ranking according to the proportion of accepted students who enroll

College Search & Selection
1

<p>There are some surprises. How do you explain tennessee? the publics? What does this mean?</p>

<p>university, SAT 75th percentile, number of accepted students 2004, number of aceepted stuents who enrolled, the proportion (yield)</p>

<p>THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 1240 4793 4422 0.92
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 1580 2054 1638 0.8
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 1320 7023 5548 0.79
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 1560 1733 1175 0.68
YALE UNIVERSITY 1560 2014 1353 0.67
STANFORD UNIVERSITY 1550 2486 1649 0.66
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1560 1665 1077 0.65
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 1510 3878 2433 0.63
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY 1350 1465 916 0.63
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 1560 2275 1331 0.59
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN 1340 11788 6791 0.58
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 1320 8885 5190 0.58
BROWN UNIVERSITY 1520 2505 1429 0.57
TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY 1300 12426 7068 0.57
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1360 11928 6741 0.57
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME 1470 3488 1985 0.57
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL 1390 6441 3516 0.55
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA-MAIN CAMPUS 1430 5760 3113 0.54
CORNELL UNIVERSITY-ENDOWED COLLEGES 1490 6130 3054 0.5
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 1550 2173 1077 0.5
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 1410 13939 6811 0.49
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY 1470 3243 1542 0.48
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1280 12822 6057 0.47
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA 1280 10100 4668 0.46
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY 1230 8273 3729 0.45
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR 1390 13304 6040 0.45
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-SEATTLE CAMPUS 1310 11156 4977 0.45
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 1240 17343 7607 0.44
DUKE UNIVERSITY 1530 3804 1640 0.43
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-MAIN CAMPUS 1430 6008 2579 0.43
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY 1300 7287 3019 0.41
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 1500 4702 1941 0.41
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY 1310 1756 727 0.41
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-BERKELEY 1450 8833 3653 0.41
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-TWIN CITIES 1280 13707 5588 0.41
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON 1390 13447 5579 0.41
COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY 1440 3368 1341 0.4
RICE UNIVERSITY 1540 1802 727 0.4
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES 1410 10577 4268 0.4
STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1390 1121 438 0.39
VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIV 1290 12771 4943 0.39
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 1410 12008 4619 0.38
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY 1410 2945 1121 0.38
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1570 566 207 0.37
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND-COLLEGE PARK 1370 11499 4200 0.37
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY 1440 4280 1602 0.37
INDIANA UNIVERSITY-BLOOMINGTON 1220 17572 6352 0.36
PURDUE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1260 19259 6865 0.36
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 1290 7924 2785 0.35
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1290 17174 6048 0.35
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 1530 3503 1217 0.35
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT 1270 9319 3246 0.35
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE 1280 9999 3458 0.35
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 1240 11545 4017 0.35
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 1230 3302 1138 0.34
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH-MAIN CAMPUS 1330 8445 2913 0.34
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1440 8037 2770 0.34
AUBURN UNIVERSITY MAIN CAMPUS 1210 10796 3594 0.33
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 1440 2524 823 0.33
MIAMI UNIVERSITY-OXFORD 1320 10614 3492 0.33
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS 1520 4400 1453 0.33
BOSTON COLLEGE 1410 7178 2309 0.32
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 1370 7103 2266 0.32
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEW BRUNSWICK 1310 14961 4817 0.32
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY 1300 4136 1313 0.32
TUFTS UNIVERSITY 1470 4031 1273 0.32
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 1490 3613 1128 0.31
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER 1280 16425 5149 0.31
EMORY UNIVERSITY 1460 4357 1296 0.3
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 1380 3749 1055 0.28
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY 1320 9463 2671 0.28
RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 1420 4032 1079 0.27
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY-MAIN CAMPUS 1320 5357 1456 0.27
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE 1390 2783 744 0.27
BOSTON UNIVERSITY 1390 15191 3961 0.26
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY 1280 6850 1807 0.26
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-DAVIS 1280 18464 4786 0.26
UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI 1350 7784 2043 0.26
SUNY AT BINGHAMTON 1340 8713 2165 0.25
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY 1290 7188 1703 0.24
TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 1435 7000 1684 0.24
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY 1480 5869 1367 0.23
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN DIEGO 1360 16176 3799 0.23
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE 1310 18501 4043 0.22
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY 1420 3875 784 0.2
CLARK UNIVERSITY 1305 2649 528 0.2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA BARBARA 1300 19583 3898 0.2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SANTA CRUZ 1280 17210 3434 0.2
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER 1410 5541 1091 0.2
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY 1350 6494 1209 0.19
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-RIVERSIDE 1200 22297 3886 0.17</p>

2

<p>It means you have too much time on your hands.</p>

3

<p>Randolph-macon College 1210 1327 1126 0.85
Principia College 1270 193 117 0.61
Thomas Aquinas College 1420 172 104 0.6
Wheaton College 1300 1070 596 0.56
Saint Johns University 1260 978 512 0.52
Virginia Military Institute 1230 830 421 0.51
New College Of Florida 1390 383 189 0.49
Williams College 1520 1093 533 0.49
Barnard College 1430 1201 553 0.46
Middlebury College 1500 1286 586 0.46
College Of Saint Benedict 1220 1124 483 0.43
Sweet Briar College 1255 393 170 0.43
Washington And Lee University 1450 1078 460 0.43
Davidson College 1440 1108 462 0.42
Illinois Wesleyan University 1380 1431 598 0.42
Wellesley College 1460 1477 617 0.42
Pomona College 1530 970 394 0.41
Smith College 1370 1694 696 0.41
Bowdoin College 1460 1186 471 0.4
Bryn Mawr College 1410 897 358 0.4
Wesleyan University 1490 1843 729 0.4
Presbyterian College 1240 876 344 0.39
Swarthmore College 1530 933 366 0.39
Amherst College 1550 1136 427 0.38
Bates College 1420 1215 467 0.38
Birmingham Southern College 1300 956 367 0.38
Hope College 1260 2049 781 0.38
Saint Olaf College 1340 2024 777 0.38
Claremont Mckenna College 1490 766 280 0.37
Haverford College 1460 884 330 0.37
Wabash College 1310 674 250 0.37
Albion College 1220 1560 559 0.36
Austin College 1340 1016 370 0.36
Agnes Scott College 1300 741 256 0.35
Carleton College 1480 1403 487 0.35
Mills College 1280 384 136 0.35
Mount Holyoke College 1380 1643 572 0.35
Vassar College 1460 1806 632 0.35
Colby College 1430 1494 507 0.34
Colgate University 1430 2189 737 0.34
Hendrix College 1340 875 295 0.34
St Mary's College Of Maryland 1350 1243 421 0.34
Bennington College 1300 617 201 0.33
College Of The Holy Cross 1350 2209 704 0.32
Colorado College 1380 1854 585 0.32
Connecticut College 1400 1550 498 0.32
Gustavus Adolphus College 1260 2033 658 0.32
Kenyon College 1420 1462 472 0.32
Millsaps College 1290 857 278 0.32
Oberlin College 1440 2302 742 0.32
University Of Richmond 1390 2475 782 0.32
Earlham College 1340 1090 336 0.31
Muhlenberg College 1320 1809 559 0.31
St Lawrence University 1250 1822 568 0.31
Whitman College 1440 1246 390 0.31
Bard College 1440 1349 398 0.3
Bucknell University 1380 3033 907 0.3
Furman University 1370 2259 687 0.3
Gettysburg College 1340 2317 695 0.3
Hamilton College 1420 1527 457 0.3
Hanover College 1280 1269 380 0.3
Juniata College 1260 1299 390 0.3
Sarah Lawrence College 1350 1125 333 0.3
Sewanee: The University Of The South 1320 1328 398 0.3
Southwestern University 1360 1238 366 0.3
Ursinus College 1320 1307 397 0.3
Wells College 1230 294 87 0.3
Wheaton College 1420 1492 445 0.3
Wofford College 1350 1080 323 0.3
Hollins University 1280 632 184 0.29
Reed College 1460 1180 339 0.29
Spelman College 1140 1689 493 0.29
Denison University 1330 2167 616 0.28
Depauw University 1320 2389 661 0.28
Grinnell College 1490 1443 405 0.28
Lafayette College 1350 2169 609 0.28
Macalester College 1450 1706 486 0.28
Trinity College 1400 1993 550 0.28
Allegheny College 1300 2439 651 0.27
Augustana College 1300 2223 599 0.27
Centre College 1340 1099 298 0.27
College Of Wooster 1330 1827 488 0.27
Harvey Mudd College 1560 727 193 0.27
Kalamazoo College 1380 1138 310 0.27
Lawrence University 1340 1310 352 0.27
Ohio Wesleyan University 1320 2065 563 0.27
Willamette University 1340 1896 511 0.27
Franklin And Marshall College 1360 2010 532 0.26
Union College 1340 501 130 0.26
Beloit College 1300 1319 325 0.25
Dickinson College 1370 2442 606 0.25
Rhodes College 1370 1865 474 0.25
Hobart William Smith Colleges 1270 2055 485 0.24
Knox College 1340 1129 268 0.24
Scripps College 1440 838 203 0.24
Skidmore College 1340 2724 642 0.24
Occidental College 1360 2170 496 0.23
Goucher College 1290 1943 401 0.21
University Of Puget Sound 1355 3181 671 0.21
Drew University 1320 2283 418 0.18
Pitzer College 1330 1255 220 0.18</p>

4

<p>acceptedalready-
What a stupid remark. It only takes a few minutes to get this data from IPEDS (when you know how).</p>

5

<p>It means that not everything is dictated by prestige. </p>

<p>It also means that many people who are applying to the "top" schools (at least by CC standards) are applying to many different places. I'm sure that most people who really want to go to Tennessee are only applying to maybe 5 schools at the most. Those hoping to go to Ivies have to worry about the very real chance that they won't get in to several of their top choices and thus must apply to many more schools.</p>

6

<p>"It means that not everything is dictated by prestige."</p>

<p>Actually, it says just the opposite, but that prestige takes a second seat to financial concerns (ie: flagship state schools being so high on the list)</p>

7

<p>My guess at why the States rank so high is that many of the people applying to a state school are only applying to one or two schools. For example, at my high school (in IN), most of the seniors seem to be applying only to IU, Purdue, or both. From what I've seen, the applicant pool nationwide is not like CC. The vast majority of applicants are not applying to a dozen or even half a dozen schools and don't have reaches, matches, or safeties. It's easy for a school to have a high yield rate when it's competition is limited.</p>

8

<ol>
<li><p>It looks to me like someone who gets into a top school does what he needs to make it work. I suspect most of the the third who don't enroll at one Ivy were accepted and enroll at another.</p></li>
<li><p>This makes me wonder how the SAT numbers of those enrolled compare to those admitted. If the Ivies are sharing the same admission pool, the score for admitted and enrolled are probably pretty close. I expect it to be different with the "safeties" because the cream of the admitted crop goes somewhere else. Though I want to call this misleading, it probably doesn't make much difference because relative position will usually stay the same. I have to wonder, though, about those that enroll only 20% of admitted applicants-- is it the bottom 20%?</p></li>
</ol>

9

<p>These are interesting lists. It seems to me that they show us how regional or philosophical loyalties affect choice in important ways--so that BYU or Principia draw students with one kind of affliation that affects their choice/ranking of schools. Obviously people in Tennessee love their state U and do not go far from home (and others are drawn there as well.) I love seeing the varieties of schools (and sizes) that have strong "attraction" factors for something perceived as excellence or value that is different from the USNWR variable subset that "measures" prestige</p>

10

<p>the tennessee 'accepted students' data point is incorrect... some 9060 students were admitted for the class of 2009. as such, its yield is somewhere closer to 47%.</p>

11

<p>Well, yes, there might be something wrong with the Tennessee numbers. The numbers that are posted are in fact the ones on the IPEDS database. But, the same numbers were submitted to IPEDS for both 2004 and 2005, and in 2003 the yield was 52%, not 92%. I don't know what's going on with the Tennessee data, but ericatbucknell is probably right.</p>

12

<p>I'm adapting this from another thread...but it is pretty cool to help model the yield rates of competitive colleges.</p>

<p>A, B, C, D, E are schools that have similar applicant pools (and are top-ranked) but have different selectivity:
A<B<C<D<E</p>

<p>Student X will be accepted to A, B, C, D, E.
Student Y will be accepted to A, B, C, D
Student Z will be accepted to A, B, C</p>

<p>Student X will get good money from A and B but little from C, D, E. As an approximation, let's say that Student X's favor order goes like this:
E>B>D>A>C</p>

<p>Student Y will get good money from A, but little money from B, C, D. This student's order may be:
A>D>C>B</p>

<p>Student Z will get no money from A, B, C. Their order may be:
C>B>A</p>

<p>Now,perhaps the probability that a student would attend a college diminished by a factor of two for every college down the list but maintained a net probability of 1.
Example: A>B>C, thus a student is twice as likely to go to A than B, and twice as likely to go to B than C. </p>

<p>Because it is normalized, however, the actual probability follows the form of:
P = [2^(n-1)]/[(2^(k-1))<em>((2^n) -1)]
which reduces to P = [e^(ln(2)</em>(n-k))] / ((2^n) - 1)
where n>=k.
n is the number of schools in a list.
k is the respective school placement in that list.</p>

<p>As an example, if a student got into one school. n=1, k =1, P =1.
Or if a student got into two schools and you wanted to find the probability that they'd go to the second school... n=2, k =2, P = 1/3.</p>

<p>So, going back to our rough example with all the schools, we can compute the individual rough probability:
In this case, let's focus on the probability school B will be attended.
Student X:
n = 5, k = 2, P= 8/31
Student Y:
n = 4, k = 4, P = 1/15
Student Z:
n = 3, k = 2, P = 2/7</p>

<p>And as you know, the mean probability for B can therefore be computed by:
(8/31 + 1/15 + 2/7)/3 = 0.20</p>

<p>and similarly, for school E:
Student X:
n = 5, k = 1, P= 16/31
Student Y:
Didn't get in.
Student Z:
Didn't get in
The yield would be around 0.52 . </p>

<p>School A:
Student X:
n = 5, k = 4, P= 2/31
Student Y:
n = 4, k = 1, P = 8/15
Student Z:
n = 3, k = 3, P = 1/7
Net Probability for school A: 0.25 .</p>

<p>I know a lot of assumptions were made here and that probably doesn't quite off at 1/2, but it is the best I can do.</p>

13

<p>rocketDA-
I like the concept behind your probability analysis. I need to re-read it and give it more thought.</p>

<p>based on an inspection of the lists, I think the following factors affect yield
in order of importance:
SAT (selectivity, prestige?)
public/private (cost?, Div I sports?))
religious affiliation
tech school</p>

<p>Why is there such a difference among MIT, Caltech, CMU?
Texas Austin and Penn State?
Williams, Swarthmore/Amherst, and Oberlin?</p>

14

<p>Ignoring Tennessee, which is probably a typo, the university list makes sense to me. Many of the schools on top are either highly prestigious ones, such as Harvard and MIT, or schools that attract a very specific population and have few if any exact equivalents, such as Brigham Young and Yeshiva.</p>

<p>As for Penn State, it is one of the rare Eastern schools with rolling admissions. I know students who have included it in their lists just for the security of having a non-binding admission in hand before Christmas, even though they considered it their fourth or fifth choice school. I can see why it would have a low yield.</p>

15

<p>Oberlin is likely to have a much lower than expected yield because of the music conservatory. Conservatory admissions are very uncertain. A large part of the admission decision is based on a very short audition. Also applicants cannot predict the number of openings and number of applicants for their individual instrument. Because of the uncertainties, conservatory applicants usually apply to numerous conservatories. Except for perhaps Juilliard, yields for conservatories are usually quite low. I believe this also has a impact on the yield for Johns Hopkins. Possibily also URochester, but UR has other issues as well - a miserable climate and lots of Ivy hopefuls who apply as a safety.</p>

16

<p>rocketDA, I like the concept, but will have to think more how you derive the formula. According to PR, UTennessee's yield is 47%. It's interesting how region, size and religion play a role; not even the glaring cases like BYU or Notre Dame, either. For example, few would argue that GWU is a "better" school than JHU and Tufts or Fordham "better" than CMU, but in both cases the yields at the former are higher. It's just that JHU, Tufts, CMU are all strong schools most of whose applicants aspire to the very top schools more than is the case for GWU and Fordham. mom58, to address your question, I know that at Colgate and Bucknell the accepted avg SAT is ~ 40-50 points higher than enrolled avg SAT, which makes sense when considering the top applicants will more likely choose greener pastures like Dartmouth or Williams over Colgate or Bucknell.</p>

17

<p>I did a little statistical analysis using a technique called multiple regression.</p>

<p>Overall, SAT, public/private. and religious affiliation all contribute significantly to the yield.</p>

<p>For privates alone, SAT and religious affiliation together account for about 45% of the differences in yield among the private schools. This is like a correlation of .67 (a high correlation) between yield and SAT/religious jointly.</p>

<p>There are no public schools with religious affiliation. For publics, SAT alone accounts for only 13% of the differences in yield.</p>

18

<p>collegehelp, are you saying in your model that a school being public is a positive contributor to yield and that being private is negative?</p>

19

<p>Yes, being a public university has a positive effect on yield. Yield is somewhat higher than you might otherwise expect when the school is public.</p>

20

<p>So, does being a private school negatively contribute to yield or is it more a 0,1 kind of thing for public schools?</p>