Yield Protection Has Nothing To Do With Bonds!

In admissions parlance, yield protection means a few different things. When an admissions committee  practices yield protection, what are they really doing and how can an applicant avoid becoming a victim of this mysterious practice?  Simply put, yield means how many accepted applicants actually enroll.  It can also mean different things to different schools. The tippy-tops don't worry too much about yield protection because they are pretty sure at least 80% of the students they accept will attend. Less competitive schools may be more concerned about yield as they don't want to end up with too many students or too few. Too few students attending means going to the waiting list to fill the class, and too many enrolled students can mean housing problems and lack of seats in intro courses. But yield protection can also mean something else.

Everyone has heard stories of the amazing applicant with a 2400/36, perfect GPA, the most rigorous curriculum, published research and a debut performance at Carnegie Hall getting denied from the latest hot school. Is it because the admissions committee is pretty sure that student isn't going to attend because his or her stats are markedly above the middle 50% of the applicant pool? Its entirely possible, especially if that student is a "stealth" applicant, meaning there has been no contact between that student and the school prior to the receipt of the application.  An admissions committee may perceive that application as one that a student just "lobbed in", in a panic after an ED denial or deferral. Yield protection means that the committee needs to decide whether to accept that student with the awesome stats who probably won't attend, or the ED deferral whose stats are a shade below the middle 50% but fully intends to enroll? If a school cares about yield, they will accept the deferred ED applicant who will attend even if it means they wont get the boost from the higher stats of the panicked stealth applicant in their accepted students stats. That ED deferral would be one more student who is accepted and enrolled-good for the yield statistics. Schools that are traditionally less competitive in a peer group of schools probably have lower yields because a lower percentage of accepted students actually enroll.

What can students do to assure they are not victims of yield protection? Show every school you care, deeply, even if you can't get there to sign the visitor's log, and even if its your super duper back-up school.  There are lots of ways to do this; some can be done even without leaving your house! For more tips on showing interest and how not to be thrown in the stealth pile, get in touch at athenaadvisors@optimum.net