<p>I'm curious as to why Duke's yield is so low (40%). Obviously I'm biased since it was my first choice and I applied ED, but I thought it'd be considered a very desirable school to attend, given its combination of amazing academics, athletics, and social life.</p>
<p>Yield isn’t everything…Choosing some random schools:</p>
<p>BYU yield: 77%
Notre Dame: 56%
LSU: 55%
NC St: 49%
Cornell: 47%
Duke: 42%
Vanderbilt: 40%
Cal Tech: 38%
UChicago: 36%
Wash U: 34%
Johns Hopkins: 34%
Northwestern: 34%
Emory: 30%</p>
<p>Does this mean that Notre Dame, LSU, and NC St are more desirable than Cal Tech, UChicago and Northwesern?</p>
<p>[Most</a> Popular Colleges: National Universities - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2009/01/26/most-popular-colleges-national-universities?PageNr=1]Most”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2009/01/26/most-popular-colleges-national-universities?PageNr=1)</p>
<p>Duke is expensive, so some people may decide it isn’t worth the cost and attend a State school instead. Also, some people who get into Duke get into other top schools that they may choose for one reason or another.</p>
<p>People who get into Duke may also get into other high ranked schools. </p>
<p>Lot of them may still prefer Ivies even if they are lower ranked than Duke for the name.</p>
<p>There was a thread here in April where someone was admitted to both Duke and Yale. Duke gave her almost a full ride and Yale gave her zero money but she was still very interested in going to Yale and give up Duke scholarship. Not sure what she did in the end.</p>
<p>Northwestern, which is right after Duke in rankings had close to 39% yield this year.</p>
<p>I can’t believe that nobody has pointed out the obvious reason: Duke has a top 5 national public school in its home state to compete with. What other elite private school has a top public school in the same state? I can only think of Stanford and its Financial Aid is superior to Duke’s and has higher prestige so admitted students are more likely to give up Berkeley to head to Palo Alto than they are to give up UNC and go to Durham.</p>
<p>Also, UVA is close by and offers nice merit scholarships to most students Duke admits from Virginia. The Ivy effect is overrated when you consider how high Stanford’s yield is (2nd only to Harvard).</p>
<p>
It is always a bit naive to take such numbers for granted without investigating further. Early decision admits drive up yield, for example, because virtually all of them attend if admitted. In this instance, it’s worth noting that ED admits make up more of the freshman class at Penn (50%) than Duke (33%).</p>
<p>As for increasing Duke’s yield further, I don’t particularly see the need for it. I think Duke is actually striking a pretty good balance right now - it’s selective enough that it can pick an extremely strong freshman class, but it’s not so selective that it hopelessly locks out applicants who really want to go there.</p>
<p>I definitely second the UNC-CH comment. It’s an awesome school and many people would probably choose to go there.</p>
<p>To the OP there has been a definite increase in the yield for the class of 2015 it has risen to approximately 45%. That is definitely respectable when you consider that the applicant pool is of an exceptional calibre, the university is expensive, it has no school of general studies, and the fact that it is competing with HPYSM</p>
<p>I think much of it (like previously stated) has to do with the fact that Duke takes a smaller percentage of their incoming class from E.D. (which yields a 100%) than other comparable schools like UPenn. Since UPenn takes more of their incoming class from early decision, more of their incoming students are guaranteed to attend UPenn. Yield really doesnt mean much, along with acceptance rate. I believe U.S. News and World Report has a more accurate reading of ranking schools than a single yield statistic</p>
<p>In this instance, it’s worth noting that ED admits make up more of the freshman class at Penn (50%) than Duke (33%).</p>
<p>ballinallday and warblersrule are correct. Duke has decided to stay more flexible in the Regular Decision round and has a fabulous freshman class to select annually. Yes, many are cross admits with Ivies and some stats are collected that indicate which Ivies trump Duke in undergrad. </p>
<p>A 45% admission yield is excellent considering the overall cost of full pay to Duke balanced by the amazing financial aid other students enjoy at Duke. </p>
<p>Unlike some of the Ivies, Duke does offer a highly selective and unpredictable merit program, one branch of it is a Duke/Chapel Hill joint venture. Some of Duke’s majors are enhanced by Chapel Hill courses (Slavic Studies for instance). </p>
<p>UVA does not give any merit money whatsoever academically except for the Jefferson Scholars program which is run entirely by the Jefferson Scholar foundation, so many top Duke admits from VA and from the great high performance high schools in Northern VA will give up their Duke admissions to head to UVA or Wm and Mary and save their loan debt load for graduate school years. The Echols program is perks in registration and curriculum requirements as is its equal programs in the school of engineering. </p>
<p>Having great state universities like Chapel Hill and Charlottesville is a nice “problem to have” but Duke is a unique experience unlike either of those great state flagship colleges. </p>
<p>a Virginia Mom whose son took his Duke admission and our second mortage is here for a long long time as a result. If we had a crystal ball back then pre recession…but he loves Duke and loves his post Duke alma mater life as well</p>
<p>Vandy has two rounds of ED so I’m guessing that helps their yield</p>