Reply to Most over-ranked/under-ranked LACS on USNWR?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
 
I prefer A/S/P over Williams but objectively, there's no denying Williams is superior. In fact, Williams consistently wins cross admit battles against Amherst and hit a much higher yield recently (59% vs Amherst and Swat's 40-45%).

Williams has a smaller student to faculty ratio, smaller classes (nearly 80% under 20 vs 65-75% at the others), better maintained facilities (Swat might be prettier but the buildings themselves aren't in the best physical shape), winter study and tutorials for truly distinctive academic experiences, the top d3 athletic program, stronger students by academic standards, and better outcomes based on most outcome oriented rankings. You also get access to the most comprehensive network of Oxford/Cambridge fellowships and study away of any school in the country.

It's a really good school. If it were in a suburban area or had the consortium access the others do, it'd crush the competition. [/quote]

It's best to be careful when arguing for prestige from published yield numbers for SLACs (or any selective university with ED, for that matter). Yield numbers include those accepted through ED, for whom the yield is typically above 95%. Many selective colleges and universities recruit more than half their classes through ED, boosting their yield numbers. Schools like Chicago and Tulane are infamous for this practice. However, when one looks at yield in [i]regular decision[/i], where there is actual customer choice involved (and hard choices are made regarding cost/benefit), the numbers tell a different story. Here's a list of elite SLACs, with their RD yields (all these numbers are from published institutional data for class of 2026):

Wesleyan        0.19
Middlebury      0.21
Williams          0.21
Swarthmore    0.26
Haverford       0.28
Carleton         0.28
CMC               0.28
Amherst         0.29
Pomona          0.29

Bowdoin         0.41

For comparison, here are RD yields for some highly selective universities with ED:
Duke              0.44
Northwestern  0.44
Brown             0.49
Cornell            0.50
Columbia         0.50
Dartmouth       0.52
UPenn             0.58

Yieldwise, the SLACs (with the exception of Bowdoin) aren't even in the same league as the selective universities. Make of this what you will.[/quote]

I think more people who ED a particular SLAC love that SLAC whereas people who ED a selective university often want to go to a high-ranked university.  So I think it's wrong to think about ED in your somewhat dismissive way when it comes to SLACs. SLACs are crafting a small class of qualified people who really want to be there--that's why ED figures so strongly.  I don't think the same is quite as strongly true with the larger, more generally popular selective universities.[/quote]

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