The 25 most-selective private nonprofit institutions all had much higher yield rates, or percentages of accepted students who enrolled, than did such institutions over all. In contrast, more than half of the 20 most-selective public institutions had yield rates that fell below the 32-percent rate for public colleges over all.
Private institutions
| 1. | Stanford U. | 42,167 | 2,145 | 5.1% | 1,678 | 78.2% |
| 2. | Harvard U. | 34,295 | 2,045 | 6.0% | 1,654 | 80.9% |
| 3. | Yale U. | 30,932 | 1,950 | 6.3% | 1,361 | 69.8% |
| 4. | Columbia U. | 32,967 | 2,291 | 6.9% | 1,424 | 62.2% |
| 5. | Princeton U. | 26,641 | 1,983 | 7.4% | 1,312 | 66.2% |
| 6. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 18,356 | 1,447 | 7.9% | 1,043 | 72.1% |
| 7. | College of the Ozarks | 3,407 | 283 | 8.3% | 256 | 90.5% |
| 8. | Juilliard School | 2,385 | 201 | 8.4% | 129 | 64.2% |
| 9. | Brown U. | 30,431 | 2,661 | 8.7% | 1,561 | 58.7% |
| 10. | U. of Chicago | 27,500 | 2,409 | 8.8% | 1,445 | 60.0% |
| 11. | California Institute of Technology | 6,525 | 576 | 8.8% | 226 | 39.2% |
| 12. | U. of Pennsylvania | 35,866 | 3,718 | 10.4% | 2,425 | 65.2% |
| 13. | Claremont McKenna College | 6,043 | 651 | 10.8% | 327 | 50.2% |
| 14. | Duke U. | 31,523 | 3,596 | 11.4% | 1,721 | 47.9% |
| 15. | Dartmouth College | 19,297 | 2,220 | 11.5% | 1,152 | 51.9% |
| 16. | Pomona College | 7,727 | 942 | 12.2% | 450 | 47.8% |
| 17. | Pitzer College | 4,324 | 563 | 13.0% | 260 | 46.2% |
| 18. | Vanderbilt U. | 29,518 | 3,865 | 13.1% | 1,605 | 41.5% |
| 19. | Northwestern U. | 33,674 | 4,416 | 13.1% | 2,043 | 46.3% |
| 20. | Amherst College | 8,477 | 1,173 | 13.8% | 469 | 40.0% |
| 21. | Cornell University | 43,037 | 6,105 | 14.2% | 3,225 | 52.8% |
| 22. | Harvey Mudd College | 3,678 | 524 | 14.2% | 195 | 37.2% |
| 23. | Bowdoin College | 6,935 | 1,034 | 14.9% | 503 | 48.6% |
| 24. | Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | 2,536 | 382 | 15.1% | 228 | 59.7% |
| 25. | Rice University | 17,728 | 2,677 | 15.1% | 949 | 35.5% |
| All 1,090 institutions | 4,171,198 | 2,106,897 | 50.5% | 488,745 | 23.2% |
Public institutions
| 1. | U. of California at Berkeley | 73,782 | 11,820 | 16.0% | 5,467 | 46.3% |
| 2. | U. of California at Los Angeles | 86,537 | 16,059 | 18.6% | 5,764 | 35.9% |
| 3. | City U. of New York Bernard M. Baruch College | 19,768 | 5,516 | 27.9% | 1,282 | 23.2% |
| 4. | U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | 31,332 | 8,929 | 28.5% | 3,976 | 44.5% |
| 5. | City U. of New York Herbert H. Lehman College | 14,605 | 4,222 | 28.9% | 674 | 16.0% |
| 6. | U. of Virginia | 31,021 | 8,997 | 29.0% | 3,709 | 41.2% |
| 7. | California Polytechnic State U. at San Luis Obispo | 43,812 | 13,533 | 30.9% | 4,662 | 34.4% |
| 8. | U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor | 49,776 | 16,047 | 32.2% | 6,505 | 40.5% |
| 9. | College of William and Mary | 14,552 | 4,805 | 33.0% | 1,511 | 31.4% |
| 10. | U. of California at San Diego | 73,448 | 24,449 | 33.3% | 4,922 | 20.1% |
| 11. | Georgia Institute of Technology | 25,884 | 8,641 | 33.4% | 2,809 | 32.5% |
| 12. | San Diego State U. | 56,921 | 19,625 | 34.5% | 5,054 | 25.8% |
| 13. | City U. of New York Hunter College | 28,935 | 10,031 | 34.7% | 2,080 | 20.7% |
| 14. | City U. of New York Brooklyn College | 20,260 | 7,158 | 35.3% | 1,358 | 19.0% |
| 15. | California State U. at Long Beach | 57,322 | 20,326 | 35.5% | 4,335 | 21.3% |
| 16. | U. of California at Santa Barbara | 66,813 | 24,283 | 36.3% | 4,738 | 19.5% |
| 17. | Colorado School of Mines | 12,340 | 4,501 | 36.5% | 999 | 22.2% |
| 18. | City U. of New York York College | 13,726 | 5,096 | 37.1% | 994 | 19.5% |
| 19. | City U. of New York John Jay College of Criminal Justice | 13,884 | 5,180 | 37.3% | 1,763 | 34.0% |
| 20. | U. of California at Irvine | 66,515 | 24,890 | 37.4% | 5,435 | 21.8% |
| All 530 institutions | 5,213,060 | 3,131,404 | 60.1% | 1,008,932 | 32.2% |
Note: Yield refers to the percentage of freshmen accepted for admission who enroll at a given institution. Only first-time, degree- or certificate-seeking freshmen who enrolled either full time or part time are counted. In the ranking for private nonprofit institutions, only institutions that reported that they enrolled at least 100 first-time freshmen in 2014 are included. In the rankings for public institutions, only those that reported that they enrolled at least 500 first-time freshmen in 2014 are included. Overall figures, however, include institutions of all sizes. Percentages are rounded, but institutions were ranked before rounding. Send comments or questions to ruth.hammond@chronicle.com.
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data