Ivy League Admission
The Ivy Coach College Admissions Blog

Yield statistics for colleges are trickling in. The yield is the percentage of admitted students for a particular college who choose to attend that college. Yield statistics may fluctuate over the course of the summer due to “summer melt.” Summer melt occurs when students decide not to matriculate to the college they committed to typically either because they had a change of heart or because they got admitted off the waitlist at another university that they’d rather attend. Colleges seek to admit students who they think will attend because yield is one of the college admission statistics that impacts a college’s “US News & World Report” all important ranking. Check out this article on Ivy League interest.

Harvard University once again will likely have the highest yield among top colleges, an important college admission statistic for "US News & World Report" rankings.

Let’s take a look at some of the yields around some of the top college campuses this admissions cycle. This data is from Dartmouth grad and education reporter Jacques Steinberg of the “New York Times” “The Choice” blog.

Harvard University – “More than 76%.”

Stanford University – “72%.”

University of Pennsylvania – “63%.”

Dartmouth College – “55%.”

Cornell University – “49%.”

Expressing interest in a university can often prove essential to gaining admission to that university. Colleges want to know that if they like you that you’ll like them back. Why? Because yield is a key component of the “US News & World Report” rankings. Colleges want to admit applicants who they think will attend. Why would an admissions officer from Cornell University admit a student when the applicant is the son of two Brown University professors, attended a summer session at Brown, and drew a picture of a Brown Bear on his Cornell application? That applicant is obviously going to choose Brown University over Cornell and with his great grades and scores as well as his parents’ pull at Brown, he’ll very likely get in. To admit him would work against Cornell’s yield and adversely impact its “US News & World Report” ranking.

In an article in “The Daily Beast” by Kristina Dell, an admissions officer at Dartmouth College and  the Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania made two very different statements about expressing interest in a college. Dan Parish, director of admissions and recruitment at Dartmouth, said, “As we make admissions decisions we try not to focus too much on people expressing an interest in Dartmouth. We should respect their application and try to convince them to attend on the other end. We don’t keep track of the number of times a student communicates with us. A student’s expressed interest in Dartmouth doesn’t play a role in our admissions decision.” And Eric Furda, Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “We wanted to know, why Penn? Did you submit a generic essay that was part of a school’s supplement—another school’s supplement? You may need to do a little bit more research before you hit the submit button. Take notes during the campus visit, and even if it isn’t your top choice, still understand that you need to speak to that school and show what you are going to contribute to that campus. Articulate why this school is for you. Students who do well will start citing faculty and programs they want to explore.”

And so we ask you — are they both right? Is one right and one wrong? Is one being a little more forthcoming than the other? The answer is…Eric Furda’s statement is more accurate. Counter to Dan Parish’s statement, a student’s “expressed interest in Dartmouth” absolutely does impact his/her admissions decision. If a student expressed in his/her essay that they wanted to go to Dartmouth College so they could spend four years in the big city, we at The Ivy Coach highly doubt admissions counselors at Dartmouth College will choose to admit that applicant. Hanover, New Hampshire is no big city. Just like their counterparts in the admissions office at Penn, admissions counselors at Dartmouth are looking to find wonderfully talented students who will create a remarkable class of incoming students…who want to attend Dartmouth (or in Penn’s case…Penn)! Mr. Parish certainly had the best intentions in mind when he stated that an applicant’s interest in the college came “on the other end” but Mr. Furda’s statement more accurately reflects what colleges are really looking for and that is — highly talented students with great grades, scores, recommendations, and essays…who express interest.

Check out “The Daily Beast” article here.

And read our related blog on expressing interest in a college or check out our informational videos.

Posting videos on YouTube in substitution for an application essay may be the latest craze in college admissions, but we at The Ivy Coach doubt that too many colleges are going to adopt this practice. While a video might have value if it actually says something about the applicant, unless access to the video is limited to only the admissions committee, we don’t see where it’s in the applicant’s best interest to have a video publicly displayed.

This reminds us of what happened in the spring of 2002 when a Dean of Admissions at Princeton University hacked into Yale University’s website of online admissions decisions and was able to hedge Princeton’s bets. If Princeton was to accept a student that Yale accepted, they had to be concerned that the student might end up going to Yale instead and this would lower their yield and ranking in “US News and World Report.”

True, that by viewing a student’s YouTube video, an admissions counselor at another college won’t be privy to the admissions decision at the college for which the video was made, but when the applicant says in the video that the college is his first choice, this is more information than admissions counselors at other colleges need to have.

Read more about YouTubing the College Admissions Rapids in our March newsletter.

In a personal and revealing op-ed piece in the April 3, 2009 edition of the “Los Angeles Times,” Angel Pérez, the director of admission at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA writes about his experiences in reviewing applications. He talks about how when he visited a high school in his assigned geographic area, one student in particular impressed him. Based on everything that the student accomplished as well as his interests and goals, the student made it clear to Mr. Pérez how he would be just the right fit with Pitzer’s “culture” of social justice and social responsibility.

Admissions deans have found that accepting students who have clearly demonstrated interest increases the college’s yield and positively effects its acceptance rate. The value that the college places on applicants demonstrating interest allows the college to accept a lower percentage of applicants to fill its class, which in turn raises its rankings with “US News and World Report.” For the Class of 2013, the most competitive class in history, we at The Ivy Coach are not surprised that there are long waitlists at most of the highly selective colleges. In fact, we actually predicted this to happen in early blog posts.

The regional admissions counselors from the colleges to which you apply can and do advocate for their students. So when this person visits your high school, make sure that you attend this meeting. These visits typically take place in April, May, June, September, or October. If there is no visit planned, then find out if there’s a scheduled evening visit at a local hotel or at another high school in your area. Before and after you submit your application, follow through with occasional e-mails to your regional admissions counselor. The personal contact that you have made throughout the admissions process just might help you to gain acceptance to the college of your dreams.

In Pérez’s op-ed piece, he states,

“…I also recall the young man from New York City who was academically below our margin. If I had read his application without meeting him, I probably would have denied him admission. But he showed up for my school visit when I was in New York, and had several contacts with me throughout the year. Then I interviewed him, and in my evaluation I wrote, “This kid bleeds Pitzer College.” He was concerned about issues of social justice and social responsibility — two key values that our institution was founded on. Clearly this kid had done his research and was determined to help me realize that he was the right fit.

His application eventually arrived on my desk, and I knew he was not going to be an easy admit. With a GPA below our typical average of 3.9 and no test scores submitted (we are a test-optional institution), the committee was not going to be kind. Therefore, I decided to read parts of his essay out loud to the committee. I needed to make sure they saw him outside the context of his numbers. They laughed out loud in response to this young man’s humor, and they could not believe how much time he took to demonstrate to us how right he was for Pitzer.

I followed up the reading by telling them about my impressions from the interview: “He won’t graduate top of his class, but he is going to be a powerful presence here.” One of our staff members, who was clearly impressed, said, “This kid really does want to change the world, doesn’t he?”

In the end, personal contact made a difference, and the young man’s ability to paint a clear picture as to why he was the perfect match for our institutional culture won us over…”

Check out the “Los Angeles Times” article: College admissions’ wrenching ins and outs. For school officials, deciding on students’ dreams is a difficult, emotional task.

If you have written some powerful college essays and personal statements, then it is very likely you have worked for weeks devoting countless hours to writing, researching, rewriting, tossing out, starting all over again, and now, finally your applications have been submitted. So what do you do now? Most students think they can sit back and wait, but if you want the admissions counselor who reads your application to get to know you beyond all this paper, then it’s important to connect with this person.

One of our students called us tonight to say that the assistant admissions director from ______, (one of the most selective colleges in the country) came to his school to speak with prospective applicants. He claims that he and the other seniors in the audience were made to feel inadequate by this person’s overt arrogance. He embarrassed several of them about questions they asked, he ridiculed one student, and questioned another student about a personal issue. To make matters worse, all of this was done in front of the other students and the attending college counselor.

No matter how egotistical your admissions rep. may seem, he / she is all you have right now, so learn to make the best of it. Try to connect with this person. However, test the waters slowly and carefully, making sure not to muddy them up.