Yield Management 2026: The Most Absurd Non-Admits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for kicks, please list the basic stats (or whatever else you want) of schools that your kid should have statistically gotten into but didn't.

I'll start:

School: Syracuse
GPA: 3.81 unweighted (DC private)
SAT: 1510

I’d reject this kid too. Why would they be applying to Syracuse??

They spent the time and money to apply. Assume they want to go there.

The money for many is trivial. The time, also. A few tweaks of an essay. For a school like Syracuse, when you get to the 18th college on your common app and you have a couple of free ones to go, why not just apply? Silly, but AO's know this game.

The strong but not T15 private colleges have to play this game, too. You don't think the AO's at BC, Wake, USC, Northeastern, BU, Tufts, Emory, etc. can't sniff out who is really interested in the school from someone like the OP? They track pixels on your email, time spent on their portal, engagement with webinairs, history of your high school, visits, SAT bands who have been accepted before, etc.. They have an entire software system set up to analyze demonstrated interest and likelihood of attending- and it is only getting more sophisticated.

When you get to the next tier below- GWU, Miami, Syracuse, TCU, SMU, Santa Clara they usually can't be (and aren't) that picky. In OPs case, the AO in charge of the file sounds like they should get a bonus.

OP would likely not get into Emory or even Tufts with those stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for kicks, please list the basic stats (or whatever else you want) of schools that your kid should have statistically gotten into but didn't.

I'll start:

School: Syracuse
GPA: 3.81 unweighted (DC private)
SAT: 1510

I’d reject this kid too. Why would they be applying to Syracuse??

They spent the time and money to apply. Assume they want to go there.

The money for many is trivial. The time, also. A few tweaks of an essay. For a school like Syracuse, when you get to the 18th college on your common app and you have a couple of free ones to go, why not just apply? Silly, but AO's know this game.

The strong but not T15 private colleges have to play this game, too. You don't think the AO's at BC, Wake, USC, Northeastern, BU, Tufts, Emory, etc. can't sniff out who is really interested in the school from someone like the OP? They track pixels on your email, time spent on their portal, engagement with webinairs, history of your high school, visits, SAT bands who have been accepted before, etc.. They have an entire software system set up to analyze demonstrated interest and likelihood of attending- and it is only getting more sophisticated.

When you get to the next tier below- GWU, Miami, Syracuse, TCU, SMU, Santa Clara they usually can't be (and aren't) that picky. In OPs case, the AO in charge of the file sounds like they should get a bonus.

OP would likely not get into Emory or even Tufts with those stats.

Agreed unless OP's private is top tier (and not grade inflating) in which case they might.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:nope. To be fair, he wasn't going there anyway, but it was odd.

There it is. The phrase that always makes me laugh. "My kid wasn't planning on going anyway, but s/he SHOULD have gotten in!!" What a joke. No, your kid did not "deserve" to get in just because you think he did.

+1

Exactly. What deluded and entitled knickerbockers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top kids don’t go to Michigan.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every school (other than HYPSM, Duke, Wharton) is admitting the top yielding student over a top student in RD.

Saw this happen with Northwestern, UChicago, Brown, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Cornell - from our private this RD cycle. Examine the admits…if your kid is at a small school they know everything about everyone. The admitted kids had a high chance of yielding.

What are other signs of yielding in the RD round, aside from legacy and athletic recruit? Particularly at places you mentioned NU, UChicago, Brown, Dartmouth etc?

ED deferral; legacy; interview/ chat engagement long before RD deadline (eg before Nov 1); summer Admissions preview attendee; multiple visits; sitting in on classes in fall; summer program attendee (Dartmouth + Brown); email to AO with updates in February. I’d imagine they also added these schools to Common App back in August.

I suspect Supp essays obviously played a big role bc the schools were a top choice for the kid so they did a better job (one kid told my DC they referenced an ongoing convo they had with a Vanderbilt professor throughout fall after sitting in on a class on their RD app) - somehow these kids didn’t get many high reach RD admit; maybe 1-2. But it included a top 3 choice.

My 2 cents: ask around at your high school. Everything is high school specific. The tips mentioned above are the ones I gleaned from our high school.

Great tips. Thanks!!!

[Anonymous]

My high stats kid took the full tuition scholarship from Syracuse and now has a 2027 IB internship lined up with a BB bank so maybe stop thumbing your nose at Syracuse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:nope. To be fair, he wasn't going there anyway, but it was odd.

There it is. The phrase that always makes me laugh. "My kid wasn't planning on going anyway, but s/he SHOULD have gotten in!!" What a joke. No, your kid did not "deserve" to get in just because you think he did.

+1

Exactly. What deluded and entitled knickerbockers.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke knows it doesn't compete with HYPSM per se; if a student gets into one of those 5 colleges they go there and not Duke.

So with this in mind Duke definitely engages in yield management.

Inclined to agree

-- class of 2030 Duke parent
(didn't apply HYP; denied at Stanford and MIT; accepted Michigan and Northwestern; WL at BU and Case)

Duke has no idea if a student gets in to HYPSM - they all compete for students with top tier stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UNC and UMich let in several top 20% type kids, test optional, from our high school but deferred the valedictorian with a 1550 SAT

Yes this happens with Michigan at our HS all the time. They know the Val isn’t coming.

This is smart of a large public like Michigan. You are rarely the top destination of the standouts, but you don't need to be. There are many more just below that who will attend so you aim for that. The HYPSM Caltech caliber student isn't going to Michigan.

I know many who would be happy there - the STEM is extremely strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for kicks, please list the basic stats (or whatever else you want) of schools that your kid should have statistically gotten into but didn't.

I'll start:

School: Syracuse
GPA: 3.81 unweighted (DC private)
SAT: 1510

I’d reject this kid too. Why would they be applying to Syracuse??

They spent the time and money to apply. Assume they want to go there.

The money for many is trivial. The time, also. A few tweaks of an essay. For a school like Syracuse, when you get to the 18th college on your common app and you have a couple of free ones to go, why not just apply? Silly, but AO's know this game.

The strong but not T15 private colleges have to play this game, too. You don't think the AO's at BC, Wake, USC, Northeastern, BU, Tufts, Emory, etc. can't sniff out who is really interested in the school from someone like the OP? They track pixels on your email, time spent on their portal, engagement with webinairs, history of your high school, visits, SAT bands who have been accepted before, etc.. They have an entire software system set up to analyze demonstrated interest and likelihood of attending- and it is only getting more sophisticated.

When you get to the next tier below- GWU, Miami, Syracuse, TCU, SMU, Santa Clara they usually can't be (and aren't) that picky. In OPs case, the AO in charge of the file sounds like they should get a bonus.

OP would likely not get into Emory or even Tufts with those stats.

For Emory, of course they would get in, or be very, very competitive. 3.8 from a private and 1510 SAT? They certainly would have a very good shot.

Only 43% submitted an SAT. And of those who did submit an SAT, the 50% SAT score is 1510 and its 25% is only 1480. Roughly 80% or more scored below OP's SAT score!!!

That's exactly the type of applicant that gets in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for kicks, please list the basic stats (or whatever else you want) of schools that your kid should have statistically gotten into but didn't.

I'll start:

School: Syracuse
GPA: 3.81 unweighted (DC private)
SAT: 1510

I’d reject this kid too. Why would they be applying to Syracuse??

They spent the time and money to apply. Assume they want to go there.

The money for many is trivial. The time, also. A few tweaks of an essay. For a school like Syracuse, when you get to the 18th college on your common app and you have a couple of free ones to go, why not just apply? Silly, but AO's know this game.

The strong but not T15 private colleges have to play this game, too. You don't think the AO's at BC, Wake, USC, Northeastern, BU, Tufts, Emory, etc. can't sniff out who is really interested in the school from someone like the OP? They track pixels on your email, time spent on their portal, engagement with webinairs, history of your high school, visits, SAT bands who have been accepted before, etc.. They have an entire software system set up to analyze demonstrated interest and likelihood of attending- and it is only getting more sophisticated.

When you get to the next tier below- GWU, Miami, Syracuse, TCU, SMU, Santa Clara they usually can't be (and aren't) that picky. In OPs case, the AO in charge of the file sounds like they should get a bonus.

OP would likely not get into Emory or even Tufts with those stats.

For Emory, of course they would get in, or be very, very competitive. 3.8 from a private and 1510 SAT? They certainly would have a very good shot.

Only 43% submitted an SAT. And of those who did submit an SAT, the 50% SAT score is 1510 and its 25% is only 1480. Roughly 80% or more scored below OP's SAT score!!!

That's exactly the type of applicant that gets in.

Oh my god. You again, with your omission of ACT scores and belief that test scores are the end-all, be-all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yield protection shouldn't be a thing. It is only a thing bc a high yield helps rankings. And rankings, as we all know, are generally pretty arbitrary and unhelpful.

So yield protection is bad and dumb.

However, having an enthusiastic and committed student body is great -- and it makes sense for institutions to want the students that want to be there most of all.

Personally, I'd really like to see US News take yield rates out of their rankings -- and commit to keeping them out -- so that schools could focus on admitting the students that they'd most like to attend -- and not just the ones that they believe will accept offers. it would go a long way towards making things make sense.

Agree that US News should take it out. It is a thing because applicants/families are so focused on yield and the effect yield has on admissions rate. If a school's yield is low, they have to accept more students the following year. If the admissions rate goes down, people start trashing it and not applying. So colleges yield protect. Everyone needs to change their mentality.

If yield is low you use the waitlist. Not that hard. Within reason, obviously.

Exactly. The poster claiming if yield is low the school admits more students the following year doesn’t understand how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for kicks, please list the basic stats (or whatever else you want) of schools that your kid should have statistically gotten into but didn't.

I'll start:

School: Syracuse
GPA: 3.81 unweighted (DC private)
SAT: 1510

I’d reject this kid too. Why would they be applying to Syracuse??

They spent the time and money to apply. Assume they want to go there.

The money for many is trivial. The time, also. A few tweaks of an essay. For a school like Syracuse, when you get to the 18th college on your common app and you have a couple of free ones to go, why not just apply? Silly, but AO's know this game.

The strong but not T15 private colleges have to play this game, too. You don't think the AO's at BC, Wake, USC, Northeastern, BU, Tufts, Emory, etc. can't sniff out who is really interested in the school from someone like the OP? They track pixels on your email, time spent on their portal, engagement with webinairs, history of your high school, visits, SAT bands who have been accepted before, etc.. They have an entire software system set up to analyze demonstrated interest and likelihood of attending- and it is only getting more sophisticated.

When you get to the next tier below- GWU, Miami, Syracuse, TCU, SMU, Santa Clara they usually can't be (and aren't) that picky. In OPs case, the AO in charge of the file sounds like they should get a bonus.

OP would likely not get into Emory or even Tufts with those stats.

For Emory, of course they would get in, or be very, very competitive. 3.8 from a private and 1510 SAT? They certainly would have a very good shot.

Only 43% submitted an SAT. And of those who did submit an SAT, the 50% SAT score is 1510 and its 25% is only 1480. Roughly 80% or more scored below OP's SAT score!!!

That's exactly the type of applicant that gets in.

20% submitted ACT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every school (other than HYPSM, Duke, Wharton) is admitting the top yielding student over a top student in RD.

Saw this happen with Northwestern, UChicago, Brown, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Cornell - from our private this RD cycle. Examine the admits…if your kid is at a small school they know everything about everyone. The admitted kids had a high chance of yielding.

What are other signs of yielding in the RD round, aside from legacy and athletic recruit? Particularly at places you mentioned NU, UChicago, Brown, Dartmouth etc?

ED deferral; legacy; interview/ chat engagement long before RD deadline (eg before Nov 1); summer Admissions preview attendee; multiple visits; sitting in on classes in fall; summer program attendee (Dartmouth + Brown); email to AO with updates in February. I’d imagine they also added these schools to Common App back in August.

I suspect Supp essays obviously played a big role bc the schools were a top choice for the kid so they did a better job (one kid told my DC they referenced an ongoing convo they had with a Vanderbilt professor throughout fall after sitting in on a class on their RD app) - somehow these kids didn’t get many high reach RD admit; maybe 1-2. But it included a top 3 choice.

My 2 cents: ask around at your high school. Everything is high school specific. The tips mentioned above are the ones I gleaned from our high school.

Why did our $$$ college counselor not mention this stuff?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for kicks, please list the basic stats (or whatever else you want) of schools that your kid should have statistically gotten into but didn't.

I'll start:

School: Syracuse
GPA: 3.81 unweighted (DC private)
SAT: 1510

I’d reject this kid too. Why would they be applying to Syracuse??

They spent the time and money to apply. Assume they want to go there.

The money for many is trivial. The time, also. A few tweaks of an essay. For a school like Syracuse, when you get to the 18th college on your common app and you have a couple of free ones to go, why not just apply? Silly, but AO's know this game.

The strong but not T15 private colleges have to play this game, too. You don't think the AO's at BC, Wake, USC, Northeastern, BU, Tufts, Emory, etc. can't sniff out who is really interested in the school from someone like the OP? They track pixels on your email, time spent on their portal, engagement with webinairs, history of your high school, visits, SAT bands who have been accepted before, etc.. They have an entire software system set up to analyze demonstrated interest and likelihood of attending- and it is only getting more sophisticated.

When you get to the next tier below- GWU, Miami, Syracuse, TCU, SMU, Santa Clara they usually can't be (and aren't) that picky. In OPs case, the AO in charge of the file sounds like they should get a bonus.

OP would likely not get into Emory or even Tufts with those stats.

For Emory, of course they would get in, or be very, very competitive. 3.8 from a private and 1510 SAT? They certainly would have a very good shot.

Only 43% submitted an SAT. And of those who did submit an SAT, the 50% SAT score is 1510 and its 25% is only 1480. Roughly 80% or more scored below OP's SAT score!!!

That's exactly the type of applicant that gets in.

Being right at the median doesn't help you much when you are unhooked and/or applying RD. The acceptance rate for that student matches the school's overall acceptance rate, so about 8-12% for Emory.