<p>I read a post on the WashU Forum about yield projection. Basically, it says that Wash U admits people they know are MORE LIKELY to accept and rejects the top students that'll get into HYPSM. It's a way of protecting their yield, which will help the subsequent year's ranking with US News. My question is, does HYPSM do the same type of thing, and if they do, what's their system for doing so?</p>
<p>I think this is mostly myth. Yield is no longer a factor in the US News rankings. It DOES play a role in admit percentage, but admit percentage counts for only 1.5%, I believe, of the entire score. </p>
<p>So, playing games with yield will yield you pretty much nothing in the rankings.</p>
<p>Also things like that would push their average and mid-50th stats down. I believe this is what people around these parts call "Tufts syndrome" ;)</p>
<p>Harvard: 79.3%
Yale: 70.3%
Princeton: 68.0%
Stanford: 67.4%
MIT: 66.7%</p>
<p>With yields this high, they don't need to manipulate admissions. The only colleges they compete with is each other, and students are unlikely to be admitted to more than a couple of them due to the random nature of admissions.</p>
<p>^^ I hardly think they're random, but rather mysterious.</p>
<p>tarhunt- I see your point, but keep in mind that the differences between the top schools' rankings are tiny. Admit percentage can play a big role in terms of shifting rankings.</p>
<p>Harvard's yield is ridiculous. 3/4 students who get into H and princeton or yale choose Harvard. NOONE can compete with the harvard brand name. It doesn't really need to be concerned about protecting its yield. Why do you think they don't even include a "Why Harvard?'' question in their supplement?</p>
<p>There is some discussion of this phenomenon in the revealed</a> preferences study. The conclusion the authors of the paper come to is that top schools don't seem to practice this type of selective admissions, since the probability of being accepted rises smoothly with SAT score. </p>
<p>In the paper, they conclude that Princeton does practice selective admissions -- a candidate is more likely to be accepted with 98th percentile SATs than with 99th -- but I have heard that Princeton has a new dean of admissions and no longer uses this practice.</p>