Yield Management 2026: The Most Absurd Non-Admits

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids apply to any safety school? If all else fails, it could be the best available option.

Top students shouldn’t use schools like Syracuse and BC as safeties. Even if they get in, there will be very few other strong students at the school, because the school actively turns such students away. They’d be better off at a state flagship where at least there will be top in-state kids.

[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.

Can you say more about this? What do you mean they track pixels? How can they tell about time spent on their website?

[Anonymous]

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

Not odd, he likely didn't show much interest and being in the 85%+, they smartly decided he "wasn't going there anyway" and were right

[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.

Can you say more about this? What do you mean they track pixels? How can they tell about time spent on their website?

If you google SLATE, Salesforce Education Cloud, you'll see. The pixels are one of the oldest ways to track someone. There are more sophisticated ways, but pixels are the easiest. You would be amazed and appalled if you had a look behind the curtain at how this part of admissions works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually, it does. The process has gotten so ridiculous. "Over-qualified" kids get rejected from schools solely so they can manage their yields. This is not OK. If a kid applies, assume they want to go there. At least waitlist them so they can plead their case if they really are interested.

The process has gotten so over-complicated. Schools should be devoting their financial resources towards education, not paying yield management experts.

No, that's now how it works nor how it should work. It's up to your kid to show demonstrated interest. The OP stated "he wasn't going there anyhow". Well then why the hell did he apply? If it's truly your safety, then you need to convince the school they are your top choice. It's up to the student to do that.

Schools goal is to fill their spots come august with X students. Not X+Y, not X-Z, but X students.
They have learned along the way to identify kids who wont be attending and sometimes they don't accept them. They cannot afford to have less than X students matriculate come august.

ANd for top schools, well tons of highly qualified kids get rejected. If you are smart enough to "be highly qualified", then you are smart enough to understand that you are likely to get a rejection.

[Anonymous]

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.

Many kids apply to 10-15+ schools. Why should schools assume they want to go there when there are plenty of great schools the kid will get accepted to that are "better schools" than Syracuse? The school's goal is to get matriculating students, and they smartly figured out "this kid isn't likely to attend". They were right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids apply to any safety school? If all else fails, it could be the best available option.

Then it is on your kid to convince the school it is NOT their Safety. Show interest, write a great "why Syracuse" essay. It's the kid's job to convince every school they are the number one choice (or at least a serious contender). That is why they have supplemental essays.

[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.

Can you say more about this? What do you mean they track pixels? How can they tell about time spent on their website?

If you google SLATE, Salesforce Education Cloud, you'll see. The pixels are one of the oldest ways to track someone. There are more sophisticated ways, but pixels are the easiest. You would be amazed and appalled if you had a look behind the curtain at how this part of admissions works.

And a kid "that smart" can understand this and do everything possible to "show interest". Not difficult to do, especially nowadays that it can all be done virtually. Syracuse has a "why Syracuse" supplemental. Make that awesome as well. The OP kid likely didn't do all of that. But it's on the kid to show their "safety" schools that they are number one choices....it's okay to fake/lie in these cases, it's your job to convince the school you want to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BC 1550/3.9 at a Big3. Got into 2 Ivies. BC admitted several classmates who had ~1450/3.65.
All good but definite yield protection.

WL at BC with a 4.4W and 35 ACT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread doesn’t need to exist.

Your kid wasn’t ever going to go. It’s clear from a private with those stats. Why did you even apply?

[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.

Can you say more about this? What do you mean they track pixels? How can they tell about time spent on their website?

If you google SLATE, Salesforce Education Cloud, you'll see. The pixels are one of the oldest ways to track someone. There are more sophisticated ways, but pixels are the easiest. You would be amazed and appalled if you had a look behind the curtain at how this part of admissions works.

Agree on slate. They know how many times your kid has opened a link in the emails they sent how many times they have logged into their portal, how many times they’ve engaged with your school. Your kid affinity score was likely close to zero. Those kids are automatic rejections if they have high stats.

WL kids at least had some engagement?

[Anonymous]

Why do you think its ok to apply and get an acceptance if you don’t plan to attend? Its ridiculous how many schools kids are applying to these days.. 20+ schools. You are causing this problem by applying to insane amount of schools.

[Anonymous]

Crying yield protection (or management, whatever) is a cope. It’s not rooted in fact. You don’t know the contents in the other applications. You don’t know how your kid stacked up.

It didn’t work out. Move on to the schools that accepted instead of fixating on the ones that said no.

[Anonymous]

Easiest solution to this problem is to avoid schools that do this. Thats what I did with my second kid.