Yield Management 2026: The Most Absurd Non-Admits

[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: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?!

This is standard. I’d expect any IEC to know this.

[Anonymous]

Harvard.
Rejected 1600 SAT Asian kids.
Got sued and lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its important to be strategic. I had always heard about yield protection but it wasn't until DC1 applied this past cycle that I saw it play out. We'll definitely be more strategic with our younger ones.

DC1 is headed to an Ivy, and he had a very curated list of colleges with specific departments that he was very excited about. He was rejected from UVa with high stats, national award, etc. Without the why us supplemental, I imagine it was hard for the AO to put the pieces together (though it should be obvious if they knew everything UVA offered!)

That's very interesting, PP. So you think that UVA rejected your Ivy-bound kid because they only looked at his stats and thought he was going to be accepted elsewhere and would never attend?

I think so, but of course maybe they didn't think he was a fit. Although he certainly thought he was a fit for UVa. We're also out of state. (But DC was born in VA and grew up there, but probably doesn't matter). He has a few friends who got into UVa from out of state, and they are good students and applied ED.

ED is the greatest form of demonstrated interest

Yes, which is why I mentioned it. Good students but not stellar, ED, accepted.

No, plenty of stellar students who don't have so called hooks and don't want drama.