The goal of any college admission staff is to assemble the best class possible. Once acceptance letters are sent out, however, the challenge then becomes convincing accepted students to actually enroll. Perk packages and a welcoming atmosphere are all crucial to the wooing process, but for a number of reasons, some colleges have a difficult time securing commitments.
With this in mind, StartClass has found the 25 colleges with the lowest admission yield rates. The list was made using the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics and reflects the 2014-15 academic year. Only schools with at least 5,000 undergraduate students were considered.
It’s important to note that a low admission yield rate does not mean a school is necessarily performing poorly. Drexel University, for example, appears high on this list, but its yield rate is negatively impacted by the school’s use of the “Fast App,” an online application that makes it possible to apply to Drexel with a click of a button. The Fast App resulted in a 300 percent increase in applications from 2005 to 2015, and many applicants knew very little about the school and only applied because it was extremely convenient to do so. The school’s yield rate fell from 32 percent to 8 percent in just over a decade because, according to Randy Deike, senior vice president of the Office of Enrollment Management and Student Success, the admission staff was forced to admit a high percentage of applicants. Drexel discontinued the use of the Fast App in January 2015.
Other factors, such as in-state and out-of-state tuition prices, can also impact schools’ admission yield rates. Of the 25 colleges on the list, 17 are located in New York or California, two states among the highest in cost of living.
#25. CUNY Lehman College
Location: Bronx, New York
Admission yield rate: 15.96 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 14,605
Total undergraduate offers: 4,222
Total enrolled freshmen: 674
#24. Sonoma State University
Location: Rohnert Park, California
Admission yield rate: 15.64 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 14,438
Total undergraduate offers: 11,553
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,807
#23. CUNY Medgar Evers College
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Admission yield rate: 15.4 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 7,771
Total undergraduate offers: 7,145
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,100
#22. Adelphi University
Location: Garden City, New York
Admission yield rate: 15.3 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 8,806
Total undergraduate offers: 6,377
Total enrolled freshmen: 975
#21. Pace University-New York
Location: New York, New York
Admission yield rate: 15.21 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 15,722
Total undergraduate offers: 13,362
Total enrolled freshmen: 2,033
#20. Humboldt State University
Location: Arcata, California
Admission yield rate: 15.2 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 11,912
Total undergraduate offers: 9,119
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,386
#19. California State University-Channel Islands
Location: Camarillo, California
Admission yield rate: 14.76 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 9,002
Total undergraduate offers: 6,518
Total enrolled freshmen: 962
#18. Suffolk University
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Admission yield rate: 14.72 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 8,786
Total undergraduate offers: 7,372
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,085
#17. University of La Verne
Location: La Verne, California
Admission yield rate: 14.69 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 8,233
Total undergraduate offers: 3,833
Total enrolled freshmen: 563
#16. California State University-East Bay
Location: Hayward, California
Admission yield rate: 14.66 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 14,182
Total undergraduate offers: 9,972
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,462
#15. Ithaca College
Location: Ithaca, New York
Admission yield rate: 14.49 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 18,207
Total undergraduate offers: 10,763
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,560
#14. University of San Francisco
Location: San Francisco, California
Admission yield rate: 14.33 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 17,448
Total undergraduate offers: 10,478
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,502
#13. University of California-Merced
Location: Merced, California
Admission yield rate: 14.19 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 16,268
Total undergraduate offers: 10,929
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,551
#12. Marquette University
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Admission yield rate: 13.73 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 21,755
Total undergraduate offers: 14,513
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,992
#11. University of Denver
Location: Denver, Colorado
Admission yield rate: 13.62 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 13,670
Total undergraduate offers: 10,456
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,424
#10. Seton Hall University
Location: South Orange, New Jersey
Admission yield rate: 13.07 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 12,808
Total undergraduate offers: 9,675
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,265
#9. University of Vermont
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Admission yield rate: 12.98 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 24,233
Total undergraduate offers: 17,797
Total enrolled freshmen: 2,310
#8. California State University-Monterey Bay
Location: Seaside, California
Admission yield rate: 12.81 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 14,684
Total undergraduate offers: 10,185
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,305
#7. University of Hartford
Location: West Hartford, Connecticut
Admission yield rate: 11.68 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 14,444
Total undergraduate offers: 10,419
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,217
#6. Fordham University
Location: Bronx, New York
Admission yield rate: 11.47 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 40,912
Total undergraduate offers: 19,685
Total enrolled freshmen: 2,258
#5. Quinnipiac University
Location: Hamden, Connecticut
Admission yield rate: 10.81 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 23,242
Total undergraduate offers: 15,319
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,656
#4. Hofstra University
Location: Hempstead, New York
Admission yield rate: 10.54 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 26,388
Total undergraduate offers: 16,258
Total enrolled freshmen: 1,714
#3. LIU Post
Location: Brookville, New York
Admission yield rate: 10.35 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 6,555
Total undergraduate offers: 5,442
Total enrolled freshmen: 563
#2. St John’s University-New York
Location: Queens, New York
Admission yield rate: 10.02 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 44,597
Total undergraduate offers: 27,883
Total enrolled freshmen: 2,795
#1. Drexel University
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Admission yield rate: 8.11 percent
Total undergraduate applicants: 47,477
Total undergraduate offers: 36,088
Total enrolled freshmen: 2,928
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