<p>Well, Harvard just announced a blockbuster apps increase of 15% this year bringing their total to 35,000; Many of the other ivies have also shown increaoses of 15% or so, with Columbia having a particularly huge surge. Princeton, like Yale, hasn't announced yet.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, Yale's Admissions office this has, perhaps, planted this story in the YDN this week, which seems to almost anticipate and "write off" soft application growth numbers, as a matter of philosophy:</p>
<p>Yale's EA apps were flat this year (technically, slightly down). If Yale has flattish total applications this year, I think this would give it the lowest total volume of apps of any Ivy except Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Brenzel's philosophy aside, I think applications "stuck": in the 26,000 range while competitors are hitting the 35,000+ region will cause consternation in certain quarters.Though the devil is in the yield numbers, this would hint at Yale's falling to its position during much of the 1990s, when it fell for a time to number 5 in "selectivity" as measured in the overall admit rate.</p>
<p>I don’t think many people judge based on raw apps. Too many other factors such as size of school and yield come into play. As long as Yale is solidly one of the more competitive Ivies (which it will be) I don’t think it matters. Dartmouth having 21,500 apps, for example, vs Penn at 30,000 is quite remarkable given Dartmouth has no specialty schools (like nursing) and is less than half the size. So Dartmouth is going to have a lower acceptance rate than Penn and will be more selective.</p>
<p>As a prospective Yale student, I really don’t think application numbers/yield rates/etc… mean much in the admissions game. Sure, the colleges may feel pressure to up their competitors, but really, what’s the point? They are just building an even greater sense of hopelessness for applicants. Plus, Yale already has its prestige internationally recognized, so I don’t think application drops in one year may necessarily be an indication for dictating the school’s admission selectivity. There is simply too many other factors besides sheer numbers (history, tradition, impact in the real world via alumni, etc…) so lets actually wait until March 30 to conclude who has “won the game.”</p>
<p>doesn’t the prestige also come from apparent selectivity and its consequence on various rankings? If instead of being rated N°3 in USNews Yale was to be ranked lower consistently for the coming few years would its prestige and desirability remain intact?</p>
<p>^Yale’s reputation is established beyond any doubt. A marginal drop in rankings due to a better selectivity rate makes no difference to an institution that is nigh on 400 years old and internationally recognized for its quality. It would remain as desirable as ever.</p>
<p>If you look at how they calculate those rankings, I think 15% is selectivity, but only 10% of the selectivity ranking is based on overall apps.</p>
<p>Basically, the lack of an increase in app numbers will have very little impact on its ranking. As for the question of how people view it, the above points are valid: Yale has been awesome for ages. All the people who matter know that it is awesome.</p>
<p>Yale isn’t being maintained??? please…
Yale has cycled through top three pretty much as long as UNSWR have existed, it has one of the largest brands globally, it is continuously improving the areas it (comparatively) lacks in(Engineering currently), and it’s endowment size is second only to Harvard and the Vatican…</p>
<p>My guess, the several misleadingly publicized murders in the past couple of years caused the lag in apps. Also, has Harvard maintained the average QUALITY of their applicants when their pool increased? What’s the point of having more applicants if the additional ones are the ones who would never have been admitted anyway?</p>
<p>^ yes, but increasing the number of kids who apply and are rejected does nothing to improve Yale as in institution, either in the short or the long term. Among the big four, I think only H stoops to WashU type tactics to ■■■■■ for apps. Seems pointless and demeaning to me.</p>
<p>Is there any actual proof that Yale is lagging in application numbers?</p>
<p>That article just explained that their EA pool was flat, and that Yale doesn’t believe that numbers are an indicator of educational quality. Has Yale released information as to how many RD applications they received?</p>
<p>Personally, those #'s of applications don’t matter. It depends on the quality of those applicants. With the common app system, people who don’t care too much / try for the heck of it apply now. So, I wouldn’t demean Yale at all just because they didn’t hit 35,000 applicants. Also, it all depends on the QUALITY of the education, and Yale has one of the top potential professors/instructors in their respective fields. So who cares if Yale is lagging in application numbers.</p>
<p>If you want a factor that demonstrates perceived prestige more accurately, look at a school’s endowment fund. Who would donate to a school that they hated? And also, schools with larger endowments are obviously producing more monetarily successful graduates.</p>
<p>Recent surges in applications are due to applicants applying to more colleges (i.e. all these colleges are getting record application numbers not because there are more people applying, but that these people applying are applying to 10-15 schools). This means a decreased yield for all these schools (because a guy applying to 15 schools can still only choose one) and in turn, they need to accept more to ensure that they still fill their normal class size. The change in acceptance rate will not be as large you might expect because of this need to accept more. The only colleges within range of overtaking Yale in selectivity are Princeton and Columbia, and Princeton is already ahead of Yale in the US News rankings anyways.</p>