<p>Well I guess there is a fundamental difference in how we view deferrals. I do not view deferred students, in their current state, as serious contenders for spots. Instead, they are dark horses who can gain admission either because 1) They somehow greatly improve their application profile, or because 2) There are not enough RD applicants worth admitting. You know how some kids choose not to apply early to schools because they think they need better senior grades or something? Well, in my opinion, a deferral gives them a chance to apply early and then, if deferred, later woo admissions with these improvements.</p>
<p>Calexico:</p>
<p>The problem with that line of thinking is that some students were deferred who have very good admissions profiles. My son was 33 ACT, 3.9 UW with a very challenging courseload.</p>
<p>What is a student like that supposed to provide to prove that the first 3 years of high school weren’t a fluke? Not that much has changed between Nov 1 and Jan 1. I think that if U of Chicago wants to deny him admission then someone at the University should deny him. </p>
<p>He is a big boy he can handle it. I think that kids who apply early do so because they want an answer early in the process. Deferring them does not really give them an answer.</p>
<p>I had a 2370 and a 3.9 UW and I did not think my deferral was unfair in any way, knowing that Columbia accepts very few deferred applicants each year. Deferred applicants have a chance to make a second case for admission between November and January/February. For some people, the area of improvement might be academics, which is not the case for your son. For others, an impressive award or extracurricular activity might help enough to gain an admission. That is my interpretation of the practice of deferrals. I just don’t understand why someone would get mad about getting another chance. If you would rather get rejected than deferred, then just call Chicago and withdraw your application (if you haven’t done so already).</p>
<p>There is really very little opportunity to improve a student record over the next few months, unless grades were an issue. For those students with 3.8’s and 3.9’s, what in the world could they do better? Another award? Likely the same that they have been getting all along. What are the opportunities to win a tremendously significant award over the next few months? And remember, the window isn’t until April 1. Once they pass you by much earlier in the process, you’re likely done unless you grab a Nobel Prize.</p>
<p>There is still an opportunity to make your case though, no matter how small. And I don’t know about most schools, but I have heard that Columbia looks at deferred applicants last, which could be interpreted as good/bad, but at least leaves plenty of time to improve the application.</p>
<p>Once again, why would anyone complain about getting a second chance? A 1% chance of success is always better than a 0% chance.</p>
<p>I don’t have a student in this situation… but I think that if one of my sons was deferred with such a small chance of admission, he would take it as a “soft rejection” and move on from there without looking back. If being deferred left a bad taste in his mouth, to the degree that he really would not want to go there even if later admitted, I would tell him to either withdraw his application, or to enjoy telling the school "too little, too late’’ should they later accept him.</p>
<p>Something that has not been mentioned is that sometimes there is a deferral instead of an outright rejection for “political” purposes, i.e., the college does not want to hurt a relationship with a high school. The same thing also often happens later in the admissions season, when some applicants are waitlisted instead of outright rejected.</p>
<p>boysx3,</p>
<p>It all depends on the student’s love, desire and motivation. If the school is truly his/her first choice, there is a chance, if he/she worked at it.</p>
<p>Including my DD, I know two unhooked kids got off the waitlist from Chicago. They all worked hard to get in, they recieved their reward. With your attitude, I think these two kids won’t even have a chance. And, as you know, it is LOT harder to get off the waitlist than the deffered list.</p>
<p>Can deferred students still upload materials onto the UChicago account?</p>
<p>fireoftheheart, yes, deferred students may still upload materials in to their UChicago Account.</p>
<p>I’m just wondering what is the difference between deferral and wait-list?</p>
<p>BlackBunny, only students who apply Early Action may be deferred; we re-evaluate those students’ applications with our regular decision pool and then give them their final decision, either accept, deny, or, in very rare cases for deferred students, wait list. About 10% of our deferred students are traditionally accepted. Students may only be wait-listed from the regular decision round. We do accept a small number of students off of the wait list every year.</p>
<p>Ah OK. Since UChicago’s decision will be released in late March/ early April, if a RD applicant is waitlisted then when will they know whether they get accepted or rejected?</p>
<p>It depends-- since we take students off of the wait list depending on available space, a student could hear back any time after decisions come out up until June. We encourage waitlisted students to deposit and plan to attend a college to which they were accepted, since we often notify waitlisted students of their acceptance to UChicago after the deadline to accept a place at another college has passed. I will follow with more information about the wait list after we release our decisions in late March.</p>
<p>@Calexico I totally agree with you! I don’t know why people would prefer being rejected… I mean, this is how it works. You’re a very strong applicant, then you get accepted; you’re not as competent as others, then you should admit that and keep on improving yourself. I got deferred from Columbia as well, by the way.</p>
<p>I am a deferred applicant and would like to have an interview with an alumni but am having trouble requesting one through my UChicago account. How can I request an interview off-campus? Thank you!</p>
<p>UChicago,</p>
<p>Any decision yet regarding when they will release the numbers of deferred and rejected EA applicants? If not, why the delay?</p>
<p>Although I do not know UChicago’s figures, I have read that Yale deferred 55% of its early applicants and MIT about 62%. UChicago MAY be in the same ball park.</p>
<p>(A few schools, not many–I think Northwestern was one–decided to defer hardly any students and apparently either accepted or rejected them on the spot.)</p>
<p>These days it is fairly common for employers to go through 4-6 rounds of interviews with job applicants before committing, so college admissions may not be much more onerous.</p>
<p>Is UChicago need aware while making admission decision for an international applicant?</p>
<p>I did notice a trend in the EA admits, lots of first generation, some URMs, athletes, etc. I often think that EA/ED schools grab those kids early if they can and lots of very well qualified un-hooked kids are deferred to RD. I don’t necessarily see anything wrong with this situation. My son has wonderful statistics, better than many of the admits, but he isn’t very interesting otherwise, just your basic white, middle class, well rounded kid. I get that there are a lot of those applying and so why no defer them until the RD and then fill out the class as needed?</p>
<p>I expect that he will be rejected or waitlisted. Chicago wants to build an interesting, diverse class and that’s admirable. Unfortunately for the many kids like my son, there are just very few spots left over. </p>
<p>FYI his stats so you can see what I mean
4.0 uw
14 APs (all 5s so far), 12 Honors
2340 SAT 1 sitting, 800 mathII, 740 UShistory
NMF, AP scholar with distinction, various awards
Normal ECs
Great recs, he picked good teachers to ask
Great counselor rec I am sure, counselor is a good guy.</p>
<p>Jamiecakes, I agree with most of what you’ve said but to me it seems completely fair. If your son hasn’t done anything to make him stand out he shouldn’t expect to stand out. That’s how it works in everything from college admissions to job interviews. If you don’t differentiate yourself you might still get lucky, but you shouldn’t/can’t count on it, and this is pretty fair.
For comparison, I was a recruited athlete but had very similar stats to your son.
4.0 unweighted, 35 act, 800 Math II, 800 Biology. On top of this I was also ranked very high nationally for my sport and 2nd in the state. This is in addition to other regular EC’s and taking 4 advanced math classes at a University. I may (or may not) have been slightly above average for this years admits, but I’d disagree with your assertion that your son has better stats than most of the admits. Judging from my experience and also talking to other admitted students he is very meh.</p>