<p>U</a>. of C. applications 'staggering' :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education</p>
<p>I wish I was an URM who applied to college last year</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the article so early, please post if you come across any other new ones thanks</p>
<p>@HB-I know this waitlist gig is deeply frustrating (and very best of luck to you and everyone else on it) but the young man you make reference to is not only a strong student but exceptionally talented at a very demanding sport. He chose a rigorous education over a full athletic scholarship elsewhere, which is a very grown-up thing to do. Congrats to Derrick.</p>
<p>Have I missed a thread somewhere or is this article the first place where yield has been mentioned? It states that 39% of admitted students plan to attend.</p>
<p>I wasnt referring to him lol I was speaking generally - Derrick applied this year right?</p>
<p>And yeah this is the first time Ive seen a solid figure for yield</p>
<p>anyone know what Chicago’s yield in past years were?</p>
<p>I believe last year was 38% - I think I got this from **************s statistics</p>
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<p>Okay idk why this is being censored let me try again:</p>
<p>C o l l ege p r ow l e r - (its another collge search website)</p>
<p>I think you should just play by the rules and say you got it from “a college search engine.”</p>
<p>yikes - the “college search engine” also says that UChicago still doesn’t accept the common app. I guess that only shows that Chicago’s yield really remained a constant factor. It looks like even as everyone thought the admissions office had lost their minds overbooking with early acceptances, they knew what they were doing all along.</p>
<p>Last year’s was 36%. Yield jumped 3%, even though this year we started directly competing with the elite schools by becoming less “self-selective”. Everyone thought the yield would go way down and instead, it goes up. Great job, Nondorf. Of course, with a better FA program, yield would be even better…</p>
<p>Yes yield for the class of 2013 was about 36%:</p>
<p>[Admissions</a> to hit class of 2013 target size as yield dips slightly to 36percent - The Chicago Maroon](<a href=“Delays keep Proof from silver screen – Chicago Maroon”>Delays keep Proof from silver screen – Chicago Maroon)</p>
<p>For years and years, administrators, school officials, and students alike wondered what would happen if Chicago played a bit more of the “big-numbers” admissions game. Well, the answer seems to be, a 42% increase in apps. Of all the top schools, for years, Chicago almost took pride in flying under the radar. Now, as they recruit and market themselves aggressively, we’re seeing the results.</p>
<p>I think this trend is only good for the school. The incoming class is undoubtedly going to be accomplished, and, unlike the days where Chicago was admitting 65%+ of applicants, the school seems to be shedding its “quirky, HYP-safety school” image quite affirmatively.</p>
<p>WHat do yields look like at other top schools?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the applicant number goes up next year by 15-20%, acceptance rate at below 15% and yield over 41%.</p>
<p>Chicago’s still losing quite badly to peer schools. Harvard and Stanford’s yield rates are over 70%, while most of the lower ivies are around 45-50%. I think a good short term goal would be to catch up with the likes of Georgetown (47%), Cornell (47%), and Duke (42%). I know that Chicago would like to catch up with Columbia (59%) since this seems to be the school Chicago is trying to use as a gauge of how well it’s doing, but this would be exceedingly difficult without establishing an ED policy.</p>
<p>Now, more than likely, Chicago’s overall acceptance rate will drop below 15% next year. Why?</p>
<p>1) Application numbers will likely rise about 20-25%. This is the 3rd year for the Common App, and trends show that the 2nd year is strongest, with the 3rd year still rather strong. Also, the word is out that Chicago is a good school to apply to for EA, and relatively easy to get in. Over-admitting early applicants wasn’t just for yield, you know. Nondorf wants us to be THE EA school. We already have more EA applications than every single elite university except for Georgetown; I bet you we top them this year.</p>
<p>2) Yield will rise to 41-42%. The financial aid will likely not improve significantly next year, but Chicago’s prestige is growing rapidly. Remember, this is the first year that Chicago’s name was really out there, so the prestige effect didn’t have too significant of an effect this year. In fact, I attribute the 3% increase from last year to the increased mailings and the personal letters, etc. This year, there will be a slight increase and it will be due to increased name-brand.</p>
<p>Stanford has SCEA. Cornell and Duke have ED. Columbia has ED I believe. UChicago is actually doing pretty well. As a current student and a future alum, I am pleased.</p>
<p>Phuriku, I think outside of outside of HYPS, there are only a handful of schools with true yield rates much higher than 50%. Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth, etc. - in the open market, their yields are probably all around 50%. </p>
<p>So this year, if Chicago’s yield is 39% and Nondorf is making a concerted effort to improve yield, I think the U of C is definitely in good standing. If in a few years our yield is 45%, that’s nearly right there with everyone else. Without going ED, I think it’ll be quite hard to get a yield much higher than 45%. Of course, a switch to ED would immediately bump the yield up to 55-60% (if ED was used heavily). </p>
<p>Phuriku - do you really think apps will boom AGAIN by another 20-25% next year? That just seems really high to me. I think maybe a 10-15% rise would be more realistic. I do think the admit rate will drop to around 15-16%. </p>
<p>On the flip side, this past year, didn’t a lot of people apply to Chicago because it was seen as an “easier” school to get accepted into this past spring? It’s the only “top ten” school with (up until this year) close to a 30% accept rate. Maybe next year, as everyone is aware of the new 18% accept rate, students will shy away from Chicago a bit? </p>
<p>In any case, these numbers are really mind-boggling. Chicago really only got serious about admissions what, 5-6 years ago? The increase in selectivity has been astounding.</p>
<p>cue7,</p>
<p>I don’t think apps increase by another 20-25% next year is such an over projection.</p>
<p>All top school apps numbers are climbing recently. This year, Princeton was up 19%, U penn up 17%, Duke up 11% etc. These schools haven been playing aggressively for a very long time in terms of marketing and recruiting, and have been using common app long enough. If they, who have saturated markets, are seeing this kind of jump, there is no reason why Chicago, with a lot more headroom due to the lack of marketing till now, and also on common app only for a couple of years, can’t get another 20%. Chicago still has a lot of under addressed market segments to go after. They are not even close to saturating the market with well honed messages. Besides, Chicago’s a virtuous circle is just beginning. I think there are few more years of “juice” left before it goes into a stable affair.</p>
<p>Not that the University of Virginia is on par with UChicago but their yield rate has oscillated between a high 54% to a low 48% in the last 10 years. </p>
<p>PS: UVA discontinued their use of Early Decision during the fall of 2006.</p>
<p>[UVa</a> - First-Time First-Year Admission](<a href=“http://www.web.virginia.edu/IAAS/data_catalog/institutional/data_digest/adm_first.htm]UVa”>http://www.web.virginia.edu/IAAS/data_catalog/institutional/data_digest/adm_first.htm)</p>
<p>Not that UVa ISN’T on a par with Chicago, because it’s an excellent university, but state flagships have different yield dynamics than most privates. Because there’s usually a substantial cost advantage for in-state students, they get a high yield from in-staters. The University of Texas main campus has a 51% yield, and UNC - Chapel Hill has a 54% yield.</p>
<p>I believe Princeton’s increase in apps (and that of other lottery ticket schools) is due to their generous FA. That is music to the ears of a lot of folks in the 120-180k range who are at/close to full pay at many schools, esp. in this economy. Until Chicago improves its FA for that spectrum of applicants, I’m not sure overall yield will increase significantly, nor so I think they’d get as many ED applicants as they might hope.</p>
<p>My guess is that Chicago will go up 10-15% next year as acceptance rates drop and folks are less likely to use it as an “easy admit” (hahaha).</p>