Yield rate
Why UC schools have the lowest yields in the dataset
UChicago: 88% of admitted students enroll. UC Riverside: 12%.
Yield rate — UChicago, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Riverside, UC Davis
Yield — the share of admitted students who actually enroll — ranges from below 15% (UC Riverside, Pittsburgh) to above 85% (UChicago, MIT, Harvard, Stanford). That's a 7× spread.
Low yield isn't a quality signal — it usually means a school is widely cross-shopped. UCs in particular are heavily applied to as safeties by California students who eventually choose Stanford or out-of-state privates.
Takeaway: Low yield often signals “heavily cross-shopped,” not “low quality.” Read it alongside admit rate.