<p>This year, Yale deferred 61.4% of its 3594 early applicants, making that 2207 deferred. If they only have room for about 1300 students, why the overkill? Even if all the early acceptances don't matriculate, and the regular pool turns out to be completely worthless, there are still 900 students who would be rejected. Even if you factor in the token deferrals (i.e. children of alums) that still doesn't account for the discrepancy.</p>
<p>maybe they're looking for the students that are driven enough to do something about their deferral....i have no idea what I'm talking about really...thats just an idea...</p>
<p>Early applications were down this year, so I bet they wanted to play it safe in case regular apps went down dramatically and the regular pool wasn't as strong as usual. You've got to have a good mix of students--representation from all states, all extracurriculars, etc. Just because you've got thousands of applications doesn't mean there are qualified people that fill all the niches.</p>
<p>"Just because you've got thousands of applications doesn't mean there are qualified people that fill all the niches."</p>
<p>Ouch...did the early pool suck that much?</p>
<p>I remember reading somewhere that many applicants are simply too qualified to flat-out reject, but they're not astounding enough to accept early. I think it was in an interviewer with a Dartmouth AO, but it said something along the lines of "imagine the number of calls we receive from irate parents and curious guidance counselors wondering why their amazing applicant was rejected." Imagine the number of people who just don't understand that a 2400 and val status won't get you admitted. I'm not saying that Yale defers people to avoid having to deal with phone calls and questions, but maybe it is partially true. Maybe they figure that if they defer the amazing people (but who, unfortunately, are not quite amazing enough), they save themselves from the fact that some people are just "too good" to flat-out reject.</p>
<p>I hear that they do the same thing in the spring with wait-lists, but to a lesser degree. I agree though. Deferral is just, in general, pretty cruel. It's a blessing compared to one alternative, but pretty miserable compared to the other.</p>