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<p>I’m sorry if one of my posts confused you. </p>
<p>Allow me to illustrate the difference between a school that uses its waiting list more extensively than its competition. The example will more drastic to show the point, but will not be a real one. </p>
<p>** School A receives 5,000 applications. In the past they admitted 40% of students and have a yield of 30%. This means that 2,000 are admitted and about 600 end up enrolling. </p>
<p>** School B receives 5,000 applications. In the past they admitted 20% of students and have a yield of 60%. This means that 1,000 are admitted and about 600 end up enrolling. </p>
<p>School A sees his competition lowering the admit rates and getting “good press.” As a tool to “join the club.” School A lowers its admit rate to 20% and only admits 1,000 students in April and places 2,000 students on its waiting list. The school announces a MUCH lower admission rates and is mentioned in the same articles than School B. Of course, since the historical patters cannot support a 60% yield, there are a lot fewer than 600 deposits flowing to the school. Accordingly, School A does take 200 students from the waitlist or increases the number of transfers. In the end, they accept 250 students from the WL and 50 transfers. </p>
<p>Conclusion: </p>
<p>In April, the school announced a 20% admission rate at the time when all the attention was directed at the “slaughter” among highly competitive schools. School gets a LOT of press because the surprising changes in … selectivity. The OFFICIAL numbers, however, that will show a MUCH higher admission rate will only become available 9 to 18 months later as the CDS forms become public and USNews reports the numbers.</p>
<p>As a bonus, one can safely assume that the school will “poll” its wailisted students and pick its 250 students from anywhere from 250 to 400 applications. This would mean that their total acceptance rate will be the original 1000 + 400 WL (1400) and that the reported admit rate will be 1400/5000 or 28%. Using the 250 applications that became an enrollment gives an admit rate of 25%</p>
<p>School B, however, meets its yield projection of 60% and reports the same admit rates in April and months later. The PERCEIVED difference between School A and School B becomes trivial. </p>
<p>Fwiw, this is one of the bookend tools. School that use a BINDING admission such as ED play the “game” on the other side. In so many words, schools can use binding admissions in December and an extensive waitlist to decrease the publicized rates … substantially. </p>
<p>I hope this helps!</p>