When I worked in the advertising industry I hired many college graduates for their first full-time job. I always had multiple qualified applicants for each open job. What I discovered through experience was that the best workers were ultimately the people who wanted the job the most—they had a passion for advertising and were willing to do entry-level tasks to learn a lot and work their way up. I judged who wanted the job most based on the follow-up I received after the interview phase.
As a contracted application reader for a small, selective college I find myself in a similar situation. There are way more fantastically qualified applicants than spots in our freshman class. I want to offer admission to all of them, but I can’t, and therefore spend a lot of time trying to determine which applicants want to be there the most. Who really understands our mission, our hands-on curriculum and would prefer what we offer over any other college option? Many students profess that the school is their first choice, but they could be saying that on every application.
The percentage of accepted students who actually enroll at a given college is known as the “yield rate”. May 1 was the date by which current seniors needed to notify the colleges that accepted them whether or not they will attend. Since an individual student can only attend one school, if that student was offered admission at six places, he or she will help increase one school’s yield rate, but be bad for the yield rate of the other five schools. This week every school is scrambling to deal with the numbers. Schools that did not hit their enrollment targets are contacting students on the wait list to offer a spot. Schools that over-enrolled are scrambling to figure out how they will accommodate the extra students in the dorms and classrooms.
Colleges used to be able to predict their yield rate with a narrow margin of error. Since the rise of online applications and vehicles like the Common Application which make it simpler for a student to apply to more schools, yield rates have become far less predictable. April is the highest stress month for admissions teams as they wait to see how the deposits come in.
Why do colleges care so much about their yield rate? A big part of the answer is financial. The cost of maintaining the facilities and paying salaries does not fluctuate much based on enrollment. Colleges need a targeted number of students in order to be financially viable. We are in a moderate downturn in terms of the number of high school graduates, so those demographics mean fewer college students overall. Over the past few years many excellent colleges have not met their enrollment goals, which puts strain on the budget. In addition, yield rate is one factor that is counted in the US News &World Report rankings. Schools can move up in the rankings by having a higher yield rate and a lower acceptance rate. Since rankings have a correlation with both the number of future applicants and with alumni donations, colleges care a lot about them.
One way that colleges try to predict a student’s likelihood to attend is by tracking “demonstrated interest”. Although not all colleges do this, it is a growing trend in admissions. According to the NACAC 2011 “Factors in the Admissions Decision” report and the Chronicle of Higher Education report on “The Dynamics of Demonstrated Interest” a total of 50.2% of all colleges consider demonstrated interest to be of “Considerable Importance” or “Moderate Importance” when making admissions decisions.
Demonstrated interest refers to the interactions initiated by college applicants with colleges they apply to. These might interactions include:
- Requesting information
- Responding to recruitment materials
- Interacting with the school on social media (follow or friend)
- Contacting the admissions office or local admissions representative
- Contacting a professor or athletic coach at the school
- Attending college fairs and visiting that school’s booth (scan your bar code)
- Registering and attending informational presentations when school reps travel to your city or visit your high school
- Visiting the school and taking a campus tour and attending an info session
- Requesting an overnight visit
- Participating in an on-campus, virtual or alumni interview
- Writing thoughtful and well-researched supplemental essays (especially the “Why this college?” essay)
- Applying before any deadline dates
- Applying early action, restrictive early action or early decision
- Applying for anything like Honors College or special scholarships that require extra effort
- Sending (handwritten) thank you notes
Here’s one way to look up whether or not a college considers demonstrated interest. Go to collegedata.com. Type the name of the school in the search bar. Click on the school name in the results. Click on the “Admission” tab. Scroll down to the heading “Selection of Students”. Look at the line “Level of Applicant’s Interest” in order to understand whether or not demonstrated interest is a factor at that school.
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