Target class size vs. number admitted

[AurantiacaStella]

Can anyone fill us in on how many applicants a program typically admits above their target class size? i.e. If a school can fund 10 students, how many will actually be admitted?

 

I imagine this varies program to program, depending what percentage typically accepts a particular program's offer. Still, any insight would be appreciated!

[asleepawake]

It differs by program. The percent of admitted students who attend is the program's yield. It is higher, obviously, at the most competitive schools. There is no use trying to figure out how it works at each individual school, because it is no doubt changing all the time anyway.

[uromastyx]

Agreed, this varies dramatically. Keep in mind, this would also differ with programs that waitlist.

[Usmivka]

I cant find the link, but there was a discussion on this just a couple days ago, and answers seemed to vary from a) no more than there are slots, then go down the waitlist when some decline, to b ) 40% in excess. No one responded with higher ratios than that.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Usmivka

[Phil Sparrow]

As others have said, it depends. Top-twenty or -thirty programs with more secure funding (I'm not as familiar with those outside that bracket) will usually admit about twice as many as they hope to enroll, give or take. Those that have to be more careful about how many students they matriculate will often admit only those they know they can fund, and work down a list of alternates as the original admits decline. With one exception a few of years ago (Penn, and it was a fluke because they WAY overmatriculated in the previous year), I've not heard of any program with really secure funding accepting fewer than twice as many or maybe a third more students than they're looking to enroll. 

 

ETA: I'm speaking about English PhD programs. Others may work differently, as may MAs.

Edited January 31, 2013 by Phil Sparrow

[Datatape]

I know three years ago, Maryland extended eighteen first-round offers, aiming for a cohort of twelve, and were taken completely off-guard when all eighteen accepted.  Obviously, that's a rare situation, but they had to run around and scramble to get funding for those other six students.  It ended up where they didn't take any Ph.D.s the following year and it was only last year where they opened the program up again.

[bigrelief]

In my experience, the magic number was 20 admits for a target class of 10.  At Penn, I heard a story similar to Datatape's; they'd admitted 20 and everybody came.  They were able to fund them, but had class sizes of about 6 for the next two years to balance the budget.  

[bdon19]

From my experience last year, I think I remembe that my program initially admitted 12 students for both English snd CompLit and then put maybe 10-15 or so more on the waitlist. A number of those waitlists were subsequently admitted, and we ended up with a cohort of 16, slightly larger than the number they were initially throwing around as the target size. Not sure if this helps, esp since I don't know the logic behind doling out acceptances in this way, but I would say maybe 2x the projected cohort is normal, typically done through waitlists

[Sparky]

My program (relevant here because we have a *lot* of lit people, and yes, our graduates get jobs) interviews 10, and accepts 6-7 for a desired incoming class of 4-5. Historically, they have preferred the occasional smaller cohort rather than utilizing the waitlist.

[Dark Matter]

Just to join the chorus here, top twenty programs typically admit twice as many as they expect to enroll.