@quietdesperation : that was me that said that. collegeboard and data often do not really update a lot of their stuff (accept admit stats) so it may not reflect the new admissions scheme which is described here: http://apply.emory.edu/apply/faq.php
They obviously had to clarify because people think they still do. Also, I imagine they stop doing it because while it may protect yield, it also lowers diversity (especially academic) and perhaps discourages them from attempting to recruit what they consider top applicants simply because they think they won’t yield them. It basically says “aim low” or “aim for the same we get every year” which is what you are bound to get if you use demonstrated interest. You will get primarily those that know the school for certain extremely well-known strengths so the academic interests end up looking quite homogenous. A lot of emphasis has been put on I guess reshaping the class (especially in terms of academic and intellectual diversity) with the new Dean I think. It appears somewhat successful as there does appear to be more academic diversity and also Emory has started having more winners of prestigious internal and external scholarships (like just before he came, in the previous classes, the number of Goldwaters had almost ceased to exist, a Rhodes…a pipe dream! But it happened in classes he recruited, so Emory’s stats fluctuate or remain flat, but the students seem actually better in many respects).