Elite colleges are all in competition with each other, and the one statistic they can brag about is how many high school students – who received acceptance letters – actually commit and attend that college.
Many top colleges believe that this figure is the ultimate sign of how prestigious and respected that certain college is. This is how colleges compare themselves to one another.
Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill all had more accepted high school students actually commit to them than in previous years, according to an article in The New York Times.
Harvard reported about a 75% positive freshman yield, which was a slight increase from last year. Dartmouth had a 55% yield, an increase of 7%. North Carolina had a 53.3% yield, compared to last years 53.9%. However, North Carolina has not heard back from its 350, accepted, wait-listed students. The university believes its yield will increase dramatically.
Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania both had similar yields, compared to last year. Cornell’s was at 49%, and the University of Pennsylvania was at 63%.
Most of the colleges’ freshmen yields are expected to rise after wait-listed students are accepted.
What this means for wait-listed students:
Bad. These elite colleges are receiving more commitments from originally accepted students. Therefore, the enrollment for the incoming freshman class is already much higher than expected. So, colleges will not need to pull as many students from waiting lists.
Harvard estimated that it will accept only 75 students from its waiting list because of higher freshmen yields. Dartmouth’s freshmen yield grew increased 7%, and the university stated that it might not accept any students from its waiting list.
