This may sound like a dumb question, but it just came to mind. I know that Bing accepts the really high achieving students in the EA round and then the other folks get deferred. We would all say that once the tippy top students with act scores of 35 36 or even 34 say no, then the other students wtth 32 31 30 etc will most likely get in.
The thing that came to my mind was that the deposits have to be in by May 1st, so how does Bing know in late March or even early April how many of the tippy top students will commit?
My assumption is that all schools have to try to protect their yield and must accept more students than they can fit by using past data and formulas trying to estimate how many will matriculate. Kids with 31-33 will be accepted in lesser numbers along with the kids with 34-36. Then as students decline or withdraw (some will do this if accepted ED elsewhere bc they are required to and others will do it out of courtesy, even if not all decide before May 1st), new acceptances will roll out.
This is true for any college, though I’m unfamiliar with the SUNYs so maybe things are done differently.
@euve69 i agree with what Kayak24 says. Binghamton and most other colleges use recent years data and formulas to predict yield. They have a good idea how many of those tippy top applicants will commit or not. And it’s a fluid process with the colleges continually adjusting the numbers and yield prediction during admission season if they receive more or less commitments than expected. This will result in more or less applicants (from a range of stats) being accepted. The colleges don’t need to wait till May 1, but the very borderline applicants likely won’t find out until that deadline gets closer, as the colleges can fine tune their yield predictions as time goes along.
Thanks, that make alot of sense now. They obviously have data to go by because I was thinking if Joey has a 34 ACT and has not let Bing know as of the end of March, how in the world does any school know if that student will attend or not? Also, we assume that students will do the right thing and let the college know that they will not be attending, but how many students actually do that? That is interesting to me. I would guess many do not have the courtesy to do that but like you folks said, the colleges have a lot of sophisticated data to go on.
That’s also where the dreaded wait-list comes in @euve69 .
Based on prior years yields, schools “over-admit” but carefully enough so they don’t have serious issues where they end up with more students they can place. So in their estimates they err on the side of having too few students and after 1 May (when they know for certain how many places are filled) they fill the rest of their class from students who are on the wait list. This is also why schools give “wait-listed” students a firm deadline by which students have to declare they still want a chance and remain on the wait list of that school. This way schools have a more or less solid pool of eager students on their wait list they can draw from right after the 1 May deadline. You then of course have other schools down the line losing students who had committed with them already but now see a place open up where they were wait-listed. It is a funny exercise for sure…
While May 1 is the deadline to most schools to commit. I see some offer incentives like first choice housing and other items to entice earlier commitments. Do any schools offer financial incentives like $500 off to commit by April 1, or $1000 off to commit by March 1??
Minor incentives like priority choice on housing are indeed not uncommon @wakey1 . I have not heard about financial incentives if a student commits early.