<p>Just curious. Duke seems like a nice school, but it seems that most of the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, and (within recent years) UChicago regularly have much higher yields. Why is this so? </p>
1 Like
<p>Chicago’s yield is 45% vs Duke’s 42%, not such a big difference. Duke is a back up school for a lot of HYPS applicants. You would think Cornell would be such school as well, but Cornell has a lot of other schools (Hotel, ILR, architecture) within the Uni that it’s their first choice.</p>
<p>Duke is not a backup school for any other school. While there are many cross-applicants with HYPSM, anyone with even half of a brain would not consider a school with a ~10% acceptance rate a back up to HYPSM.</p>
<p>Duke also doesn’t have a track record of playing the yield game like Penn (aggressive early decision) and Chicago (spam marketing). Yield can be manipulated so it’s better to judge a school based on other factors.</p>
<p>Really? I saw UofC’s yield last year was 55%. But yeah, until recently, their yield was low too. </p>
<p>Which other prestigious private university has an exemplary public university in its back yard? I can think of only one. Stanford. </p>
<p>Furthermore, a large chunk of high achieving students from the south and south-east apply to only HYPSM and Duke as their reach schools. </p>
<p>Lastly, Duke’s yield will probably be higher than 50% this year (which will put it ahead of Dartmouth and Cornell). </p>
<p>Duke has traditionally used ED less heavily than schools like Penn and Columbia, and even Brown.
Duke also doesn’t believe in yield protection.</p>
<p>Regular Decision yield at Duke for Class of '17 is…drum roll…33%.</p>
<p>The Ivy schools are hardly the best education at the undergraduate level. Princeton, Cornell engineering and Wharton are the only Ivy’s ranked in the top schools based on quality of education. I think Chicago was rated number 1 and a 3.5 at Chicago was viewed as comparable to a 4.0 at Yale. If you are going to be lead by the nose based on what is considered most prestigious then if you get accepted to an Ivy go for it. The degree will certainly open doors. If you do have more then half a brain select based on what is best for you. And yes Duke was in the top 10 for quality of education.</p>
<p>Tennis…a lot of truth to what you say. Prestige isn’t everything.</p>
<p>Yield is an overrated metric of little value as there are too many variables that come into play. Much of a schools yield depends on the process used to generate the desired percentage. One area of concern is the yield with middle and upper middle class students (at all top private universities). These students tend to receive little aid and don’t have the ability to pay the COA. More and more of these students say goodbye to their dream U and follow the money to their 5th or 8th selection at the state flagship honors program. As costs go up the yield for these students will continue to drop. This is where all universities should focus their efforts to improve yield and the only way to do this is to control the costs.</p>
<p>Duke is undoubtedly in the tier right beneath HYPSM based on every conceivable metric (specially those that focus on outcomes). Duke grads win more prestigious scholarships, go on to better grad schools and earn higher salaries than graduates from most schools not named HYPSM. </p>
<p>I don’t mind so much if Duke loses cross-admit battles with HYPSM. It just says they only want the best. If they didn’t want the best, then of course they could get yield rates in the 80’s by taking only the bottom half of those they reject, whose alternatives are, what, Vanderbilt, Emory? No, I’m ok with low yield on a overall 10% admit rate. Quality is the first consideration. </p>
<p>@makennacompton, Bingo! I couldn’t have said it better myself. When the admissions process is over, any person deciding to attend Duke will still be among an outstanding freshman class regardless of what the yield rate is. </p>
<p>I strongly agree with makennacompton’s fundamental conclusions. I will add that increasingly – and understandably – aggregate financial aid packages become “yield decisive,” especially if the universities under consideration are all in the same general peer group. To illustrate, one can ceaselessly debate the rank-ordering of the top ten national universities, however all are unquestionably outstanding, whereas for most individuals and families the difference between $150K undergraduate debt and $50K is near-impossible to ignore. </p>
<p>TopTier…excellent point. The “great American Middle Class squeeze” imposed by college costs has reached epic proportions.</p>
<p>A number of the kids I know who were accepted to Duke were also accepted to HYPMSC, (well, technically not Stanford in my neck of the woods, but the others, yes) and most all of them in that situation picked one of the other schools. Those who did go to Duke, and there are not many each year that I know, considered it their most “prestigious”, selective school that accepted them. That hierarchy seems to exist, a pecking order among schools. But Duke is waaaay up there. Not a big deal, imo between where it is and the schools with better yield. </p>
<p>"The Ivy schools are hardly the best education at the undergraduate level. " - I agree very strongly with this statement.</p>
<p>I think it’s because Duke competes with HYPSM, but is always considered as a “fall back” school to those 5 rather than a priority choice. </p>
<p>Why do people keep using this language “fall back?” How many high school seniors have you spoken to who have told you Duke is their “fall back” to HYPSM? Seriously, no one in their right mind has Duke as a fall back despite the 4-5% difference in acceptance rate. </p>
<p>All of these schools are crapshoots. Period.</p>
<p>Jwest22, there’s nothing wrong with being a “fall back” school to Harvard or Stanford. In order to eventually be the best, then you must compete with the best. I appreciate Duke’s no-nonsense approach to admissions where they admit the best applicants in the Regular Decision round regardless of their likelihood to attend or not.</p>
<p>UChicago, on the other hand, has been manipulating its yield by accepting very high stats students who their admissions officers know don’t have the leadership skills or ECs to get admitted to HYPSM thus making U of C their “most prestigious college option”. That way they can boast a very high yield and keep improving their class profiles so they can make it appear to future generations of college applicants that it is a more desirable institution than it actually it is. Eventually, UChicago’s admissions directors believe that this self-fulfilling prophecy will cause UChicago to be viewed on par with HYPSM by the genera public and thus more high school senior cross admits will start choosing U of C.</p>
<p>It’s actually a pretty nefarious strategy and it has caused a ridiculous 20% increase in the yield rate in 2-3 years which is basically laughably improbable. I hope Duke stays true to its principles and continues to admit the “Best of the Best” without regards to demonstrated interest in enrollment in the Regular Decision round.</p>
<p>It appears as though Duke detractors are intent upon reviving this thread in an effort to sabotage the school by making prospective students view it as some sort of backup to Harvard. Don’t let them get on your nerves. As far as the University of Chicago is concerned, the less said, the better. </p>