<p>From reading some college admissions book, I learned the concept of "yield" as the percentage of students who accepted the school offering. The schools use such yield rate to decide how many admission letters they will send out. For exam, if the school planed for 100 new student and their normal yield rate if 50%, they will likely send out 200 admission letters. However, I could not find such information on any boarding schools. Do we have to be insiders to know such information?</p>
<p>Some boarding schools publish their yield rates. Generally, the more selective the school, the higher the yield. Keep in mind that there are probably different yield rates for different categories of students: day students, girls, boys, grade levels, legacy, etc.</p>
<p>This topic was discussed quite a bit last year. If you do a search for “Tufts Effect” or “Tufts Syndrome” or “yield management” something will surely come up.</p>
<p>In part, yield is a good measure of the quality of the match between the AO and the candidate (says a lot about the School’s admission’s office skill, the likelihood the community is cohesive and strong, and the desire of the kids to be there and nowhere else). I would say that most schools, when they are willing to be honest about their yield rate, will publish the total yield rate as opposed to a yield rate by a segment (like day, grade, legacy etc. - although I’m sure that they look at that breakdown internally). </p>
<p>Thacher does publish its yield rate, which is generally 80%+.</p>
<p>Neato - your editorial comment put a smile on my face!</p>
<p>I agree with ThacherParent in that high yield does indicate a good admissions office but I will go further and say that a lower yield does not necessarily indicate a weaker one. It depends on the type of school and something as simple as location. The top NE boarding schools have many cross applicants for many reasons. I don’t have any numbers to back it up, but I would guess that there are more cross applicants to NE schools than to Mid-Atlantic and West Coast schools simply because of the sheer number of schools in this area to choose from. It is much easier to visit and apply to many NE schools, increasing the odds that an applicant will have several offers. Since I student can only attend one school, the yield rates would naturally be lower where there is more local competition.</p>
<p>The only time I really consider yield rates is when it comes to “yield management.” Schools want to keep their admissions rates low and yield rates high so they tend to admit those kids whom they think are most likely to attend. It’s probably the trickiest part of the whole process for them and something they have to manage so that they don’t end up under or over enrolled (or over spending their FA budgets). </p>
<p>Generally, I’d say that yield management comes into play at the end stage of admissions decisions. After the committee has decided which kids they would like to have, they have to guess which ones would actually come (and which ones they have the FA dollars for).</p>
<p>Yield comparison, especially for boarding schools, where many parents are only comfortable sending their teenagers to a school not too far away from home, is tricky. It comes down to how many true competitions one school has for its top choices of candidates. In that sense, Thacher’s yield is a little misguiding. Suppose a family has an interest in sending their kid to the west by applying to a school like Thacher in the first place, they don’t have many other choices in that area. Unlike in NE, they could easily have 10s of comparable school within a radius of 100-200 miles. Same logic but for different reasons, Andover’s high yield (78%, highest among NE BS’s) is not entirely reliable either. The school has 25%+ of day students, which may push up its yield, when compared with say SPS and Deerfield, where more students are boarders and therefore have more choices. </p>
<p>That been said, Thacher’s location and Andover’s day student population can NOT be the sole explanation of their high yield. Some students interested in west coast schools may choose a school in other parts of the country, just as some day students in Andover may choose to board in another school.</p>
<p>Any one know the faculty/administration attrition rates at BS? This may be an indicator of quality of education. If it is too low a lot of deadwood may remain like a PS, if it’s too high may be the school doesn’t have good environment/compensation. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I would also add that while I agree there are more local (New England) boarding school choices, at least in Thacher’s case, its greatest overlap is with Exeter, St. Paul’s, Andover, Deerfield, Groton, and Cate. </p>
<p>The Thacher homie in me would also add that there are dozens of conflicting views about properly calibrating, ranking and comparing Thacher and Cate with their East Coast brethren. Some of these views dismiss the California schools as less competitive or not Tier 1. But those arguments are a weak brew, usually made by well intentioned bloggers who don’t have any actual, first-hand knowledge of schools like Thacher. The differences between East Coast and West Coast schools are not significant academically but are material in the education that they deliver outside the classroom. I think this is why Thacher’s yield rate is so high.</p>
<p>My daughter is a show jumper. She really likes the horse program in Thacher. However, she is also a swimmer and she is disappointed that Thacher does not have a good swim team. I personally like Thacher a lot. We live in SE, the time zone difference is harder for us to manager than the distance. I don’t want to get a call a 2 am from the daughter. For NE schools, we have to fly but don’t have to deal with the clock.</p>
<p>Dadxyz - Horse program is incredible. Sorry about the swimming. Thacher has about 240 kids so not every sport is offered. However, they have a beautiful outdoor pool that is open virtually the entire year and loads of kids swim for exercise and pleasure. There are also many activities around camping, climbing, hiking and the outdoors generally that most other schools don’t offer. If your daughter loves the outside of the classroom as much as the inside (and loves warm weather), Thacher offers her a range of unique opportunities not found elsewhere.</p>
<p>We live in Washington, D.C. so I understand the time zone issue. Truthfully, that was never a problem for us or our son or for us. But I certainly understand the different views on the matter.</p>
<p>@ThacherParent: You’ll be happy to know I asked my wife again last night if I could add Thacher back into the mix. Her answer hasn’t changed. Sigh.</p>
<p>The secret to overcoming your wife’s objections is to schedule a visit for a Friday. Fly out Thursday, leave on Sunday. Spend some time on campus, do the interviews, watch a game, check out an assembly, enjoy the town of Ojai over the weekend. Once she sees the magic for herself, sees the kids, sees her daughter on the campus, her objections will melt away faster than you can say orange groves and avocado orchards. But, I’ve told you this before… :)</p>