Vanderbilt: Why is its acceptance rate so low?

<p>And I assume that counts the ED yes kids, which means the RD yield is not very high, right? </p>

<p>Why do you think Penn is a “better” school? I think they are likely on par with one another. The major differenc e is that Penn plays in the Ivy League an Vanderbilt plays in the SEC. Don’t let that fool you. Vandy is a top notch school.</p>

<p>Vandy will get more applicants than Penn or some other schools because they at least have some opportunity for merit aid. Ivy League schools have zero. (There may be something to the weather as well)</p>

<p>Selectivity does not equal quality of the school</p>

<p>It would be interesting to wonder what’s the yield will be without the merit aid </p>

<p>@2018dad I agree. Vandy has done a great job at attracting students with full tuition money, stipend and other great college scholar opportunities. I know two other international students who are getting full tuition ( need based ). Vandy’s FA is so generous. Plus its weather and location are awesome too! </p>

<p>Vandy also scores very high in student polls for happy students, a high quality of life, and there is a strong community and school spirit. You don’t see these at many other top 20’s.</p>

<p>The CPAI (college preeminence admissions index) divides the yield by the acceptance rate to reflect a combination of desirability and selectivity based on college admissions data. VU is rated # 12 behind 8 ivies, Stanford, MIT, and Cal-T. Of these 12 VU is # 7 for best SAT/ACT scores. The combination of desirability, selectivity, & high test scores makes it very difficult to get accepted.</p>

<p>^Wow, that’s some interesting data, never heard of that index.</p>

<p>Didn’t know about this too! Thanks @bud123‌ :)</p>

<p>It’ll be interesting to see how admissions will evolve for VU in the coming years. Wonder if VU can stimulate a continuous decrease in acceptance rate and a steady increase in yield throughout the next 10-15 years to challenge the Ivies for CPAI supremacy.</p>

<p>@bud123 how is VU ranked 12th in such an index if duke has a lower acceptance rate and higher yield and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few other schools like chicago also did.</p>

<p>Correction: Duke is on list #11, VU #13.</p>

<p>Chicago definitely has to be on there as well (based on recent selectivity). </p>

<p>The list as well as other lists for rankings of colleges can be found here. Chicago was not on the 15 colleges displayed, but it looks like this section of the article was not properly cited. <a href=“College and university rankings in the United States - Wikipedia”>College and university rankings in the United States - Wikipedia;

So from what im getting from all of this, although Vanderbilt has a really low acceptance rate along with many othe top institutions, you really shouldn’t allow it to scare you because numerous colleges pull many strings with their numbers to seem more prestigious and selective? like how some universities are trying to manage their yield by accepting more ED and waitlisting more RD to help increase their yield because they’re trying to climb up rankings

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2015/01/21/national-universities-where-the-most-accepted-students-enroll @Living61 41% yield is considered very good.

It’s very good, but I thought it used to be higher (even if slight-like 42-43% I thought), I also remember when Duke did not do so well with yield, but I guess It has gotten more strategic because it is actually doing quite well now (approaching that 50% mark with some serious competition from all directions). Don’t look at the admit rate so much as the scores and stuff. Like Chicago, Vandy, and WashU are among the more stats sensitive (the bottom quartile is higher than most places) non-Ivies (even in comparison to most Ivies actually), so I imagine that someone could theoretically get into Duke and other places if they don’t have extremely high scores (relative to elite schools because all the top 30 or so school have extremely high scoring student bodies compared to the national average) but have an amazing EC list, but maybe not get into those three (likewise, some/many of the top scoring students at Vanderbilt which are essentially perfect statistically, as they are at most peers, may get denied or waitlisted at many other schools. Unhooked applicants in that range will essentially be matched on fit when applying if accepted at all. Some schools will want them some won’t). These schools have lots of cross-admits but it does not mean they are looking for the exact same thing. The student must have excellent scores, but must also fit into either the ethos of the school or whatever the adcoms for the school want at that time. Regardless of the stats and admit rates, if you’re a strong student with strong stats (even if near the bottom of the interquartile) who really wants to go, you should at least try to apply and put your best effort into the essays and stuff.

^ Duke has been competing with the Ivies, Stanford, Chicago, MIT and Hopkins for a very long time. The same could not be said for Vanderbilt until relatively recently. There is no shame in losing cross-admit battles to Princeton or MIT. It is better to be a mediocre NBA starter than a superstar at a mid-major university. Expect Vanderbilt’s yield’s to fall slightly as the competition intensifies. Wear it like a badge of honor.

@NerdyChica Huh, I’m talking about yield. I thought Vandy’s yield was traditionally higher than Duke’s. It was always one of the higher ones, even before its SAT’s jumped if you looked at Emory, Rice, and even Duke. Duke was struggling to get out of the 30’s (I think) for a while and it may have been exactly because of what you said, the competition it was faced with. It was competing in that tier for students and was not winning. Now, it is doing much better, not merely due to prestige, but likely some “enrollment management” as well. It just makes sense. Currently, I think Vandy mainly competes with Duke and Yale for cross-admits and this kind of makes sense. I just don’t understand why Stanford is not there. It must be a location issue, because I honestly think the following schools are kind of alike in their ethos (work hard, play hard, more laid back than many other medium sized top privates, a big sports scene or success): Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, Notre Dame, Georgetown. With 4 of them basically being east coast schools. As for yield, I don’t think Vandy’s yield has to go down. In fact, I think it will probably increase. I think its SAT jump can be partially attributed to the good aid and scholarships along with the competition. Likewise, competition can benefit the yield. If a student is denied other places (higher ranked, regarded, whatever), but gets into Vandy, they’ll likely go.

But I don’t think this is plausible as much as them getting into some of the other places, but getting more money from Vandy, or simply not wanting to attend the other places. Again, I think many of the types of students who prefer work hard play hard environments will be drawn to places like Vandy or Duke. Some may not want places like JHU, some of the Ivies, etc. They will just choose the best fit among those types of schools if they get into several or follow the money. You also have the issue that the structure of undergraduate academics kind of differs at a place like Vandy with things such as the Peabody school and the school of music (I don’t know how common that is for a top private, if it exists at another one at all), so a person who likes many of the programs offered somewhere like Yale (has many undergraduate professional sort of entities) may take the cake either because they got more money or because Vandy will naturally be more “warm” and have a less intensive atmosphere than a place like Yale. I personally am more of “academics” type of person, but a place like Vandy clearly benefits from having a large base of top performing HS students who want a more “well-rounded” experience that isn’t perhaps overly intense (either academically or personality wise…like competition even in EC’s is known to occur at unusual levels at many of the other top privates. That plus sometimes over the top academics can be a turnoff for many). I have to admit I’m not a Vandy fan on some things, but it certainly has great things going for it in terms of this admissions race and attracting students. The school has shaped itself and its physical infrastructure so that it can truly cater to certain types of great students just as the Ivies and other schools with high yield have theirs (Ivies for example primarily ride on prestige, academics, and intellectual vitality…I guess except for the “practical” schools like Penn and Cornell, one which my alma mater has, what I think, is the misfortune of competing with). It has a unique alternative to offer I suppose. Duke used to play this role, but I think things have changed (certainly for the better academically, but with that change, it kind of looks more like the other very elites but with an awesome sports record).

I don’t believe that Vanderbilt has ever had a higher yield rate than Duke (at least not in the recent past) despite competing with schools in a slightly lower tier. I am willing to stand corrected if you can produce data to the contrary.