Class of 2012 yield stands at 69 percent

[cosar]

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@ehighmark2443

In fact, they noted that a HIGHER proportion of minority and low-income students applied under the EA program.

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<p>That’s a claim I don’t recall ever seeing - would be interested in seeing your source for that. </p>

<p>I went to grad school at Yale and love the school, but I really think they made the wrong decision on this one. Levin had been critical in the past of early admissions programs (in terms of what is in the best interests of students), but seemingly jumped at the chance to get a leg up on Harvard and Princeton when those two schools took the lead on getting rid of early admissions last year.</p>

<p>Here’s a pretty Yale-sympathetic story on this issue from the Yale Herald, which nonetheless makes the following relevant points:</p>

<p>[The</a> Yale Herald - Jan 19, 2007 - The politics and policies behind early admission](<a href=“yaleherald.com”>yaleherald.com)</p>

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In 2003, after announcing Yale’s decision to abandon its binding Early Decision program in favor of non-binding early action, Yale President Richard Levin, GRD ’74, baldly stated at the annual meeting of the National Association of Independent Schools that early admissions programs “do not serve the interests of high school students.” Three years later, explaining Yale’s decision to retain its early action program in the wake of Harvard and Princeton’s elimination of their own, Levin seemed to reverse his earlier comments. Describing non-binding, single-choice early action as “popular with high school students and their counselors,” Levin said the program “solves the major problems inherent in the system we had before.” This disconnect between the University’s views only four years ago and Yale’s policy for tomorrow has prompted questions both from within and outside the Yale community regarding the right direction for college admissions in the twenty-first century.

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<p>

Richard Ludlow, SM ’07, offered another interpretation. Since freshman year, Ludlow, an Economics major, has been developing an online database of student profiles at universities across the country designed to help prospective applicants find students similar to themselves in terms of grades, test scores, and demographics. Ludlow hopes the database will allow students to inform themselves of their chances for admission at school nationwide. “Keeping early action gives Yale a competitive advantage over Harvard and Princeton because basically, once a school says yes to you, you start to fall in love with it.” Ludlow said. With an early option no longer available at Harvard and Princeton, he said, some students for whom those schools are a top choice will now apply early to Yale, be admitted early, and enroll contrary to their initial preferences.

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Yale, of course, has its money on Ludlow. Should the new policies at Harvard and Princeton encourage the strongest students from across the nation to send their first application to Yale, the University may very well return to the coveted spot atop the US News and World Report college rankings, an honor it hasn’t held since 1996.

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