Top Liberal Arts Colleges Where Accepted Students Usually Enroll
College is still seen by many as the gateway to living the American dream, but prospective students sometimes don't choose to go or are unable to attend. There was an overall 1.8 percent decrease in enrollment in fall of 2012 among four-year public, private nonprofit and for-profit schools, as well as two-year public institutions, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Despite the overall drop, many schools have seen an increase in the percentage of accepted students that choose to enroll.
[Explore resources on how to find the right school.]
The United States Naval Academy is one of them. In fall of 2011 it enrolled 86.2 percent of accepted students; fewer students were accepted in fall of 2012, but of the 1,396 accepted, 86.7 percent enrolled. The military school has the highest yield rate for fall 2012 -- just as it did in fall of 2011.
It is one of 223 ranked National Liberal Arts Colleges that submitted yield rate data to U.S. News in a spring 2013 survey. National Liberal Arts Colleges, of which 240 are numerically ranked, award at least half of their degrees in the liberal arts fields.
Berea College, which came in fifth, has also seen an increase. In fall of 2012 it accepted 539 students and enrolled 391 of those students, giving it a yield of 72.5 percent. It had a yield of 71.3 percent in fall of 2011.
Other liberal arts colleges with a high yield include Soka University of America in California, which came in eighth with a yield of 65.2 percent, and Grove City College. The Pennsylvania school had a yield of 53.7 percent, giving it 11th place.
[Learn which accepted students usually enroll at National Universities.]
Only 12 of the 223 liberal arts colleges that submitted yield rate data to U.S. News had a yield higher than 50 percent. Those schools on average accepted 755 students and enrolled 542 students. Of all National Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges, the school with the lowest yield was Allen University in South Carolina. The liberal arts school had a yield of 6.6 percent in fall of 2012.
Below are the fall 2012 yield rates for every National Liberal Arts College that reported the statistic to U.S. News. The rate can be affected by a school's early decision or early action options, as some of those programs bind students to attending if accepted.
School | Students accepted | Fall 2012 enrollment | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
1,396 | 1,211 | 86.7% | |
1,358 | 1,164 | 85.7% | |
1,214 | 1,023 | 84.3% | |
230 | 187 | 81.3% | |
539 | 391 | 72.5% | |
169 | 115 | 68% | |
1,075 | 712 | 66.2% | |
158 | 103 | 65.2% | |
133 | 84 | 63.2% | |
609 | 371 | 60.9% | |
1,247 | 670 | 53.7% | |
926 | 476 | 51.4% | |
1,228 | 599 | 48.8% | |
228 | 106 | 46.5% | |
1,060 | 492 | 46.4% | |
365 | 168 | 46% | |
1,203 | 547 | 45.5% | |
535 | 243 | 45.4% | |
255 | 115 | 45.1% | |
1,346 | 598 | 44.4% | |
805 | 356 | 44.2% | |
335 | 147 | 43.9% | |
4,812 | 2,094 | 43.5% | |
1,349 | 586 | 43.4% | |
688 | 291 | 42.3% | |
1,110 | 463 | 41.7% | |
1,184 | 490 | 41.4% | |
966 | 399 | 41.3% | |
1,163 | 479 | 41.2% | |
2,238 | 918 | 41% | |
989 | 403 | 40.7% | |
2,111 | 857 | 40.6% | |
655 | 265 | 40.5% | |
935 | 378 | 40.4% | |
1,289 | 514 | 39.9% | |
344 | 137 | 39.8% | |
2,481 | 977 | 39.4% | |
1,518 | 598 | 39.4% | |
254 | 100 | 39.4% | |
830 | 323 | 38.9% | |
1,304 | 503 | 38.6% | |
609 | 234 | 38.4% | |
663 | 251 | 37.9% | |
365 | 138 | 37.8% | |
1,193 | 449 | 37.6% | |
1,233 | 453 | 36.7% | |
1,806 | 660 | 36.5% | |
2,377 | 864 | 36.3% | |
2,102 | 752 | 35.8% | |
1,496 | 528 | 35.3% | |
1,842 | 651 | 35.3% | |
1,825 | 633 | 34.7% | |
351 | 121 | 34.5% | |
506 | 173 | 34.2% | |
2,264 | 769 | 34% | |
2,248 | 764 | 34% | |
831 | 282 | 33.9% | |
1,389 | 469 | 33.8% | |
1,086 | 365 | 33.6% | |
645 | 217 | 33.6% | |
1,231 | 411 | 33.4% | |
1,711 | 570 | 33.3% | |
1,256 | 417 | 33.2% | |
2,289 | 756 | 33% | |
1,487 | 490 | 33% | |
1,962 | 644 | 32.8% | |
3,568 | 1,167 | 32.7% | |
1,518 | 493 | 32.5% | |
901 | 292 | 32.4% | |
2,424 | 763 | 31.5% | |
1,910 | 601 | 31.5% | |
1,421 | 446 | 31.4% | |
685 | 214 | 31.2% | |
1,448 | 450 | 31.1% | |
1,631 | 506 | 31% | |
642 | 198 | 30.8% | |
755 | 232 | 30.7% | |
769 | 235 | 30.6% | |
1,458 | 444 | 30.5% | |
1,116 | 340 | 30.5% | |
2,970 | 903 | 30.4% | |
2,034 | 599 | 29.4% | |
1,430 | 419 | 29.3% | |
1,410 | 413 | 29.3% | |
627 | 183 | 29.2% | |
995 | 291 | 29.2% | |
605 | 176 | 29.1% | |
1,734 | 503 | 29% | |
283 | 82 | 29% | |
1,615 | 466 | 28.9% | |
401 | 116 | 28.9% | |
1,187 | 343 | 28.9% | |
1,259 | 363 | 28.8% | |
1,682 | 484 | 28.8% | |
1,926 | 553 | 28.7% | |
632 | 180 | 28.5% | |
892 | 252 | 28.3% | |
1,902 | 537 | 28.2% | |
878 | 244 | 27.8% | |
803 | 223 | 27.8% | |
2,127 | 591 | 27.8% | |
1,135 | 313 | 27.6% | |
1,388 | 382 | 27.5% | |
2,297 | 629 | 27.4% | |
1,055 | 288 | 27.3% | |
1,202 | 327 | 27.2% | |
2,389 | 647 | 27.1% | |
267 | 72 | 27% | |
1,374 | 369 | 26.9% | |
2,304 | 618 | 26.8% | |
2,355 | 629 | 26.7% | |
1,604 | 427 | 26.6% | |
986 | 262 | 26.6% | |
207 | 55 | 26.6% | |
598 | 158 | 26.4% | |
1,050 | 276 | 26.3% | |
2,532 | 661 | 26.1% | |
1,233 | 321 | 26% | |
2,495 | 645 | 25.9% | |
600 | 155 | 25.8% | |
855 | 220 | 25.7% | |
2,340 | 602 | 25.7% | |
1,021 | 260 | 25.5% | |
1,325 | 337 | 25.4% | |
779 | 197 | 25.3% | |
680 | 172 | 25.3% | |
2,370 | 600 | 25.3% | |
2,296 | 581 | 25.3% | |
811 | 205 | 25.3% | |
635 | 160 | 25.2% | |
3,101 | 781 | 25.2% | |
1,963 | 490 | 25% | |
1,605 | 402 | 25% | |
1,332 | 333 | 25% | |
2,258 | 554 | 24.5% | |
1,936 | 471 | 24.3% | |
742 | 180 | 24.3% | |
2,612 | 631 | 24.2% | |
963 | 232 | 24.1% | |
2,214 | 534 | 24.1% | |
537 | 128 | 23.8% | |
1,416 | 337 | 23.8% | |
1,597 | 378 | 23.7% | |
2,084 | 487 | 23.4% | |
1,463 | 342 | 23.4% | |
2,971 | 694 | 23.4% | |
1,936 | 443 | 22.9% | |
1,980 | 453 | 22.9% | |
2,605 | 591 | 22.7% | |
1,388 | 313 | 22.6% | |
2,312 | 523 | 22.6% | |
2,912 | 656 | 22.5% | |
1,702 | 382 | 22.4% | |
1,713 | 377 | 22% | |
3,096 | 678 | 21.9% | |
2,415 | 530 | 21.9% | |
2,005 | 439 | 21.9% | |
1,674 | 364 | 21.7% | |
1,673 | 360 | 21.5% | |
173 | 37 | 21.4% | |
1,664 | 356 | 21.4% | |
1,583 | 335 | 21.2% | |
1,692 | 357 | 21.1% | |
1,479 | 311 | 21% | |
1,436 | 302 | 21% | |
1,981 | 416 | 21% | |
1,370 | 285 | 20.8% | |
1,980 | 412 | 20.8% | |
2,005 | 418 | 20.8% | |
1,473 | 302 | 20.5% | |
1,928 | 386 | 20% | |
1,768 | 351 | 19.9% | |
1,220 | 243 | 19.9% | |
1,365 | 271 | 19.9% | |
1,616 | 320 | 19.8% | |
1,819 | 361 | 19.8% | |
1,858 | 368 | 19.8% | |
3,034 | 587 | 19.3% | |
2,776 | 532 | 19.2% | |
2,823 | 541 | 19.2% | |
2,310 | 442 | 19.1% | |
3,023 | 578 | 19.1% | |
2,283 | 437 | 19.1% | |
3,024 | 575 | 19% | |
2,455 | 456 | 18.6% | |
2,957 | 543 | 18.4% | |
1,780 | 326 | 18.3% | |
2,242 | 411 | 18.3% | |
2,603 | 466 | 17.9% | |
1,774 | 308 | 17.4% | |
3,056 | 527 | 17.2% | |
1,235 | 211 | 17.1% | |
3,696 | 631 | 17.1% | |
2,995 | 504 | 16.8% | |
3,303 | 552 | 16.7% | |
1,831 | 305 | 16.7% | |
1,426 | 237 | 16.6% | |
4,890 | 814 | 16.6% | |
1,829 | 299 | 16.3% | |
2,322 | 372 | 16% | |
2,622 | 418 | 15.9% | |
2,593 | 410 | 15.8% | |
2,040 | 322 | 15.8% | |
866 | 134 | 15.5% | |
3,570 | 547 | 15.3% | |
4,676 | 697 | 14.9% | |
1,453 | 215 | 14.8% | |
2,216 | 322 | 14.5% | |
2,838 | 410 | 14.4% | |
2,651 | 376 | 14.2% | |
5,100 | 718 | 14.1% | |
2,505 | 351 | 14% | |
2,036 | 277 | 13.6% | |
2,976 | 401 | 13.5% | |
4,154 | 555 | 13.4% | |
5,502 | 734 | 13.3% | |
3,329 | 435 | 13.1% | |
3,294 | 363 | 11% | |
4,455 | 489 | 11% | |
5,370 | 525 | 9.8% | |
4,908 | 447 | 9.1% | |
2,861 | 237 | 8.3% | |
1,875 | 123 | 6.6% |
The yield data above are correct as of Jan. 30, 2014. For additional admissions data, complete rankings and much more, access the U.S. News College Compass.
