Acceptance Rates VS Yield Rates / Early Decision VS Early Action / Waitlist VS Offer
Acceptance vs Yield
When applying to universities in the US in particular, one of the factors students look at is the ‘acceptance rate’. This number, stated as a percentage, is an indicator of how competitive a university is in terms of the number of students admitted; the smaller the number the more difficult it is to get in. For example, for the class of 2029 the acceptance rate for all ivy leagues ranges between a low of 3.7% at Harvard to 8.4% for Cornell.
On the other hand, some universities have acceptance rates as high as the University of Mississippi coming in at 98%. Examples include NYU 9%, Georgetown 13%, University of California-Irvine 29%, and Michigan State University at 84%. So, when we help students compile a list of university choices, we encourage them to select a range of acceptance rates (based on their academic and non-academic profiles) in order to be realistic and maximise their chances at acceptance. A top student may choose 1 or 2 single-digit acceptance rate universities, but then we would also advise them to expand into the double digits.
According to the US News and World Report, the lowest acceptance rate at any US university right now is Caltech coming in at 3%.
Number of admitted students/Number of applicants x100
This is not to say that a higher acceptance rate will guarantee admittance. In fact, some universities with higher acceptance rates will reject a strong student application because they ‘know’ that a competitive student will be holding out for a competitive school. They do not want to make an offer just for it to get rejected. This leads us into university ‘yield rates’.
A yield rate refers to the number of admitted students that actually enrol in the university. This is an indicator of how desirable an institution is to a student. A lower acceptance rate will usually lead to a higher yield rate; while a higher acceptance rate results in a lower yield rate.
Number of enrolled students/Number of accepted students x 100
Universities with lower yield rates, must admit more students in order to fill classrooms, which in turn sustains the higher acceptance rates.
An institution with a higher yield rate will admit fewer students and still be able to fill its classes because most students will enrol, which maintains the lower acceptance rate.
Early Decision vs Early Action
The bulk of US universities offer student applicants something called an Early Decision (ED), or an Early Action application (EA). This allows students the opportunity to apply to their first-choice university at an earlier date, (usually early November), rather than the Regular Deadlines (RD) in early January.
ED/EA submissions receive early responses from universities often mid-December.
However, there is a big difference between ED and EA.
Early Decision is what we call a ‘binding’ decision. If a student is accepted ED they are obliged to attend that university (assuming satisfaction with the financial aid offer, if applicable). A student can only apply to ONE ED university.
An Early Action application is not legally binding. Students can apply to more than one EA institution.
Generally, the ED/EA acceptance rate is slightly higher than the RD acceptance rate because fewer students compete at that date and those that apply early tend to be more highly qualified.
Students are encouraged to apply ED/EA to their first choice university if they are ready to submit that early. This would entail having the required SAT scores, (if being submitted), transcript, APs, polished essays and a diverse and rich activity list.
Waitlist vs Offer
Sometimes students will receive a ‘waitlisted’ response. What happens is that the university has already filled its class with students they accepted first. A student would be considered only if a place opens up; which might mean waiting until July or August. Therefore it is important to have a back-up ‘first’ option. Whilst it can be extremely frustrating not to be admitted fully right away, it does mean the application was strong.
What a student can do is write a Letter of Continued Interest to the waitlisted university and send any updates to their application. There is however, no guarantee of receiving a full offer.
We hope this blog has helped clarify some of the terminology used in American applications, and given an idea of the complexities involved when it comes to university applications and acceptances.
