<p>“If the rankings did not include selectivity and yield would colleges be withholding admissions to kids who did not have the time or $$$ to visit and “demonstrate interest”, or parents who did not have the time or $$$ to visit??? Would they be trying to guess at who is a yes so hard, and not willing to take a chance? I think not.”</p>
<p>Colleges were concerned about this long before there were USNWR rankings. There were guidebooks before this as well as the fact that they want as many talented students to matriculate as possible that have the college as their first choice; not to mention the heresay and word of mouth that it creates towards building future classes.</p>