Congrats! My son did the same, with very good merit, and zero displayed interest, albeit in 2014.
Thank you!
He ultimately decided to go elsewhere, but Case was a top contender until the last week or so of decision-making.
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Often those who complain about "yield protection " believe that they were over-qualified for a back up school.
It’s helpful to think about this not as having the highest yield possible but as successful enrollment management. It is admissions’ job to make sure that all beds are filled, they aren’t over-enrolled, that all departments have the interest needed to fill their classes but not so many that students can’t get classes, that teams have rosters, that there is diversity across all these factors, and that they offer only as much FA as they have – among other considerations.
Often in non-binding early rounds, schools want a second look when they see their RD pool (and the student has not withdrawn from the pool.)
It is possible that the OP looked like a lot of other applicants and that admissions legitimately needs to reevaluated how attractive he is in the context of the RD pool He may be offered admission, and perhaps merit. Or the buckets he fills may not be the ones they need. Or he may have indicated some true passion the school can’t meet (showing lack of research.)
It’s easy to be cynical about this – especially when it involves your kid and all the power is with the school – but as the number of schools kids apply to (and then have to turn down) has,increased, you need to think about what’s happening on the other side of the equation too. It’s way less about you than you think than just meeting their goals.
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My son ended up elsewhere too, and is now approaching 3 years in the workforce after a BS and MS in ME. We visited Case though after he was accepted because his award was so high. Both the school and the city exceeded our expectations.
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Yes. What you’ve just described is likely pay to play.
If this student applied ED, he’d be in.
You’re not wrong. But this is the trade off.
The school is not concerned with OP’s nerves for the next few months. Or anything else…except their own needs.
Since OP didn’t meet the immediate needs of the university, they punted and will re evaluate later….as you mentioned.
We all think it’s education but the truth is it’s big business. It’s just that the product is education.
If and I think when the OP is admitted, likely with merit, it’s not because they want to give him money. It’s more likely they see a top candidate who can go elsewhere to a very good school and they’ll want to entice him to pad their #s …ie 36 act (after the comparison to the remainder of their prospects).
OP’s son is in a fine position…
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OP son is in a great spot, and really can’t lose here. For that I think we are all happy. We support each other on this forum. A good kid work hard and was rewarded.
For those of us that occupy the middle of the financial continuum, the ED thing can be hard to swallow when its sold as in the kids best interest (i.e. their best way to really demonstrate interest! a great opportunity!).
In this transaction the school get a guarantee of enrollment and less financial obligation, but in exchange offers just a better (and even that is a question with athletes and legacies- I think they willingly OVERSTATE this edge) chance of admission. The student gives up right to look at another school. Full stop. Think of that. In the student’s best interest? Less choice. And then the financial downsides of no leverage because no other schools are in the mix. Why the disparity? Because they can.
The analogy is the seller of a home in a seller’s market. As a buyer, do I want to waive inspection? Surely not, but I will do so if that is what the market dictates. Its a business. Its cliche to say so, but education is absolutely a business.
For those of us in the middle, things like ED tilt an already tilted playing field when things are supposed to get fairer in time. Its almost 2022, and admissions is less fair than it was 10 years ago.
I for one won’t be there to enjoy it, but I would love to see some of these school twist and scrape when the demographic shifts takes full effect and the population of college aged kids declines rapidly.
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And if a school really wanted the best candidates they would have RD only and only admit the best.
Yield protection is arrogance at the expense of anyone who isn’t full pay. It does NOT make a class any more shiny. The same quality could easily be achieved without it. It is straight up institutional bragging rights.
Again- really sad. CWRU looks awesome. Was on my D22’s list until we saw the nonsense in the ED forum a few days ago. I really hated reading all of this about a school that we were both REALLY excited about.
Let me ask…if there were no a significant difference in acceptance rate between ED and EA or RD, would anyone ED? No one does it because they want to or because they love a school. They do it because they feel they need to. And with that, it leaves out middle class who have that same “need” but without the ability to do so.
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ED is used at DS’ school just as heavily by kids needing FA as not. One of the ways schools have adapted is by putting their NPCs online. If you can afford what they come up with, you can ED. Will you get to compare offers? No. But neither will a FP kid who might have gotten merit elsewhere.
I DO think the group that suffers most are the FP students who NEED merit. Most of them do only EA and RD. But I also see them getting pretty great options despite the teeth-gnashing they go through while ED acceptances come in for those better and worse off financially than they are.
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My D did. She loved her ED school, would have been thrilled to attend, know by mid December and not have the nerves and decisions strung out until the end of senior year. Her college journey ended up with some twists and turns: freshman year abroad, COVID gap year and transfer to US school for sophomore year. She’s very happy where she is now but would have been very happy at her ED school if it had worked out.
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Actually no. There are some extremely strong students who want the certainty of a school admission early in the process, believe they have identified the school that fits them best and view their applications as sufficient to make their case.
Unless all schools went RD only, the exceptions who were RD only would not have the benefit of these top tier applicants.
If you are a top flight candidate (“the best” using your terms) ED can and frequently is a useful option and individual schools eliminating it would likely sacrifice quality.
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Yield protection doesn’t mean the college will turn down every single applicant who is deemed to have qualifications outside the range of applicants it normally accepts. It’s more targeted. The college knows very well what types of candidates who are likely to turn down its acceptances from its own past history. As an example, an EA applicant to CWRU with a qualification that makes her/him a likely admit to MIT/Caltech will be viewed by CWRU as possibly using it as a backup, as many EA applicants to MIT/Caltech may also apply to the few privates that also offer an EA option.
“Demonstrated interest” also has different meanings for different colleges. Some define it much more narrowly and claim on their CDS’s that they don’t consider “demonstrated interest” under their own narrow definition. The reality is that most colleges do consider “demonstrated interest” at some level in a broader sense.
If your daughter likes Case, it should stay on her list. If she rejects every school that someone says negative things about on College Confidential, she’d be left with no schools to apply to.
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What is the downside to a school admitting students they think might be using it as a safety?
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Their yield numbers go down and they are perceived to be less prestigious. Reputation damaged and rankings impacted as viewed as less selective or desirable.
Harder to manage class. If you make offers you have to be prepared to have them say yes. If less predictable you need “contingency” candidates. How in practical terms do you land the desired class demographics.
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We will take CWRU off of the list because it seems that unless you ED, you get deferred to RD. EA looks to be a joke in that extremely well qualified kids are deferred who clearly would have been ED shoe ins.
I will be curious to see what % of their class they fill through ED. I suspect it will be quite high by historical standards unless they are not successful in coaxing a substantial number of kids to apply ED which could well be the case. Based on their historically low yield rate, I doubt kids are lining up to ED there.
If you applied and were deferred, why take it off?
Do the LOCI and send in grades. Open emails and hit a few links on occasion.
Miami and UGA are two i saw defer a ton last year. While my D got into UGA, a ton got deferred and later accepted. U Miami deferred a ton but let them in RD with the same 25k the EA people got.
Once a college figure out who’s left after they use ED1 and 2, then they’ll evaluate everyone to fill the remainder of the class.
While you should prepare for alternatives, I would not decline a deferral. You paid the app fee - you are owed a decision. Unless your mindset or opinion of the schools as a fit 100% changed, keep it on the list but also re visit your overall list to see if any more need to be added…or not while there is still time.
We all want our kids to be wanted. We hate the hurt or stress. But this isn’t the only time in life….there will be Greek organizations, jobs, grad school all saying no at some point.
My guess is many below the top schools have low RD yields. Hence we are seeing 50%+ of the class being filled ED even at some of the finer schools (as Penn just announced).
Some schools don’t offer merit…ie many of the NE LACs etc. Many other schools…Rochester, Case do. That’s their way, perhaps of getting those top level students to go down a notch.
As you are not OP, not sure if you applied yet or not. But if Case is a wonderful fit for your child, I’d not let this stop you. But you do know the game going in and make sure you have the proper alternatives as well.
Good luck.
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The downside is that they all accept. Then they’re overenrolled.
Short of a few select schools out of thousands…most schools are someone’s safety.
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If your son likes the school and you think it’s a good fit then stay in the game. The admissions process is just one short step in the journey. It can be brutal sometimes but the college experience is the payoff.
S20 was deferred EA from Georgia Tech. Probably a dozen kids applied from his HS. Most were rejected. Three were accepted and he was the only deferred. No rhyme or reason when it came to stats. Some higher rejected, some lower accepted. He was admitted RD and is enjoying himself. If the school is a fit keep playing the game.
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I don’t understand EA from school’s perspective. If it were me, I’d offer binding ED and RD. That’s it.
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Perhaps it’s a way to get ‘some deposits’ in house.
I don’t get schools accepting non refundable housing deposits b4 acceptance.
I’m sure they’re accepting early has to do with $$ one way or another.
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