Acceptances off Waitlist?

Has anyone been accepted off the waitlist yet? Through past threads, UChicago usually starts accepting people off the waitlist during the first week of April (usually the 5th or 7th on a Wednesday or Friday.)

Haven’t heard anything. I’ve heard that they do calls and emails, true?

I do not think they are going to accept anyone from the waitlist this year. They have a much higher yield rate with early decisions that I doubt they will have any seats available. If anything, maybe they will accept 10 or 20 people this year, but I highly doubt they will accept anyone. It would be awesome if they did accept students from the waitlist this year though.

@Bakasworld It’s true that they had ED/ED2 this year, but remember that lots of people who really wanted to go to UChicago who would’ve applied EA/RD went ED. There were also less RD applications this year, and I expect the RD yield to be lower than past years. Then again, I wouldn’t get my hopes up either. The waitlist chances seem almost impossible. I would expect ~40 waitlist acceptances at most (which is extremely optimistic).

@pineappledragon Are you also considering the gap year option in your estimation?

@chessplayer101 I am, and I know @Hizeus is too. Maybe they’ll take more gap year people but in the past it’s been offered to only 15 people max.

@pineappledragon Hopefully they will have more seats available, but I think they are not really considering the waitlist. Also, I received an e-mail that stated, “Thank you for your thoughtful note and continued interest in the University of Chicago,” so I am not really hoping for much considering their generic reply. I may be wrong, however, I know one person received a similar reply last year and got rejected, so I am not really optimistic lol.

@Bakasworld haha I got “Thank you for reaching out with your sincere, continued interest in the University of Chicago.” I wouldn’t read into it too much, as some people from the thread last year were called after they got this response. Still, it’s best for us to not get our hopes up.

@pineappledragon It is cool to know someone is in the same boat as me lol. If you do not end up being accepted to UChicago, do you have any back-up plans?

@Bakasworld I got full tuition at Cornell so I’m going there if UChicago doesn’t work out. Where are you commiting in the meantime?

@pineappledragon I am most likely going to attend UCLA. I was considering about applying to Cornell University, but I changed my mind last minute. Honestly, I feel like I did not really research universities that fit my ideal preferences and my personality, and I applied to top ten schools purely on rankings instead. For example, I regret not applyig to UPenn, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Northwestern instead of Duke, Yale, and Johns Hopkins.

@Bakasworld I’m the opposite of you lol. I applied mostly to research schools. Well, there isn’t much we can do now. Even so, UCLA is one of the best universities in the world! I’m sure we’ll be fine wherever we end up.

@pineappledragon Yeah I am really grateful and excited to attend UCLA. It just that I never stepped foot on campus before and I heard from othe people that I am just a number at UCLA’s enormous campus lol. Luckily, I have thirty three dual enrollment credit that will all transfer to UCLA, so I was considering the option of attending UCLA for three years, hopefully graduate with both an Applied Mathematics degree and an Economics degree, and immediately attend grad school in either CS or for my MBA. Nevertheless, I should have listened to my gut and apply to Cornell though lol.

@Bakasworld nice! What matters now is that you’ll be happy at UCLA. Did you apply to UChicago as an econ/math major? I applied as an astrophysics major.
oh and @Hizeus where will you be commiting? (asking since you started this thread)

If I’m honest, I’m in a very undesirable situation. The only other colleges I applied to and were accepted to are low ranking (mid 50’s) LACs. They only provided either a) no need based aid or merit scholarships or b) a huge merit scholarship but no need based aid. I know it’s stupid but I’m hanging literally all my hopes on getting off this waitlist. If it’s not Uchicago, I’m not going to college.

@Hizeus

Success is what you can make out in a college. Has very little to do which school you went.

Rank 50 LAC is not a bad school and if you can excel in that school you still have a chance in the graduate school or in the society. My friend of 30 years started in a community college, but his amazing story after that school brought a $1M contract from a book publisher for him to write a biography. Upon graduating from the CC, he went to UIUC and then Stanford, and after that he became the top NASA scientist who guided a spaceship to land on an Asteroid, first in the World history. He was on TV number of times for his amazing accomplishment.

Consider the waitlist a soft rejection and move on.

I’m either going to Reed or St. John’s (MD). Both are giving me a lot of financial aid and is a couple thousand cheaper then GA Tech even though it’s my state school. I’m currently doing an overnight at St. John’s and I absolutely love it! Hopefully I will be able to go to the admitted students overnight at Reed if I get the money (at least they are giving me a $300 stipend to travel though).

Reed the cheapest choice if I don’t factor in books and travel as I only have to pay about $4,500 a year so it will probably be the place I end up in (although I really like St. John’s even though I have to pay $6,500 a year).

I’m probably going either to med school or graduate school so I have to follow the money; thus if on the off chance that I get admitted off the waitlist, I really need to know how much money they’ll give me before I commit (which is also why I didn’t apply ED even though I would 100% go to UChicago if money wasn’t a factor).

@Hizeus oh no! I’m sure the schools you got into were great (ranking in the 50s!), but if you’re going to dig yourself deep into debt, they’re probably not worth it. UChicago, like all top privates, gives out good FA, so I hope everything works out for you… Unfortunately, I don’t even know if they’re going to be taking anyone off the waitlist this year. Fingers crossed that you get the gap year option!
@Meganerd2012 I didn’t ED to UChicago either for the same reasons you described. I didn’t want to risk ED-ing to a school and having to withdraw because I can’t pay for it. Regardless, congratulations on Reed and St. John’s! Both are great options.

When do you think waitlist acceptances will start being offered? I assume this upcoming Wednesday or Friday.

@Hizeus There is a really high chance that no one will be accepted from the waitlist this year because I think UChicago filled up most of its class with early decision. This probably is the reason why the RD acceptance rate was so low this year. Also, for the past few years, waitlist offers seemed to have been released the first week of April, specifically Wednesday and Friday of the first week of April. Hopefully they will release decisions, but I think it is best not speculate on anything because nothing is guaranteed. However, I do not have inside information, so I can be completely wrong lol.