Yield: The Real Key to College Admissions

A specific calculation tells you more than you think about

You’ll never see a yield sign the same way again. Photo by Greg Jewett on Unsplash

Broadly speaking, colleges know how many applicants they will admit. Every school knows precisely how many students it should enroll as first-time freshmen for the next fall. That is a matter of finances, classroom space, available dorm rooms, and other logistical concerns. No school can manage more students than planned or fewer students than needed. Schools also know what percent of admitted students became those necessary first time freshmen the previous school year. That’s called the yield rate. The historical yield rate is what tells an admissions office exactly how many applicants must be admitted.

This is going to be easier with an example.

Let’s call it Fictional College, so everyone is clear this is an example and not a real school. We’ll also use some simple math. Fictional College needs 1,000 students walking through the door next fall. 1,100 and they don’t have space for them all. 950 and there…