@UCDProf the yield calculation is based on percentage of ADMITTED students who end up enrolling. In this example it appears that they are trying to encourage students to accept a space on the the waitlist by offering $ if they commit. They are not “admitted” so if they say no it does not impact the yield stat.
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yes so it’s like shaking the branches. Those who stay on the waitlist and are offered admission and refuse still drive down yield, but it’s a smaller number.
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No, it’s to get them to accept an offer on the waitlist.
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Usually when students are offered admission off the waitlist, there is a contact asking if they will accept a spot off the waitlist before they are offered formal admission. If the students says no, they won’t accept the spot - they aren’t offered a spot - so no effect on yield.
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Yield does not really include waitlist because they usually make the kids decide within days. I would assume they all say that yield off WL is 100% based on how decisions are made.
Yield is important for colleges because it goes into all sorts of things that deem yield important like rankings, bond offerings, etc.
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You defer until you don’t have any more decision rounds and then you waitlist. High deferrals with push to ED2 and high waitlist all bump up yield. You lose a few that may have come with continued mailings and more information from the college but if the pool is strong, you find out which “leaves are strongest on the tree,” or which kids really want to come.
I noticed last year that Denison told waitlisted applicants what their merit would be which is very unusual, as I understand. Their applicant pool has been steadily growing and with all the weirdness of covid, I think they had surprisingly large numbers even still. Denison is known for being pretty generous with merit and committed to being accessible (in ways other than admissions) which I’m sure adds to their applicant pool. So I’m not surprised that they’re trying things to find out who really wants to come to Denison and who might be using it as a safety, so that they allocate resources to those who are genuinely considering them. Sure, protecting yield helps, but based on some other character traits of the school, IMO I don’t think it’s their main motive.
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We had a similar experience with CWRU several years ago where my DD18 was waitlisted (after being deferred) and then offered the standard generous merit award - if she committed for the following year.
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That must be helpful for people making their decisions. What did you daughter end up deciding?
We weren’t overly impressed by this opportunity. A gap year was definitely not in her plans - or ours. She also received a generous offer from other schools for the current year, including our state flagship where she’s now graduating from in a few months. My feeling is you either want the student or you don’t - don’t drag out the process. This was a real turn-off for us - enough so that our DS 22 did not apply to CWRU (parent decision) even though it’s a great school.
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Hi - D22 applied RD to NYU , they sent a message asking to self report grades though they received school sent transcript. Is that a normal part of the process?
Not familiar with NYU specifically, but several colleges ask for senior year grades (1st quarter/1st half/etc). So that’s what they’re likely looking for.
I’m guessing the official school transcript only had grades up until junior year?
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I think this is probably normal because S22 received the same email. He applied RD to NYU. Maybe it’s easier for them to read everyone’s grades in a standardized format when they are trying to get through the 1000’s of applications?
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it is standard procedure for NYU: Application Status
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@CU1986 I feel the same way about waitlist. In my very small sample size of experience, you want both the school and the student to feel it’s a right fit. I’m a thousand percent sure that schools get it wrong on occasion, but I feel like if a school isn’t sure, move on to one that is. That’s how we approached it with D19 - a waitlist was as good as a rejection, maybe a bit less on the ego 
, but practically, she never looked back. And for S22, I think it will be the same.
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Agreed. S19 has two WL (Vandy and Middlebury) and he didn’t take the spots. He knew he had better matches in his yes pile.
D21 was WL at Wake in addition to Denison. At one point, Wake was high on her list but fell precipitously after a visit in February before decisions came out. She didn’t take that WL spot either although I kind of wanted her to because I was just curious if she’d get in.
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Same here. It’s another 3 month long wait for decisions.
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Hope she feels better soon.
Will Harvard have an interview for regular admissions ?
They look to be one of several schools that want you to do the work of translating a pdf transcript into a standardized electronic, element-based format, via the SRAR tool, so they don’t have to.
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Not bragging,
but just realized after tallying, son’s # of supp essays = 35 (including commonApp essay) for 19 colleges. (doesn’t include Honors college apps)
No wonder my nagging was incessant!!!
Can I really nag him to write scholarship essays now?
Just doesn’t seem fair.
(STEM kid, doesn’t enjoy writing)
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