Early apps drop 5 percent
Early apps drop 5 percent
No caption.
Monday, November 16, 2009
The number of early applications to Yale College has fallen 5 percent compared to last year, the admissions office said today.
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions received 5,265 applications this year, down from a record 5,556 in 2008. Jeff Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions, declined to speculate on the possible reasons for this year’s dip in application numbers.
“I think speculating about small fluctuations in year to year counts is pointless,” Brenzel said in an e-mail. He added that this year’s application figures are still 6 percent higher than the numbers recorded in 2007, the first year Harvard and Princeton did not offer their early admissions programs.
Last year, Yale admitted a record low 13.4 percent of early applicants. Brenzel said he expects a similar rate for the class of 2014.
Comments
None 2 years, 2 months ago
At Yale, historically, the hundreds (or thousands) of early application pool deferreds are later admitted at a rate far higher than the "ordinary" applicants in the regular pool.
Thus, adding to the initial early pool admits this deferred group which has been self-identified as likely to enroll if admitted, you find that well in excess of the Yale freshman class is filled from the 20% of the total applicants who filed early, and less than half the class is filled from the clueless 80% who applied "regular decision."
The early admission device is, purely and simply, a way to artificially boost the yield rate by limiting the size of the overlap pool with Stanford, Princeton and (particularly) Harvard.
None 2 years, 2 months ago
sad sad sad sad life.
None 2 years, 2 months ago
I don't follow your disdain. Seems like a legitimate critique of the system to me...
None 2 years, 2 months ago
Get over your sad, sad, sad, life.
None 2 years, 2 months ago
To my knowledge, Yale doesn't publish statistics on the percentage of deferred EA applicants that are eventually admitted in the RD round. So, I'm not entirely sure what "Observer"'s comments are founded on.
None 2 years, 2 months ago
Statistics are available (although closely-guarded) with respect to the fraction of "regular pool" applicants who are, in fact, early admissions applicants initially deferred, and the admissions rate for this sub-group.
Members of the alumni Schools Committee are privy to these numbers, which are otherwise kept confidential.
The reason for the secrecy about the fate of the deferred early applicants, one might speculate, is to downplay the huge disparity between the admit rate for early applicants and the admit rate for "regular" applicants.
The early pool is preferred, in large measure, because, statistically, early applicants are far more likely to enroll than the "regular" types, and this enhances the overall yield rate.
Moreover, it has long been an article of faith in the admissions trade that you can never admit to filling more than half the class from the early pool without risking a backlash from potential "regular" applicants, who may look elsewhere if it ever dawns on them that more than half the seats are gone before their applications are even received.
You will always need a sizeable "regular" pool, if only to meet your "diversity" needs.
None 2 years, 2 months ago
Can't YDN just take a survey to find out what percentage of the current students had originally applied SCEA?
It should be possible to extrapolate from that to estimate the percentage of deferred students that is eventually accepted.
C'mon YDN, you can do it!
None 2 years, 2 months ago
Yeah, I'm sure the admissions people have those statistics. But as an independent publication, can't the YDN staff do some investigative journalism and do their own survey like I suggested? Or is YDN just a mouthpiece of the school?
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