Hopkins upholds admissions standards despite lower yield

Despite a drop in matriculation this year, Director of Admissions John Latting won't forsake quality for quantity.

Recent statistics show that this year's yield, or percentage of accepted students who chose to enroll at Hopkins, was 33 percent, down from last year's rate of 35 percent.

Latting hopes to boost this percentage by continuing to accept quality applicants and improving the caliber of education and student life at Hopkins, rather than by choosing students based on their "demonstrated interest," or liklihood of attending.

"Yield moves in the opposite direction of quality," Latting said. "[Lower yield] is a signal of increased quality in the applicant pool."

This year's freshman class is the most selective yet, with an admit rate below 30 percent and an average SAT score of 1385.

As Hopkins attracts more competitive students, said Latting, the yield will necessarily dip.

"The more accomplished a student is, the harder it is for any one institution to enroll them, because they are applying to that many more schools," Latting said.

While a high yield percentage would give the University better control over the student population, Latting feels the quality of the applicant pool is the most important factor; choosing students based on demonstrated interest, a quality that is difficult to gauge, would mean sacrificing the caliber of applicants accepted.

"If you apply early admission, that's proving [your interest in Hopkins]," Latting said. "But everyone's the same during regular admission. I think everybody's interested. We don't want to artificially manipulate the yield in a way that can hurt quality."

Recent concerns amongst members of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) have prompted evaluation of the "demonstrated interest" factor in college admissions.

According to the NACAC's 2003-2004 statistics, 33 percent of institutions consider a student's demonstrated interest in attending while evaluating their application for admission.

The Association has not taken a stance on this practice, according to Director of Public Policy David Hawkins, since this marks the first year this factor has been evaluated.

But according to NACAC member Linda Conti, a college counselor at Oaks Christian School in California, the practice has become more prevalent in recent years -- for better or worse.

"I'm not in favor [of the process], but at the same time I'm ambivalent," Conti said.

"I can see why reaching into the depths of the applicant pool to find enthusiastic students is a good thing ... [but] I don't think a college can predict the interest of a student just based on certain criteria. It's very difficult for a college to get into the head of a student."

According to Conti, the practice hinders college counselors in advising their students, since those who demonstrate interest are often accepted over more qualified applicants.

"We used to be able to be decisive on where a student could get in -- the lines are fuzzier now," she said. "We equivocate more in what we say to students [because] we're not as confident."

Marshall Shumsky, an educational consultant in Houston, Texas, said the decrease in yield experienced by some schools could be attributed to an easier application process, prompting students to apply to more schools, an increased openness to less popular institutions, or even to financial considerations.

"If a lesser school offers [to pay] half the tuition, it's hard for the parents to justify going to that better school when there's a huge difference in what the parent has to lay out," Shumsky said.

"Now kids are being more open to other good schools ... schools that are every bit as good, just not as popular."

But Shumsky also feels that Hopkins' image deters some students in Houston, who associate the school with cold weather, intense competition and a "nerdy" student body.

"It doesn't surprise me that [Hopkins'] yield is down, being here in Houston," he said. "Hopkins has not done as good a job marketing themselves to convince people that they are user-friendly."

Latting, too, recognizes that "Hopkins could use a boost in morale."

"I do think that, ultimately, the morale of the student body is very important," he said. "But the means to that end is not just admitting kids who really want to be here, but working hard at admitting the best students. We have to be willing to compete [with other institutions] ... to ensure quality."

Latting judges "quality" to encompass all the factors valued by Hopkins, including diversity, a key focus of recruitment during the past few years.

Although the percentage of freshmen who are underrepresented minorities stayed the same this year (15 percent) after two years of steady increases, Latting hopes this plateau is due to the same factors that lowered overall yield.

"It's an issue of diminishing returns," he said. "To have a similar increase in the future will require more effort, which we are willing to give."