More good bets for next year

patuxent
Sun, 08 May 2005 17:18:02 +0000

A school has 1500 slots in its freshman class. It normally gets a 25% yield from admitted students so it accepts 6000 and then waitlists some more kids. The yield from admits and the percentage of applicants admitted are of course two entirely different things. It may admit 80% percent of applicants but the yield from those admitted - kids who actually enroll still is likely to be down in the 25% range.

The yield normally is pretty consistent from year to year but even slight changes can have a major impact. So for instance if that yield number drops from 25% to 23% one year on those 6000 admitted students you are suddenly 120 students light on your freshman class. A school might then go to the waitlist but 120 bodies is a lot to makeup for most schools. So they go a little light on enrollment this year and take a budget hit and try to make up for it next. Maybe admit a few more kids or be a little more generous with finaid.

The kicker for the school is the yield might jump up to 26% on more admits and suddenly they have shortage of dorm space and crowded classes. What you don’t want to be is applying to a school after a bumper yield year because of course just the opposite happens. Standards get tighter and finaid gets stingier - and you may still have the crowded classes because of sophomores that got shut out of required courses their freshman year.

BTW yields typically increase any time a school moves up in the US News rankings and declines whenever a school moves down. The football and basketball teams post season performance can also have an impact. Overall economic situation in the country can also have an impact. There is also just a certain amount of seemingly random variation.