Wikipedia defines yield protect as “an admissions practice where a [law school] rejects or wait-lists highly qualified students on the grounds that such students are bound to be accepted by more prestigious [law schools].” That is an incomplete and misleading answer.
Consider Applicant 1 who gets admitted to schools known as classic yield protectors with numbers way above both 75th percentiles. Then, consider Applicant 2 who gets waitlisted with numbers right at both 75th percentiles. Why? Certainly the former applicant is more likely “to be accepted by more prestigious [law schools]” and, thus, more likely to reject their offer of admission.
Before you jump out of your chair and tell me that Applicant 1 (higher numbers) wrote a Why X and Applicant 2 (lower numbers) didn’t, let me make it clear that in this hypothetical, the opposite is true. Applicant 2 was the one who wrote a Why X. Applicant 1 just sent in their standard application.
So, what did I mean when I said yield protect is real, just not in the way you think? I’ll get to that.
Let me be clear that expressing genuine interest does help mitigate against yield protect. But it can only do so much. An applicant with a 177/3.95 is unlikely to go to a lower T14 school at sticker. Heck, they’re unlikely to go to a lower T14 school without a full or near-full scholarship. And schools know this.
Given such knowledge, a school has two “real” options: 1) admit the applicant with a substantial scholarship, or 2) waitlist them. Technically, there is also a third option of admitting the applicant with a small scholarship or none at all, but doing so is almost surely going to hurt their yield.
With that in mind, we can see that the commonly-discussed calculus has changed. It’s no longer a question of admit or waitlist, but rather admit with substantial scholarship or waitlist. Which begs the question: How do schools decide how to award scholarships?
Well, some schools award almost exclusively based on numbers. If you can go through lawschoolnumbers.com and see a clear pattern in what numbers get what scholarship, you’ve probably discovered an example of such a school. Others award based on a combination of numbers and holistic factors. It’s with these latter schools that one most often sees yield protect.
Can you think of some lower T14 schools that have named scholarships? Those scholarships are meant to be prestigious and are saved for applicants the schools deeply desire. Great numbers alone won’t land such scholarships. Awardees almost invariably have great softs, a well-told story, or some combination of both.
Let’s circle back for a second to the original hypo. Both Applicant 1 and Applicant 2 had numbers that would make them competitive for a named scholarship at a lower T14. However, Applicant 1 had the right intangible factors and was offered several named scholarships. Applicant 2 didn’t have much going on other than strong numbers and their application had a poorly-told story. And, of course, the school knew that, despite what may have been a great Why X, there was no way Applicant 2 would attend without a nice scholarship. So, the school waitlisted Applicant 2.
So, what can you do to avoid getting yield protected?
- You can prepare a killer application package (i.e., frame your softs and story well)
- You can write a genuine Why X essay (this can only do so much if your numbers are superb)
- You can apply ED (this should only be done if money is no object and your heart is set on a specific school)
Out of respect to specific schools, I’m not going to discuss my thoughts for each school, but with what you’ve learned from this article, you can probably make certain connections on your own.
So, what is yield protect really? Yield protect is what a school does when they know an applicant is likely to be accepted by a more prestigious program AND they don’t like the applicant’s materials enough to make a competitive scholarship offer. It is this latter part of the definition that is crucial. Without it, applicants will view a waitlist decision from a safety or low-end target as nothing more than a yield-protect slap on the wrist. In reality, however, they should view it as a nudge to review their materials for any issues and possibly improve them.
Now, you might be wondering why yield protect rarely occurs with the T6. First off, it does occur from time to time. Beyond that, the answer is twofold: 1) those schools assume that there’s a strong chance anyone admitted will come, and 2) they don’t care that much about their yield. Let me be clear, all schools care about their yield—and that’s why early decision helps anywhere—but some schools care less than others. And in the fewer cases in which yield protect does occur in the T6, it likely follows the same rules discussed above.
Finally, while yield protect doesn’t occur at HYS, those schools still do care about their yield, as some applicants will learn when they get a feeler call for admission off waitlist in the distant future.
There you have it. Yield protect is real, just not in the way you think. The end.
Note: This article is by no means meant to be fully comprehensive on all things yield protect, and I’m sure there will be exceptions from time-to-time. If you have a question about a situation that was not covered, please feel to comment.
