<p>With the economy pressuring many parents to perhaps forfeit their childrens' choices and compel their loved ones to attend the public university, are the private universities anticipating this recent belt-tightening phenomenon by increasing the percentages of admissions in anticipation of a lower yield?</p>
<p>Curious to hear other people's perspectives as the receipt of private college responses appear to be more positive than many neighborhood parents had anticipated.</p>
<p>^ I think it remains to be seen. Anecdotal evidence suggests both privates and publics are a bit baffled as to what kind of yield to expect in this year of radically changed financial realities for so many applicants. One possibility is that they might resort to such classic yield management techniques as waitlisting a large number of desirable candidates to create a reserve pool of people they can then negotiate with individually, moving them off the waitlist into the “accepted” category if the candidate agrees in advance to accept if offered. This helps manage their selectivity stats (which the most selective institutions do care about) but at the same time avoids the over-enrollment problem that could result if they issue a larger-than-usual number of acceptances and yield remains unexpectedly strong.</p>
<p>The consequences of over-enrollment are deadly! I think Bclintonk is right in that the waitlist will be used a lot this year.</p>
<p>There are only so many unique kids applying who can afford private college tuition. If all the private colleges accept more of those kids than they did last year, they can’t ALL have overenrollment, because the same kid can’t enroll more than one place.</p>
<p>(Of course, that’s somewhat facetious. I agree with bclintonk and ellemen – I would expect a very small increase in initial admits, and serious use of waitlists. Also, I would expect that need-aware colleges would be more generous toward the top of the income ladder, and that some need-blind colleges may be taking a peek at need-correlated characteristics, which may be responsible for the positive neighborhood chat if your neighborhood is affluent.)</p>
<p>Remember, too, that some state universities are cutting back on the number of students they admit because of budgetary issues. The private colleges really can’t be certain that their yield is going to tank, although I think that may well happen outside the top layer.</p>
<p>I expect very serious use of waitlists. My Ds GC has said anyone who can pay full freight be flexible. </p>
<p>Even though there are more HS grads than last year, the demography indicates there may be less going to college and it also very varied regionally. I also think the number of applications per student rose appreciably this year, as kids were told there were issues at flagship schools, some threw in apps to a number of tier 2 public us, more schools on common ap, etc. I wouldnt want to be in charge of enrollment mgmt this year.</p>
<p>I predict that there will be more ED admissions next year. I think it makes sense for the adcoms to grab the proverbial bird in the hand. Even if the class isn’t perfect, think of the costs of coming into the fall semester 50 students short. It would cost millions in four years. Then when things get risky in the spring it’s risky with a smaller number of spots.</p>
<p>And I agree with the waitlist strategy.</p>
<p>It is interesting to see what a difference a couple of years make–in the spring of '06, I think there was less concern about how to pay for college and too many kids applying thus too many kids accepted at some colleges and not enough spaces on campus for housing. At some of the privates, there were probably 5 or 6 kids for every 1 kid that was accepted with similar stats. Now, it seems that with the economy crunching everyone, no one really knows just how many kids can accept and will be able to truly afford the private, not to mention the possible agony of waitlists!</p>
<p>I think wait listing damages the “bond” between student and institution. You are going to know ever after that you were not their first choice for admission. I wonder if this will effect alumni donations “down the road”? </p>
<p>Perhaps the wait list angst will be ameliorated by the rosy glow of eventual acceptance. Perhaps not.</p>
<p>and yet, it’s my impression that a number of schools had big increases in apps and expect record low acceptance percentages and record high yields.</p>
<p>MIT accepted 3 kids from my kids’ school. First time ever any admission from MIT, much less 3. Very talented kids, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt that they came from a private school.</p>
<p>One problem with wait lists is that the kids they want will have received acceptances to other schools, and with housing short everywhere, will commit somewhere else. So the A+ kids get into their dream school, but the A and B+ kids go elsewhere, leaving B and C students on the wait list. Not the outcome the school was hoping for , I’m sure.</p>
<p>My D has applied to ten private schools. She now has five acceptances and one denial, so we are waiting for the other four schools’ response, which have April 1st notifications. I was surprised at two of the acceptances as my H and I felt they were Reaches. We have applied for financial aid, so we aren’t paying full freight. </p>
<p>As I am well educated in financial aid, when I sent the tax returns, medical expenses, evidence of job loss etc. I did say that if the financial aid packages were not something we could handle that she would be sitting out a year, maybe deferring admission or applying all over again at the same time as her brother, who is a high school junior. My son did not check the box when he took the PSAT, so now he is receiving mail from same schools his sister has applied to, rather confusing when the mail arrives. </p>
<p>It may well be that this year a student’s “Reach” can turn into a “Sure Thing” at these private schools, the lesser known ones, especially. I was also surprised at the deadlines being extended for Regular Decision at some schools.</p>
<p>So, Mat’s Mom, do you think it’s a trend? MIT is among those who have record apps, and expect record low admission rates.</p>
<p>This is a question that’s been rolling around in my head as well. My gut reaction is that the big dogs stay big. Stanford, MIT, and the Ivies are going to do just fine. They were only admitting 10% anyway, if they get fewer apps that just means they’ll have to go further down the 4.0/2400 list.</p>
<p>The next tier down could be the opening. Kids who weren’t getting into the top tier but wanted a private school education might be shifting over to in-state options. That’s where I see some potential “easier” entries compared to years past, (places like Boston College, Wash U (St. Louis), etc), </p>
<p>Prestigious state schools present an interesting problem. Here in Michigan, UM-Ann Arbor apps are way up. News reports say the same thing for state schools nationwide. So I suspect the Berkeleys, Michigans and Virginias are also going to do just fine. But, those schools also bring in a lot of cash from (higher) tuition paying out-of-staters. So are they going to cut back on OOS admits? I don’t know!</p>
<p>In California there is a proposal to mandate admitting more OOS in order to get more $$$. In Texas they’re looking to cap the 10% rule so that no more than 60% of a class need be in-state. That’s where it gets interesting.</p>
<p>The group I see getting hurt is the small LAC with a regional reputation, sorry College of Wooster, Gettysburg, Beloit etc. These are the places with limited endowments and when $$$ was looser you might consider them an option. With the economic losses, I just think it’s going to be harder to justify $50K for a small LAC vs a 2nd level in-state school.</p>