Yale Daily News

Updated: Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:22 p.m.

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Yale admits record-low 7.5 percent

Staff Reporter
Published Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Yale College admitted a record-low 7.5 percent of applicants this year, a 0.8 percentage point drop from last year’s initial acceptance rate of 8.3 percent.

Yale accepted 1,951 students from its total regular and early applicant pool of exactly 26,000 applicants for the class of 2013, Dean of Admissions Jeff Brenzel told the News on Tuesday. The overall admit rate will rise slightly if Yale admits students from its waitlist, he added.

Compared to last year, a greater proportion of students were admitted in regular decision than were admitted in early action. On Tuesday,...

#1 By yalie 10:23a.m. on April 1, 2009

jeepers...

Congrats Class of 2013!!!

#2 By Y11 11:51a.m. on April 1, 2009

Princeton's numbers are in, and their admit rate went up .5%. The Princetonian's commenters are going apeshit. It's comical. I recommend you tune in.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/04/01/23213/comments/

#3 By Thanks Y11! 2:39p.m. on April 1, 2009

The Princetonian comments are HILARIOUS!!!

#4 By Funny 2:58p.m. on April 1, 2009

I just checked that out...believe me, it is just hilarious.

#5 By Sportsfan 3:41p.m. on April 1, 2009

Win more football/basketball games and maybe we will get more applicants. There is a correlation between the number of applicants and the popularity of the football/basketball teams.

#6 By Observer 4:34p.m. on April 1, 2009

If it had been Yale, rather than Princeton, that had followed Harvard's lead by refusing to artificially boost the yield rate (and lower the admit rate) through reliance on an early admissions program,then it would be the Yale commenters "going apeshit" and the Princeton commenters patting themselves on the back.

#7 By Yasmin O. 5:51p.m. on April 1, 2009

How is that "artificial", Observer? Students no longer choose Harvard over Yale, unless they are in the small minority that dreams of attending classes at MIT on the side. Yale now gets the "cream of the crop" of students in arts, sciences, humanities and social sciences. The shift over the past 5-10 years has been dramatic.

#8 By (Anonymous) 6:17p.m. on April 1, 2009

I love it when lesser schools show their true colors. May their fall from the number one spot be swift.

#9 By @Observer 6:46p.m. on April 1, 2009

Probably. But it didn't. So we shall pat away.

(Oh, and the issue is about admit rate, not yield rate, which Harvard managed to push down too. Sorry!)

#10 By Guest 8:37p.m. on April 1, 2009

The article forgot to mention Stanford's numbers: 2300/30000 = 7.7%. Congrats to all the new admits!

#11 By Yale '08 8:40p.m. on April 1, 2009

OMG! Thanks for the link Yale '11! Everyone, PLEASE check out the comments board on the Princetonian. I have never seen so many students publicly bash their own school this bad. Its growing by the minute, literally. Hilarious! But I feel a bit bad for them too.

#12 By Lulu 8:43p.m. on April 1, 2009

Wow. I didn't apply to Princeton because I've only gotten bad vibes from all the Princeton grads that I know...that just reinforced everything I've ever thought haha

#13 By Details 8:47p.m. on April 1, 2009

Also, this article doesn't mention that Princeton has been intentionally increasing the undergraduate body for the past couple of years.
But yes, the commenting on the Princetonian page is excessive, and not a good way to persuade students to accept.

#14 By Proud Elo 9:11p.m. on April 1, 2009

@ Observer

Absolutely false. We Yalies love our school, through and through...regardless of the numbers. 0.5% doesn't make a bit of difference to us and our incredible experience here.

#15 By Y 05 12:39a.m. on April 2, 2009

I second #14. It's sometimes difficult for non-Yalies to understand the affection we feel for Yale, even as we keep a careful eye on ways in which it could improve.

#16 By Another Eli 12:52a.m. on April 2, 2009

Jesus, folks. Stop tormenting the Princetonians. A Yalie's time should be spent on things that matter.

#17 By Y'09 1:27a.m. on April 2, 2009

I find that hilarious as well and probably bad publicity for P if a pre-frosh choosing between P and Y were to come across that, but it's probably also counter-productive for Yalies to be commenting on there.

Elite college admissions is such an interesting beast...

#18 By Recent Alum 12:48p.m. on April 2, 2009

#6: Yale has early action, not early decision. Anyone who gets into Yale early could still choose to attend another school, so the policy certainly does not artificially increase the yield.

#19 By Poor asian kid 3:48p.m. on April 2, 2009

So what does it take to get into Yale these days?

#20 By Observer to #18 4:41p.m. on April 2, 2009

I beg to differ … if retaining an exclusive early action program (exclusive in that you are barred from applying early elsewhere) didn't goose the yield rate artificially, than President Levin wouldn't have chosen to retain it.

The purpose is to gain a recruiting edge over "the competition" by snagging a 3-month exclusive negotiating period with the early admits.

As the thinking goes: if you are the one to "give them the first kiss" and send them mash notes and trinkets during the exclusive negotiating period, you may nail them down before they can consider other options. A fringe benefit is to reduce the size of the overlap pool with Stanford and Harvard. Traditionally, most in this overlap pool opt to go someplace else other than New Haven. (Note: Last year, 85% or more of the "early action" admits matriculate, while only 59% of the "regular decision" admits matriculated - about the same as Princeton's regular decision yield rate.

#21 By Observer to #18 again 5:11p.m. on April 2, 2009

If, as in recent years, 85-88% of the early action pool matriculates, then more than half the class will come from this pool of 5,557 who have pre-signalled their willingness to enroll, while less than half the class will come from the 20,368 who applied to other schools at the same time they applied to Yale.

THIS is how you artificially boost the yield rate.

#22 By yaylie 1:21a.m. on April 3, 2009

Bravo, Brenzel. It was a natural decision to stay with EA, and I'm glad there were no numbskulls like at H and P to do away with it. The expression ...Princeton boys, Yale men comes to mind - it seems to me all of us are reeling from the recession with no jobs and hence more competition for grad school spots. But while we at Yale see the economic difficulties for what they are and take them in stride, our unfortunate little siblings in New Jersey place the blame squarely on the drawbacks associated with their institution of learning.

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