I don’t know about UCs but it is a definite factor at some schools, like American. Interest is important, common belief is that they are sensitive to being listed as backup for Georgetown or GWU, all borne out by the data on my daughter’s naviance, where there is clearly a sweet spot for admits. Below a certain gpa/sat/act it’s almost all rejects - but it’s also almost all rejects or waitlists at the high end of gpa/test scores. Very strong indication of yield protection. My question would more be, would a public that is part of a wide system engage in this too? On D’s naviance, almost everyone above a certain gpa/score for UCD is an admit. No indications of yield protection there. Interestingly, UCB is more scattered, not just more rejections at the high end but more admits at their low end too, suggests UCB is more holistic than UCD?