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What is "yield" in university admissions?

Dear Students and Parents,


We hear a lot about "yield" in university admissions. What is it and should we be paying attention to it?


In general terms vis à vis university admissions, yield for a university is the number of students who decide to attend said institution after receiving an offer from it. Colleges like, therefore, a high yield. And, this can affect the [misleading/imperfect/flawed] concept of rankings. This also means that some institutions will be looking at how to increase their yield and will do all sorts of things to get a high one. (Just as many do to get that fairly meaningless, terribly misleading "percent acceptance" rate.)


Some comments on yield and what can happen when institutions implement "yield modeling":


--This can mean that students who are qualified for or in some cases overqualified for an institution (think: "likely" from a college list) will be rejected from this institution because the institution sees that they are just that--likely--and the student is very unlikely to take their offer if they give one, thus reducing the university's yield. --In many cases high performing students are placed on waitlists because schools know that the student is not going to attend. --Many colleagues believe this is just more evidence of the increased "randomness" of admissions. From my perspective, we continue to aim for fit--always--and a balanced, suitable, meaningful list. The "fit" part is essential: if a student can't show it--and genuinely--the application will not have success. And, this goes to the heart of guiding young adults to be true to who they are and how to do that in life (since it directly impacts university admissions along the way). Warmest wishes, Jennifer.

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