@HeyItsNick American did have a sharp decline in acceptance this year. I believe most of it is for yield protection, which is understandable but also a tad unfair. GW is definitely feeling the pressure to raise their standards by lowering their acceptance rate.
@radgreek Yes, I agree. A combination of yield protection along with an increase of applicants because of test optional policy. But the rankings matter to so much people that colleges have no choice but to manipulate them.
@HeyItsNick a sad truth indeed. The whole rankings thing is so screwed up and it bothers me that many use it as an accurate indicator of the quality of a college
Can someone explain what yield protection means? I’m not familiar with the term.
@egaliteoulamort basically, AU rejects high-caliber students if they feel as though these students are using them as a safety school. So, a kid with a 2100 and 3.9 may get rejected while another with a 1950 and 3.5 may get in. It’s a game of chance basically, and some of the more accomplished students tend to lose out.
AU caught on to the fact that many kids were using it as a safety school.
It would be this year that they decide to go test-optional and spike application numbers through the roof. Just my luck :). Que sera, sera.
By rejecting applicants they feel are using them as a safety, AU hopes to increase the yield (amount accepted in regards to amount attending)
Sorry for typing a million messages. It’s just how my mind works lol
@egaliteoulamort, @radgreek gave a great definition. You may also hear it referred to as Tufts syndrome.
is it just me or did GW Admissions delete some of their tweets regarding admissions?
nevermind, my bad
A universities yield rate is also calculated into their rankings so it is beneficial for a university to protect their yield by rejecting high stat applicants who will use them as a safety school. The long term goal for these schools is that eventually their institution will go up the rankings and by default reputation that high stat students will use them as their ‘‘number 1’’ instead of as a safety school.
It has been very successful for American. Their acceptance rate has dropped almost 25 points in the last two years.
Other famous schools that do this are Tufts University (where the term Tufts syndrome comes from) and the University of Southern California.
@radgreek @zimzamzoom Thank you! I didn’t realize there was a name for that. I had actually seen the “Tufts syndrome” term but I wasn’t aware that’s what it was referring to.
hi everyone! Just so you all know, GW Admissions just tweeted “Thanks to all our RD applicants for being so patient as we work hard to have decisions ready! We know this is a stressful time of year. (yellow heart)(blue heart)”
What does that mean?! @trackcheer2016
@trackcheer2016 I still wanna fight them tbh
@caulineire They’re trying to combat our stress. (It’s only making it worse, though.)
Oh my god the hot goss on this thread is so much stronger than in the AU one.
uhh…yeah that makes me nervous…