) 2237 out of 4460 (50.2%) (1060 def=23.8%) (1163 rej=26.1%)
University of Georgia ED 7500+ out of 14516 (51%+)
Middlebury College ED1 338 out of 636 (53.1%) (74 def=11.6%) (224 rej=35.2%)
George Washington ED 841 out of 1373 (61.3%)
Skidmore ED1/ED2 ~337 out of 542 (~62.1%)
University of Maine RD (OOS) 7803 out of 10,062 (77.5%)
University of Maine RD (In-state) 3600 out of 4134 (87.1%)

Ranked Data +Yield
Class of 2020: Ivies + MIT, Stanford

Total Applications:
1.Stanford 43,977
2.Harvard 39,041
3.Penn 38,918
4.Columbia 36,292
5.Brown 32,390
6.Yale 31,349
7.Princeton 29,303
8.Dartmouth 20,675
9.MIT 19,020

RD acceptance rate:
1.Harvard RD 1119 out of 32,868 (3.4%)
2.Stanford RD 1318 out of 36,175 (3.6%)
3.Yale RD 1177 out of 26,793 (4.4%)
4.Princeton RD 1109 out of 25,074 (4.4%)
5.Columbia ED/RD 2193 out of 36,292 (6.0%)
6.Penn RD 2326 out of 33,156 (7.0%)
7.MIT RD 829 out of 11,253 (7.4%)
8.Brown RD 2250 out of 29,360 (7.7%)
9.Dartmouth RD 1682 out of 18748 (9.0%)

Early acceptance rate:
1.MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%)
2.Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
3.Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%)
4.Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%)
5.Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
6.Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%)
7.Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
8.Dartmouth ED 494 out of 1927 (25.6%)
9.Columbia ED (no data)

Total Acceptance Rate:
1.Stanford 2063 out of 43,977 (4.7%)
2,Harvard 2037 out of 39,041 (5.2%)
3.Columbia 2193 out of 36,292 (6.0%)
4.Yale 1972 out of 31,349 (6.3%)
5.Princeton 1894 out of 29,303 (6.4%)
6.MIT 1485 out of 19,020 (7.8%)
7.Brown 2919 out of 32,390 (9.0%)
8.Penn 3661 out of 38,918 (9.4%)
9.Dartmouth 2176 out of 20,675 (10.5%)

Yield (based on estimated class size):
1.Stanford 87.2% (1800)
2.Harvard 82.2% (1675)
3.MIT 75.4% (1120)
4.Princeton 69.2% (1310)
5.Yale 69.0% (1360)
6.Penn 66.8% (2445)
7.Columbia 63.8% (1400)
8.Brown 56.9% (1660)
9.Dartmouth 54.0%(1175)

Why don’t you include University of Chicago in these lists?

When did they kick Cornell out of the Ivy League and why didn’t I hear about it!!!

@ihs76 sure some were offended

Oops, sorry about that; will have to add Cornell back in.

Ranked Data +Yield
Class of 2020: Ivies + MIT, Stanford (+ Cornell!)

Total Applications:
1.Cornell 44,966
2.Stanford 43,977
3.Harvard 39,041
4.Penn 38,918
5.Columbia 36,292
6.Brown 32,390
7.Yale 31,349
8.Princeton 29,303
9.Dartmouth 20,675
0.MIT 19,020

RD acceptance rate:
1.Harvard RD 1119 out of 32,868 (3.4%)
2.Stanford RD 1318 out of 36,175 (3.6%)
3.Yale RD 1177 out of 26,793 (4.4%)
4.Princeton RD 1109 out of 25,074 (4.4%)
5.Columbia ED/RD 2193 out of 36,292 (6.0%)
6.Penn RD 2326 out of 33,156 (7.0%)
7.MIT RD 829 out of 11,253 (7.4%)
8.Brown RD 2250 out of 29,360 (7.7%)
9.Dartmouth RD 1682 out of 18748 (9.0%)
0.Cornell RD 4939 out of 40084 (12.3%)

Early acceptance rate:
1.MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%)
2.Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
3.Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%)
4.Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%)
5.Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
6.Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%)
7.Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
8.Dartmouth ED 494 out of 1927 (25.6%)
9.Cornell ED 1338 out of 4882 (27.4%)
0.Columbia ED (no data)

Total Acceptance Rate:
1.Stanford 2063 out of 43,977 (4.7%)
2,Harvard 2037 out of 39,041 (5.2%)
3.Columbia 2193 out of 36,292 (6.0%)
4.Yale 1972 out of 31,349 (6.3%)
5.Princeton 1894 out of 29,303 (6.4%)
6.MIT 1485 out of 19,020 (7.8%)
7.Brown 2919 out of 32,390 (9.0%)
8.Penn 3661 out of 38,918 (9.4%)
9.Dartmouth 2176 out of 20,675 (10.5%)
0.Cornell 6277 out of 44,966 (14.0%)

Yield (based on estimated class size):
1.Stanford 87.2% (1800)
2.Harvard 82.2% (1675)
3.MIT 75.4% (1120)
4.Princeton 69.2% (1310)
5.Yale 69.0% (1360)
6.Penn 66.8% (2445)
7.Columbia 63.8% (1400)
8.Brown 56.9% (1660)
9.Dartmouth 54.0%(1175)
0.Cornell 52.2% (3275)

@exacademic

Well, the list is admittedly arbitrary, but is one of general interest to most people. Also, Chicago goes out of its way to hide or withhold its early admissions information so including it on a list like this isn’t all that useful since we’d be guessing at most of their numbers.

Ranked Admissions Data + Yield
Class of 2020: Top 20 Liberal Arts Colleges
*

Total Applications:

1.Colby College 9,822
2.Middlebury College 8,820
3.Amherst College 8,397
4.Pomona College 8,104
5.Swarthmore College 7,717
6.Grinnell College 7,368
7.Vassar College 7,306
8.Williams College 6,982
9.Bowdoin College 6,788
10.Carleton College 6,500
11.Hamilton College 5,434
12.Wellesley College 4,888
13.Harvey Mudd College 4,180

RD Acceptance Rate:

1.Pomona College RD ~566 out of 7190 (~7.9%)
2.Harvey Mudd College RD 421 out of 3716 (11.3%)
3.Bowdoin College RD 687 out of 5918 (11.6%)
4.Amherst College RD 969 out of 7943 (12.2%)
5.Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7,717 (12.5%)
6.Middlebury College RD 1042 out of 7866 (14.2%)
7.Williams College RD 960 out of 6397 (15.0%)
8.Colby College ED/RD ~1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
9.Grinnell College ED/RD ~1326 out of 7368 (~18%)
10.Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD ~1430 out of ~6500 (~22%)
11.Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
12.Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
13.Wellesley College ED/RD ~1368 out of 4888 (~28%)

Early Acceptance Rate:

1.Harvey Mudd College ED1/ED2 ~77 out of 464 (16.6%)
2.Pomona College ED1/ED2 ~177 out of 914 (19.4%)
3.Bowdoin College ED1/ED2 284 out of 870 (32.6%)
4.Amherst College ED 180 out of 454 (39.6%)
5.Middlebury College ED1/ED2 398 out of 954 (41.7%)
6.Williams College ED 246 out of 585 (42.1%)
7.Davidson College ED 207 out of 458 (45.2%)

Total Acceptance Rate:

1.Pomona College ED1/ED2/RD 743 out of 8104 (9.2%)
2.Harvey Mudd College ED1/ED2/RD 498 out of 4180 (11.9%)
3.Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7717 (12.5%)
4.Amherst College ED/RD 1149 out of 8397 (13.7%)
5.Bowdoin College ED1/ED2/RD 971 out of 6788 (14.3%)
6.Middlebury College ED1/ED2/RD 1440 out of 8820 (16.3%)
7.Williams College ED/RD 1206 out of 6982 (17.3%)
8.Colby College ED/RD 1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
9.Grinnell College ED/RD 1326 out of 7368 (18%)
10.Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD 1430 out of 6500 (22%)
11.Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
12.Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
13.Wellesley College ED/RD 1368 out of 4888 (28%)

Yield:

1.Pomona College 55.2% (410)
2.Bowdoin College 51.5% (500)
3.Middlebury College 47.6% (685)
4.Williams College 45.6% (550)
5.Swarthmore College 43.6% (420)
6.Wellesley College 43.5% (595)
7.Amherst College 41.1% (472)
8.Harvey Mudd College 40.2% (200)
9.Carleton College 37.3% (495)
10.Hamilton College 36.4% (480)
11.Vassar College 34.4% (668)
12.Grinnell College 33.2% (440)
13.Colby College 28.2% (485)

*Excluding, for insufficient data: Claremount-McKenna, Colgate, Davidson, Haverford, Smith, US Naval Academy, Washington & Lee, Wesleyan.

https://www.cmc.edu/news/cmcs-incoming-class-of-2020-has-stories-to-tell

CMC had a 9.4% acceptance rate

Adding CMC:

Harvard RD 1119 out of 32868 (3.4%)
Stanford RD 1318 out of 36175 (3.6%)
Yale RD 1177 out of 26793 (4.4%)
Princeton RD 1109 out of 25074 (4.4%) (1237 waitlisted=4.9%)(rej=90.6%)
Columbia ED/RD 2193 out of 36292 (6.0%)
Penn RD 2326 out of 33156 (7.0%)
MIT RD 829 out of 11253 (7.4%) (437 waitlisted)
Brown RD 2250 out of 29360 (7.7%)(~133 deferred accepted=7%)(~1000 waitlisted=3.4%)
University of Chicago EA/RD 2482 out of 31,411 (7.9%)(yield=66%)
Pomona RD ~566 out of 7190 (~7.9%)
Northwestern RD 2690 out of 32077 (8.4%)
MIT EA 656 out of 7767 (8.4%) (4776 deferred=61.5%) (2175 rejected=28%)
Duke RD 2501 out of 28600 (8.7%) (49 deferred accepted=2.9%)
Vanderbilt RD 2526 out of 28700 (8.8%)
Dartmouth RD 1682 out of 18748 (9.0%)
Claremont McKenna ED1/ED2/RD 594 out of 6342 (9.4%)
Stanford REA 745 out of 7822 (9.5%)
Johns Hopkins RD 2539 out of 25188 (10.1%)
Harvey Mudd RD 421 out of 3716 (11.3%)
Bowdoin RD 687 out of 5918 (11.6%)
Tufts RD ~2168 out of 18152 (~11.9%)
Amherst College RD 969 out of 7943 (12.2%)
Cornell RD 4939 out of 40084 (12.3%) (4572 waitlisted=11.4%)(rej=76.3%)
Swarthmore College ED/RD 963 out of 7,717 (12.5%)
Georgetown EA 892 out of 7027 (12.7%) (remainder deferred=87%)
UC Berkeley (OOS) 2734 out of 21213 (12.9%)
Pitzer College ED/RD (12.9%)
Notre Dame RD 1955 out of 14,178 (13.8%)
Carnegie Mellon University ED/RD ~5270 out of 37,247 (14.1%) (enrollment 1503=28.5% Yield)
Middlebury RD 1042 out of 7866 (14.2%)
Boston University ED2 ~245 out of 1721 (~14.2%)
Harvard SCEA 918 out of 6173 (14.9%) (4673 def=75.7%) (464 rej=7.5%)
Williams College RD 960 out of 6397 (15.0%)
Barnard College ED/RD ~1131 out of 7071 (~16%)
Georgetown RD 3276 out of 20002 (16.4%)
USC RD 8920 out of 54100 (16.5%)
Harvey Mudd ED1/ED2 ~77 out of 464 (16.6%)
Yale SCEA 795 out of 4662 (17.1%) (53% def) (29% rej)
Colby College ED/RD ~1720 out of 9822 (17.5%)
Grinnell College ED/RD ~1326 out of 7368 (~18%)
UC Berkeley (IS) 8363 out of 45,773 (18.3%)
Princeton SCEA 785 out of 4229 (18.6%)
Middlebury College ED2 60 out of 318 (18.9%) (40 def=12.6%) (218 rej=68.6%)
Pomona ED1/ED2 ~177 out of 914 (19.4%)
Georgia Tech RD ~3206 out of 15,659 (~20.5%)
Brown ED 669 out of 3030 (22.1%) (1905 def=62.9%) (456 rej=15.0%)
Carleton College ED1/ED2/RD ~1430 out of ~6500 (~22%) (200 ED acceptances)
Scripps RD ~632 out of 2743 (23%)
Penn ED 1335 out of 5762 (23.2%)
Duke ED 813 out of 3455 (23.5%) (1663 def=19.2%)
Vanderbilt ED1/ED2 ~800 out of ~3390 (23.6%)
UVA EA (OOS) 2955 out of 12308 (24.0%) (3005 def=24.4%) (6348 rej=51.6%)
Hamilton College ED/RD 1317 out of 5434 (24.2%)
Lehigh University ED/RD 3420 out of 13,408 (25.5%)
Skidmore College RD ~2200 out of 8608 (~25.6%)
Dartmouth ED 494 out of 1927 (25.6%)
Kenyon College ED/RD 1688 out of ~6400 (~26.4%)
Vassar College ED1/ED2/RD 1943 out of 7306 (26.6%)
UVA RD (IS/OOS) 4166 out of 15658 (26.6%)
Cornell ED 1338 out of 4882 (27.4%) (1153 def=23.6%) (2391 rej=49.0%)
Pitzer ED1/ED2 ~118 out of 423 (27.8%)
Wellesley ED/RD ~1368 out of 4888 (~28%)
Lafayette ED/RD 2291 out of 8121 (28.2%)
Georgia Tech EA 4424 out of 14861 (29.8%)
Bowdoin ED2 ~77 out of 256 (~30.1%)
Notre Dame EA 1610 out of 5321 (30.3%) (818 def=15.4%) (2893 rej=54.4%)
Johns Hopkins ED 584 out of 1929 (30.3%)
Boston University ED1/ED2 ~1050 out of 3421 (~30.7%)
Boston College EA ~2700 out of 8600 (~31.4%)
Tufts ED ~663 out of 2070 (~32%)
Bowdoin College ED1 207 out of 614 (33.7%)
UNC EA 6948 out of 19842 (35.0%)
Northwestern ED 1061 out of 3022 (35.1%)
College of William & Mary ED/RD 5095 out of 14380 (35.4%)
Amherst College ED 180 out of 454 (39.6%)
Middlebury College ED1/ED2 398 out of 954 (41.7%)
George Washington RD 10101 out of 24168 (41.8%)
Williams College ED 246 out of 585 (42.1%)
University of Florida RD 13,624 out of 32,000+ (~42.5%)
Dickinson ED1/ED2/EA/RD 2636 out of 6171 (42.7%)
Fordham ED/EA/RD ~19,650 out of 44,697 (~44%)
Occidental College ED/RD ~2884 out of 6409 (~45%)
Davidson College ED 207 out of 458 (45.2%)
Boston University ED1 ~805 out of 1700 (~47.4%)
Scripps ED 113 out of 235 (47.9%)
UVA EA (In-State) 2237 out of 4460 (50.2%) (1060 def=23.8%) (1163 rej=26.1%)
University of Georgia ED 7500+ out of 14516 (51%+)
Middlebury College ED1 338 out of 636 (53.1%) (74 def=11.6%) (224 rej=35.2%)
George Washington ED 841 out of 1373 (61.3%)
Skidmore ED1/ED2 ~337 out of 542 (~62.1%)
University of Maine RD (OOS) 7803 out of 10,062 (77.5%)
University of Maine RD (In-state) 3600 out of 4134 (87.1%)

Columbia and UChicago also don’t release common datasets, which naturally makes me suspicious that they are trying to hide stuff and definitely excludes them from the HYPSM level no matter what they say their admit rates are.

@spayurpets Since you are putting so much effort into this, may I suggest another metric which I think is very telling and informative. Can you please calculate and post the Yield to admit ratio (YTAR) for the various schools? For example Stanford would be 87.2/4.7 which would be 18.5. YTAR captures a lot of data in one single metric.

@VeryLuckyParent, not very, as most schools game both measures by different degrees and it is kind of double counting as yield and admit rate are 2 sides of the same coin. Ergo why I prefer to look at post-grad results.

When a school is gaming them, they should move in opposite directions – i.e. a school gaming for more applicants is likely to reduce yield. So I assumed @VeryLuckyParent was going for a stat that reflected this. For example, if a school surges its applicants one year but correspondingly reduces its yield, the combined number would be lower than say Stanford where the ratio would be better.

@citivas, but a school could game both.

In any case, I’m not sure that the preferences of high schoolers tells you much if school A has a lower admissions rate or higher yield but school B actually has a higher percentage of grads entering elite professsional schools or PhD programs or becoming leaders on various fields.

YATR is also a good summary metric (not fool-proof, but quite useful) of the school’s march up the desirability/prestige ladder, for whatever that is worth. In general, the more desirable a school is among students, the higher its YATR will be.

Based on data from #367 and #373

Here are some sample YATR rates

Stanford - 18.55
Harvard - 18.81
Yale - 10.95
Princeton - 10.81
Columbia - 10.63
MIT - 9.66
Penn - 7.10
Brown - 6.32
Dartmouth - 5.14
Cornell - 3.72

I am going to start a new discussion so that others can add to this list.

This is an honest question: what is it that the YTAR tells you? Is it better or worse to have a high YTAR? How would you “game” the acceptance rate that the YTAR would expose? I always use MIT as a model of a school that does admissions the right way–general parity between the EA and RD rates, low ratio of students taken early vs. regular, and high yield. The fact that the YTAR for MIT leaves them in the same stead suggests that it is not a very revealing metric and seems to generally mimic what the acceptance rates are. But please set me straight if you think otherwise, @VeryLuckyParent, @citivas. Perhaps you have an example of a telling YTAR that exposes a school’s nefarious admissions tactics?

This isn’t really my dog or fight – wasn’t my suggestion I was just chiming in… That said, it’s pretty easy to game the admission stats in a variety of ways – reduce or eliminate supplemental common app requirements, drop app fee, make test scores optional, send more direct marketing to prospective students, etc. Case Western sent my son, and separately us as his parents in a direct appeal, something that basically waived the Common App fee and required no supplemental items. Their pitch was it would take less than a minute and no money to apply. But if you do these things to get more total applicants, all other things being equal it is likely to drive down yield because the probability of an applicant that just adds Case Western as a last minute “why not” additional submission is not likely to lead to the same level of commitments from the bulk of those applicants. The conversion rate should be worse than if you have a higher barrier to entry – individual supplemental essays, etc. Isn’t the same thing true of the entire Common App in general? Applicant rates to top schools has certainly increased since the Common App versus when a prospective student had to complete unique applications for each of those schools.