<p>Warblers, it looks like Duke’s yield will hit 47% this year. I think that 55% is a good place to be considering the fact that we have to compete with UNC in state and HYPSM. Duke definitely should increase its marketing budget and build up its brand presence (specially abroad). I remember reading somewhere that Chicago started hosting lavish send off parties for Asian students in 2009. They may well be reaping the benefits of that gesture and others like it (the T-shirts and scarves for example). As an alum, why don’t you write to the admissions office and bring these issues to their cognizance? It would also be prudent to advice them to send a college admissions representative to this website. That could make a world of difference. A 5% increase in the proportion of students admitted ED should lead to a 5-6% increase in yield. Duke can still accept an even greater proportion of the class of 2018 in the ED round. That should put the yield rate at approximately 55% which is respectable but not outstanding. More sustainable increases can only be achieved the hard way, by convincing outstanding students to matriculate at Duke over HYPSM. How can we go about doing this? By improving financial aid for the middle class, enhancing faculty reputation by hiring more Nobel laureates (I actually admire Duke’s policy of recruiting young up and comers with a penchant for teaching, but Nobel prizes add lustre to a university), by gradually making the campus culture more intellectual whilst preserving the sense of community that makes Duke unique, and by focusing on attracting a more global applicant pool. The stipulation that Duke must accept at least 14% of its admitted class from the state of NC itself is doing immeasurable harm to the university. In fact, during its best years, the school actually admitted as little as 8% of its class from NC (this is before Mary Duke Biddle stepped in and instituted the BN Duke scholarship). I know this sounds sacrilegious, but I believe that coach K’s retirement will actually lead to an increase in the yield rate. Once he is gone, prospective students will start associating Duke with world class teaching and research instead of college sports. This will undoubtedly turn some people off, but those people are not the students Duke wants anyway if it sees itself as the next Harvard or Stanford or Princeton or whatever. Duke has an exemplary foundation upon which it can build a truly great global university. All the fundamental pieces are in place. We already have an exceptional teaching faculty, a phenomenal research infrastructure, an enviable and unique geographical location (in close proximity to RTP), an emphasis on undergraduate education, stellar professional programs, phenomenal name recognition, a loyal and well connected alumni base, and a distinctive campus culture. What we need is a more ambitious, prudent and assertive administration. Brodhead is dead set on transforming Duke into Yale. We need someone who is willing to break the mold and let Duke retain its distinctiveness while still managing to curb the more raucous and undesirable elements of its campus culture. To be fair, Brodhead and his team have tried to innovate in some places. However, their efforts haven’t yet come to fruition. The jury is still out on DKU (it could be either a stroke of genius or an unmitigated disaster), 2U was a horrendous move in my opinion (what were they thinking when they decided to team up with schools like Brandeis and Wake Forest?) but thankfully the faculty put a stop to that madness and Coursera was a success (although only time will tell for certain). In summary, Duke can regain its position of eminence at the highest echelon of American education provided that the administration is willing to take calculated risks and pander to its target audience (high school seniors). I personally would not bet against a school that rose from 54th to 11th in the world rankings in the span of one year.</p>