Archived Edition: May 09, 2007 | Back to Current	Jul 31, 2010

Admissions yield sits at 44 percent
Lindsay Ting - Senior Editor



With deposits for the Class of 2011 still trickling in this week, 492 admitted students have confirmed their spots with the admission office as of yesterday, for a yield of 43.9 percent. The office had nearly the same number of deposits at this time last year when the yield was 45.7 percent, though that yield later rose to 47 percent. With a 49 percent yield two years ago, yield appears to have fallen for the second year in a row, though more deposits will arrive this month.

Over the last few days, 25 of the 516 students on the waitlist have been offered spots with a target class size of 538. These students have a week to decide whether or not to join the 277 students matriculating via regular decision and the 215 admitted via early decision.

“It’s nice to be able to go to the waitlist,” director of admission Dick Nesbitt ’74 said. Filling the class is a bit of a science, as Nesbitt noted Yale had already gone to its waitlist and could cut into Williams’s yield. “We have to have a little cushion. We’ll probably shoot for 545 [students] by the end of May because there’s always a bit of melt back,” Nesbitt said. Last year, 71 students were accepted off of the waiting list.

Nesbitt predicts a yield similar, but possibly lower, to last year’s once all deposits are in, as the office went out with more acceptances than last year. “The storm of the century might affect it by a percent,” he said of the rainstorms during Previews.

Though 568 females and 552 males were admitted, only 229 females have accepted places in the Class of 2011, compared with 263 males. As in the last few years, Nesbitt said admissions would not attempt to gender-balance the class unless there was an extremely large discrepancy.

To date, five students have deferred matriculation until the fall of 2008, though 15 to 20 students will likely end up deferring. Fifteen applicants from last year will join the Class of 2011.

“We’re really thrilled,” Nesbitt said of the incoming class. “There are some kids that will break your heart and go somewhere else, but we’re really pleased with the class.”

Those accepted include 49 African Americans, 50 Asian Americans, 45 Latinos, two Native Americans and 39 international students. International students hail from such places as Finland, Nepal and Kuwait.

With 33 international deposits at this time last year, and only 24 the year before, the admission office has faired well with students from other countries. The office will probably go to the waitlist for five or six more.

Of the 66 athletic tips given out, 60 students accepted admission at the College. Seventy-one of the matriculating students have parents who attended Williams while 84 identify themselves as first generational college students.

With some financial aid packages still being resolved, at least 47 percent of the Class of 2011 qualifies for aid – the same percentage for the Class of 2010. Nesbitt hopes this number will reach 50 percent and said admissions likes to see a lower average income for those on financial aid.

Despite the bad weather, over 350 admitted students flooded campus for the April 16-17 Previews, a record number of students hosted by the College.

“I thought Previews went superbly given the conditions, which are potentially catastrophic,” Nesbitt said. “We were completely saved by having Paresky as a haven,” he said, as students and parents alike took shelter in the new building.

Online Blackboard forums and live chats have also continued to be successful in engaging potential students. “In the era of Facebook and the like, prospective students are online a lot, and they want insider information from current students, they don’t want institutional spin,” assistant director of admission Mark Robertson ’02 said.

Fitting with past years, the top three states represented in the Class of 2011 are New York with 98 deposits, Massachusetts with 69 and California with 41. Yield is traditionally low with California and it is likely that this year’s Previews weather did little to help, Nesbitt said.

Middlebury currently has a yield of 46 percent, several points higher than expected according to its admission office, while Bowdoin has yielded 42.5 percent to date.