Later decisions better yield?

[broadinterests]

I have been wondering why some schools release decisions so early while others wait until much later. I remember reading that schools are concerned about their yield (ratio of applicants who decide to attend after being admitted) and was wondering what, if any, general effect the timing of the decision has on that number? Are there any generalizable effects this might have on the make-up of the incoming class aside from raising their collective anxiety? Do applicants make decisions before hearing back from all programs or wait (are you waiting and why/why not)? Curious what thoughts you might have.

[HopefulIR]

I have been wondering why some schools release decisions so early while others wait until much later.  I remember reading that schools are concerned about their yield (ratio of applicants who decide to attend after being admitted) and was wondering what, if any, general effect the timing of the decision has on that number?  Are there any generalizable effects this might have on the make-up of the incoming class aside from raising their collective anxiety?  Do applicants make decisions before hearing back from all programs or wait (are you waiting and why/why not)?  Curious what thoughts you might have.

I figure I'll put in my two cents (even though I never worked in adcomms.)

They'll put the applicants in three piles first.  Ones that are incredibly qualified (they send them acceptances), ones that are grossly unqualified (rejections), and then ones they want to examine further.

With the ones they want to examine further they would weed out the ones they feel make the cut (second round of acceptances) and then others that they are still on the fence about (pseudo waitlist).

Some time passes and they see how many applicants decide to enroll.  If this number meets their class size for the semester/year, then they send rejection letters to the pseudo waitlist.  If it doesn't, then the psuedo waitlist is activiated.

Now, idk where you applied to exactly, but on most of my apps they asked where else I was applying to.   Places like Georgetown and SAIS will always have overlapping candidates, and of course they'll try to fight for the best ones. However, if they know "they're the shit" (like georgetown and sais), and they see that you only applied to their program and none of their competitors, they might be more apt to make decisions later knowing they're the dream school for you.  

This is just my theory of course, I know NOTHING.

Edited February 19, 2010 by HopefulIR

[HOUBMA]

I agree with you, HopefullIR, hwoever I think it is dangerous to quantify those applicants into groupings based on the schools they applied to. I have heard this as well, the school asks what other schools you have applied to in order to fight for the best students with their competitors. However, just because Penn thinks they are a better school than DePaul (in my case) doesn't mean that I want to attend that school more. I might find DePaul to be better than Penn due to atmosphere, profs, etc. Therefore, they should not assume that.

I know when I applied to NYU Wagner, they asked what other schools I was applying to and how I would rank them. This makes much more sense to me. However, when an adcomm takes 4 months to give you a decision, preferences for schools can change! Therefore, even this method is flawed in some respect.

I dont know... They use this to determine admissions I believe, but I don't think they should.