So let's first understand what yield protection is. One stat that colleges consider is what percentage of those who are accepted end up enrolling. Ideally, that number should be 100%, but no one, not even Harvard, gets that high. Yield protecting is a way to increase that statistic by rejecting students seen as unlikely to enroll if accepted. For example, if you're likely to get into Harvard, a lower ranked school might not accept you, assuming that you would not enroll if admitted.

Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and MIT do not yield protect. There is just no reason for them to. However, many other colleges, including lower ranked Ivies, do.

A few years ago, one of our students got into Princeton...but was rejected by Cornell! Princeton is much harder to get into, of course. Equivalent essays were submitted.

This student was so incredibly strong that anyone looking at his application would assume he would go to Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. They would have been right.

More recently, we had a student who got into MIT, Harvard, and Yale, but was rejected from U Chicago. Similar situation - a world class applicant who would seem guaranteed to go to one of the top few schools in the country.

Yield protection is a basic reality of college admissions.

Thanks for your question!