<p>If I understand the thrust of this thread it was about “trophy hunters.” Not people who want to compare financial offers, or aren’t sure of their decision. It’s the, “I’ve sent my deposit into X, but let’s see whether or not I get into Y.” Are they really “robbing” someone else of a spot at Y.</p>
<p>I have the same question as SteveMA. Does student X who says “no” before the RD decisions go out cause the college increase who they admit by 1? I have a hard time believing that. I think their yield calculation takes into account people who know early on as well as people who only decide where to enroll at the deadline, so the fact someone rejects them “early” doesn’t make them accept more people.</p>
<p>I don’t see that schools have any incentive to drive themselves crazy and track 30,000 applications on a day by day basis. The adcoms meet according to a schedule. They accept a set number of kids based on historical yield. If they are over-enrolled they accept less next year. If they are under enrolled they go to a waitlist and maybe accept more next year. I think colleges are much less sensitive to the timing of admissions than kids and their parents are.</p>