admisionquestion wrote:
MumofCad wrote:I think all will most likely get in. I think Duke has found a way to game the YP dilemma with these provisional acceptances.
What are you saying, I don't get it?
I'm just speculating but....The wording of the "acceptance" email is funny. It almost makes it sound like it could be deemed a "provisional" admittance with the "real" admittance coming in Dec. I'm wondering if they've found a way to work the USNWR system by not counting these people with high numbers as actual admits until they've shown a definite interest in Dec through further filling out of an application for scholarship money, at which time they get their "official" acceptance according to the email - happens to be after many will have found out from Michigan, Harvard, etc. that they are in there and withdrawn from Duke, perhaps before Duke has to consider them "official" admits. It would explain why Duke's graph is uncharacteristically green in that upper quadrant. It seems like compared to peers they are able to accept a lot of people with numbers that are ridiculously high. Almost none end up actually going to Duke though if you look at LSN and I doubt most of the people let in through this first round of PT decisions will end up there either (they will all get into higher-ranked schools, probably even with money).
It would be a clever, lawerly move to avoid the YP conundrum - send out PT to everyone with number profiles you know you would normally have to YP, but don't offer any of them official admittances to hurt your YP numbers until late in the game when they will have received decisions from schools that are likely to steal them away. Then you make them fill out another form, essentially a LOCI, right before you would have otherwise been making a blind decision and then officially admit the handful that are left hoping their continued interest signifies they either didn't get into those other schools, aren't happy with the $$$$ they received, or are otherwise set on Duke for some other reason. Better indication than any 1 page "why Duke" could ever be that they might actually attend....Just speculation of course. I have no idea how these things actually work. But if what I'm saying is true, bravo to Duke. Using yield as a metric creates this absurd YP thing that makes the job of schools in their range unnecessarily difficult, stresses out candidates, and really has very little to do with the quality of the education at an institution as it merely create a tautological response from those accepted. If they've found a way around it, everyone else should follow.