<p>Personally I don't think a 45.6% yield is remarkable for a school the caliber of Duke but I am impressed with the progress:</p>
<p>Admissions</a> yield highest since 1987 | The Chronicle</p>
<p>@alicejohnson: Obviously, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, as well as to his own definition, regarding what constitutes an “elite” major research university. With this said, however, I do not understand how UNC-CH – which U S News ranks thirtieth among “national universities” – can be considered to be in America’s top-tier. To illustrate my point, in the ACC alone three other universities rank ahead of UNC. Therefore, I wonder how many elite national universities you believe exist? If that number exceeds (perhaps) fifteen, how “elite” can they be?</p>
<p>Among state schools in USN&WR, UNC is #5.</p>
<ol>
<li>UC-Berkely</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>UVA</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>UNC</li>
</ol>
<p>Is the 5th best state school (by a subjective ranking) elite? Who cares? UNC is an excellent school that costs little for in-state residents and constitutes a strong contender for students who apply to both universities. </p>
<p>Regardless, Duke’s progress continues!</p>
<p>I think alicejohnson’s point is that UNC is an elite public school. It’s typically ranked in the top 5 in the nation, so I would consider that elite. The point is that the in-state school offers a cheaper alternative, particularly UNC as it’s relatively a bargain. Thus, a high achieving North Carolina high school student may choose to attend UNC and save $150,000 or whatever for med school, grad school, etc. So, while 30 vs. 5 may seem like a no-brainer in a vacuum, the cost difference can definitely skew one’s opinion (and basketball allegiance/brainwashing ;)). Having said that, California had the most applicants to Duke this year, so Duke was actually competing with Berkeley/UCLA on the public school side more than UNC!</p>
<p>Overall, I think many try to look too much into yield -it’s an easily manipulated statistic and perhaps says more about the overlap in students’ applications than the quality of the applicant himself/herself. Having said that, still glad it went up.</p>
<p>Maybe the yield is so high because of the sizable increase in early decision acceptances this year.</p>
<p>Agree re UNC’s drag on Duke’s yield. My wife grew up in Boone, NC and recalled several students from her HS class choosing UNC over Duke based on cost and UNC’s stellar reputation in NC/the South. </p>
<p>Other factors in my view: Duke does not yield protect in RD, Durham/South (suspect many from West Coast/NE choose other schools, even those ranked a bit lower, based on location), reputation as a school for the rich (as portrayed, for example, by Tom Wolfe in I am Charlotte Simmons; undeserved in my view).</p>
<p>This question of highly selective private schools competing with excellent in-state options is interesting. I wonder if any rigorous analysis has been done to examine the impact on yield of in-state alternatives.</p>
<p>Emory might have a similar issue with Georgia Tech, although I would suspect that each school’s typical applicant would have different priorities even though both are in Atlanta.</p>
<p>Notre Dame probably does compete with both Indiana (Business) and Purdue (Engineering) for highly qualified in-state students. All three have somewhat isolated/rural campuses that are separated from the local town.</p>
<p>Northwestern and UIUC would likely have a similar applicant pool, although Urbana-Champain is far more isolated. Also, other than engineering, the academic strengths of each are different.</p>
<p>Rice might overlap with UTexas, although UT is not regarded as highly as UNC, at least on a national level.</p>
<p>UPenn is vastly different from both Penn State and Pitt, in terms of geography, academic strengths and campus.</p>
<p>UMass is also a good school, although few schools can truly compete with either Harvard or Amherst.</p>