Why do people place so much emphasis on a college's admit rate?

Applying to College
21

I see your point. I get lots of mail and emails from colleges - some actually want me and some just want more applicants.

In response to how the common app makes colleges look more selective, I think that people apply to more colleges all around, so maybe admissions rates have decreased in general? Sorry about the uncertainty…it’s just my theory.

To some extent, people are obsessed with prestige, so getting into a school that accepts a small amount of applicants is something to brag about. But for the rest of us, we just want to go to a great school and have found that elite colleges meet our criteria.

22

All valid points, and I agree with both of them. Thank you :slight_smile: @greenteen17

23

I think yield rate is more telling of prestige, selectivity than admit rate, but of course it is not a perfect measure either since it can be manipulated a bit.

24

People perceive scarcity with value/desire. People want items/experiences that are rare and scarce. This psychology carries over into the perception that a college with scarce attendance slots is somehow better. this has driven the marketing departments of schools to aggressively pursue bodies to apply to the school. Anything to drive up the apps and drive down the acceptance rate. One is best suited to pick a school where one feels most comfortable.

25

@MassDaD68: sort of like gold. Demand (number of apps) goes up, supply (number of seats available in freshman class) stays the same, and therefore it becomes much more expensive (admit rate plummets).

At least with gold, though, people aren’t running themselves into the ground for 4 years to have a chance at it.

26

@Penn95 What is yield rate?

27

Yield is the number of people who matriculate divided by # of people offered admission. Thus, the higher the yield, the more it’s considered students’ first choice. For example, I think both Harvard and Stanford have the highest yields (in the 80s)-- followed by Yale & princeton (60-70%).

You might have a state school with a 20% yield rate, for instance.

28

Here’s a table with some yield rate info:

https://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■/blog-0/class-of-2020-yield-rates

29

When comparing yield, it is only fair to compare colleges with similar early programs. ED drives up yield the most, followed by SCEA, then followed by non-restrictive EA.

30

https://newsletter.byu.edu/story/where-draw-strong-harvard-byu-and-stanford-battle-again-highest-yield-rate indicates that BYU has historically been competitive with Harvard and Stanford in yield rate. BYU does not have an ED or EA program, although frosh applicants who apply by 12/1 have priority consideration. It should not be hard to infer why BYU’s yield rate is high.