Hi,
I just got waitlisted at Oberlin. I had good credentials (35 ACt, high grades, etc.) and good ECs (Research paper in press, speech and debate nationals, professional musician, non profit org. Founder). I got into Georgia Tech and Northeastern and really thought Oberlin would be a ‘no-brainer’ compared to those two. Could Oberlin possibly wanted to protect yield (aka Tufts syndrome) or am I just being egotistical? Lol really confused…
Many of these small LACs really need a good way to forecast their yield. Accepting too many or too few students can really screw up their finances. Therefore they often accept a large fraction of the class ED. I suspect that in the RD round, a probability is guessed at as to whether that person would attend. Given that, they can optimize their decisions to reach the target class size with acceptable risk.
As a result of this prudent enrollment management, students judged to be unlikely to attend are often waitlisted.
This is a totally reasonable policy, so to answer your question
the answer is both.
@ClassicRockerDad lol thanks… that makes a lot of sense
Why would you think Oberlin would be a no brainer compared to the other 2 colleges you mentioned? Their acceptance rates have been in the same ballpark.
I think all colleges care about yield management. Nobody wants to be someone’s backup. Oberlin indicates that demonstrated interest is considered in admissions. Did you show them the love?
Also, smaller colleges tend to look more holisitically at their admissions, trying to craft a class. Perhaps they didn’t deem you a good enough fit or they had enough applicants like you.
https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1778 says that “level of applicant’s interest” is “considered” at Oberlin.
The time to check these things is before applying, so that you can play the interest game at colleges that consider level of applicant’s interest, particularly those where you may appear to be “overqualified”.
Actually, a lot of colleges do not care if they are anyone’s backup, as shown by not considering “level of applicant’s interest”.
What they do care about yield is not necessarily trying to make it as high as possible, but predicting it accurately. They may have models where every “overqualified” admit may result in 0.02 matriculants, every “match” admit may result in 0.25 matriculants, and every “reaching” admit may result in 0.65 matriculants, or some such. Of course, sometimes they guess wrong, resulting in too many or too few. Then they may have to do other things to adjust the size of the class:
- Too many: aggressively enforce admission conditions (e.g. if the offer says "maintain your academic performance in senior year", the college may allow only a small slack-off in senior year GPA).
- Too few: go to the waitlist, leniently enforce admission conditions (e.g. even students whose final transcripts show major slacking off like dropping from a 3.9 to a 2.0 may not be rescinded).
Some colleges may preemptively admit slightly too few based on their yield model, knowing that they are more likely than not to have to go to the waitlist (in which case they may put a lot of applicants on the waitlist).
@doschicos @ucbalumnus hey thanks to you both. I emailed Oberlin a couple of times during the apllication process some questions but never got a chance to visit (my dad has medical issues so I disnt get to tour many schools…) is this indicative of my chances at say cornell or brown then? Thanks again!!
this question in itself is kind of a “no-brainer,” hahaha. of course colleges—all colleges—care about yield rate. if you’re overqualified and show little to no interest in a school (that considers it, such as oberlin), the chances of you being waitlisted/rejected are likely. colleges would much rather admit an applicant with “lower stats” they know will enroll vs. admit an applicant with “tippy-top stats” who will more than likely choose to attend somewhere else.
also, cornell and brown don’t consider demonstrated interest when reviewing applicants, so i think you’re okay.
IMO, I think almost all privates care about yield.
Many publics, as they get state funding, may simply admit the most qualified applicants (as they deem it) at least among the in-state pool.
“Actually, a lot of colleges do not care if they are anyone’s backup”
@ucbalumnus Even if they don’t consider demonstrated interest, I’d still argue that they do care. Being a backup means not having a student matriculate. EVERY college would love to brag about a Harvard type yield rate if they could. It makes them look better, which leads to more applications, rinse and repeat. It’s a business.
@doschicos, actually, the incentives may be different with publics.
For instance, legislators have asked UIUC why the enrollment of Internationals has spiked there. UIUC has replied that they still offer as many in-state applicants as they did X many years ago, and it’s not their fault if in-state kids reject them.
And frankly, unless you really do like Oberlin better than the places where you have been accepted so far, why do you even care? Is Oberlin your clear first choice? Then send them a note and let them know that. If it isn’t, then choose betwwen the affordable options you do have before May 1.
I doubt it. I suspect the OP sees admission offers as akin to a public accolade and is miffed at a perceived snub. Last summer he wrote:
Well, Oberlin actually is strong in environmental studies so…
@badgolfer that’s some good speculation you got there, and no Oberlin was not my ‘dream’ college… however I’m insulted by the fact that you think I applied there because I want prestige. What you didn’t quote was the fact that I’m a professional harper and the fact that music is a precious hobby of mine that I wasn’t sure I wanted to give up entirely when it came to application time… so I applied to Oberlin just in case come spring I’d want to find a way to pursue both environmental studies/ science and my music in-depth- a place where Oberlin is quite sound in both. I’m ‘miffed’ because I thought this school would see my application and want me, and not worry about application yield or see me as using them as a backup, because I wasn’t… I applied to them just in case I didn’t see any good way for me to continue music anywhere else…
In short, don’t ‘suspect’- it’s rather insulting…
Oberlin rejects high-stats applicants all the time, though.
And for their conservatory, they would be looking for dedicated music majors.
I still don’t get why you’d think Oberlin would be a no-brainer compared to GTech and (especially) NEU.
@PurpleTitan I dont know I thought I was a really good fit in terms of my dual appreciation for music and science… I guess ‘no-brainer’ was the wrong term to use there… I guess ‘better fit here than GTech’ have been better phrasing… but maybe I just simply wasn’t competitive enough…or maybe it was some form of yield protection from seemingly uninterested applicants (which is why I posted this thread asking that very question)… thanks for the responses
Oberlin miscalculated their yield last year so they may be trying out different metrics this year. On CC, I have seen examples of students who got off the wait list, one of which even got a bit of merit money. If you are still interested, email your admissions rep and indicate that you’d like to stay on the wait list and see what happens. Best of luck to you.
The Conservatory would want, what, one harpist every 4 years or so? 1 every 2 years?
OP, did you apply to the Conservatory or College? The Con is way more selective than Tufts. So it’s not an easy in. If you applied to the College, what’s your financial need status? Sadly, many LAC’s are NOT need-blind and that may impact admission as well.