<p>^ Tsk, tsk. Rank snobbery, xiggi. Rank snobbery. It might well matter to a lot of people in Kansas that K State has a phenomenal yield, while Kansas’ is so-so. It suggests something is going on there that bears investigation.</p>
<p>It might also matter to some people that a school like Carnegie-Mellon has a modest yield of 27.7%, suggesting it’s not a “destination” or “dream school” for a very large fraction of the people who apply there, but rather a “back-up” for people with higher aspirations; and further raising the possibility, though certainly not proving, that a significant fraction of the people who end up there are “settling” for Carnegie-Mellon only after not getting into their preferred schools. I think that’s all information we don’t get from admit rates alone. Granted, it’s not a metric that gives us comparable information across all schools because the reasons that a school is or is not a “destination” school vary so widely, and for that reason I think it shouldn’t be a US News ranking factor. But rankings aren’t the only means by which schools might be evaluated. Not by a longshot.</p>