RECIPES / ACCEPTANCE × YIELD
Acceptance rate vs. yield
Two numbers, eighteen schools worth of context. A collegedata.fyi recipe.
CDS C1B1B22
DOT SIZE = ENROLLED CLASS · FOREST = HAND-AUDITED
CDS-VERIFIED SCHOOLHAND-AUDITED SEEDDOT SIZE = ENROLLED FIRST-YEAR CLASS
“Four quadrants, each
with teeth.”
with teeth.”
The x-axis is how selective a school looks on paper — its acceptance rate. The y-axis is how selective it actually is in practice — its yield, the share of admitted students who actually enroll. Low acceptance + high yield is the top-left quadrant: schools that turn most applicants away and still capture most of the students they admit. Low acceptance + low yield is the bottom-left: schools that look selective but lose most of their admits to competitors.
I.
Selective and desired
Low acceptance, high yield. Both hard to get into and hard to turn down.
II.
Loved despite openness
Higher acceptance but strong yield. Often regional flagships or niche-fit schools.
III.
Selective but second-choice
Hard to get into, but most admits choose somewhere else. Cross-admit peers of top-left.
IV.
Accessible and optional
Admits freely, captures a smaller share. Common among safety-school territory.
curl https://collegedata.fyi/api/facts \ ?fields=C.116,C.117,C.118 # accept · admit · enroll &year=latest # most-recent CDS per school &verified=true # skip PDFs awaiting review