Advice for Waitlisted Students

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>Hi everyone, I know many of you have questions about the waiting list, so it helps me (and you!) to create a dedicated thread with our information about the waiting list as well as your questions. I am happy to answer questions about the wait list, but please do review the following information before asking, as it relatively comprehensively answers most questions we find that waitlisted students have. </p>

<p>-- A waitlist decision means that we do not currently have room to offer you a place in the Class of 2017. However, if UChicago remains your top choice, please accept your place on the waiting list by using your UChicago Account. If you are not interested in remaining on the waiting list, you may decline your place on the same account. Students who accept a place on the waiting list but later wish to decline this place are welcome to let us know of that subsequent decision by email. </p>

<p>-- We are unable to discuss the reasoning behind particular admissions decisions with students or with parents, regardless of whether a student has been admitted, waitlisted, or denied. We assure you that every application has been given the full consideration of our counselors and admissions committee.</p>

<p>-- You should accept a place at a school to which you were admitted by May 1st. We may not know whether or not we can make offers of admission to applicants on the waiting list until after May 1st, and we cannot guarantee an offer off of the waiting list to any individual student, so you should ensure that you reserve a place at a school to which you have been accepted. Take some time to explore your other options and find a school which offers the right fit for you and your academic goals, and find a school that you will feel comfortable attending should we not be able to offer you admission off of the waiting list. Students accepted off of our waiting list are not required to attend UChicago, but if you do choose to accept an offered place off of our wait list, you will forefit your enrollment deposit at your previously-chosen school. </p>

<p>-- Our waiting list is unranked, so we cannot tell you "where you are" on the list. The number of students admitted from the waiting list varies from year to year. We hope to be able to admit students from the waiting list this year, but we are currently unable to predict how many students we may be able to accept, and do not know when we will be able to make students offers off of the waiting list. We realize that this can be frustrating, and we appreciate your patience and understanding.</p>

<p>-- We do not encourage waitlisted students to visit campus, because we do not consider whether a student has visited campus as a factor in deciding which students we will accept from the waiting list. Also, frankly, visiting campus as a waitlisted student can be awkward for you and your parents. We encourage you to spend your time, energy, and resources visiting colleges to which you have been accepted, to find a place that will be a great fit for you should UChicago not be an option. </p>

<p>-- Please do not feel the need to send us an updated resume, extra essays, extra recommendations, or other materials. These are not impactful in our decision-making, and we do not want to burden you or your teachers with the time required to create and submit these materials. Additionally, we do not offer interviews to waitlisted students.</p>

<p>-- If you are certain that UChicago remains your top choice, we encourage you to send an email to your regional Admissions Counselor indicating such. We encourage you to wait to hear from your other college options and to consider them fully before contacting us; we are happy to know that UChicago remains a first choice for you, but it can be additionally helpful to you to consider the other options you may have, some of which may be a better fit for you and your goals than we may be. There is no "perfect time" to send this note, but it is useful for us to know of your continued interest on or before May 1, the reply deadline for all colleges. After having considered this, you may then write a thoughtful note which details why UChicago remains your first choice; e-mail is a preferred method of contact for this, and you may find out who your regional counselor is by searching here: <a href="https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/contact/%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/contact/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Hello @Uchicago, is it possible to know how many students were placed on the waitlist?</p>

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<p>Maroon, our official number of students on the waitlist is comprised of students who are offered a place on the waiting list and who accept that offer, so it is not possible for us to give an accurate figure at this time.</p>

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<p>Greetings @UChicago. Will you be letting everyone know on the same day (whether accepted or not), or will it be on a rolling basis?</p>

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<p>Would it help us to send an updated transcript for our fall semester if our grades and class ranking have improved? Also, if we have recently done well in an extracurricular, should we send that additional information?</p>

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<p>heyy thanks for this. helped a lot.</p>

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<p>Thank you UChicago!</p>

<p>I wanted to know whether financial aid for a student accepted off the waitlist and directly accepted student remain the same.
Also, for international students, do visas then become a concern?
Would you advice internationals to be on the waitlist?
Thanks!</p>

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<p>JasonCalv, if we are able to admit students off of the waiting list it will likely be on a rolling basis. We will communicate with students who have accepted a place on the wait list if/when we reach the point where we will no longer be making wait list offers. </p>

<p>mandiranda, if you were not able to submit a midyear report for your original application, you may go ahead and submit one. If the updated information appeared on your midyear report, you do not need to send that information. Updated resumes or information about extracurriculars is not necessary, but if you feel the need to highlight that information, you may do so in your email to your regional counselor.</p>

<p>Thorium, we maintain the ability to meet 100% of demonstrated need for students accepted from the waiting list. We will communicate information about visas and other information to international waitlisted students if they are accepted, but visas should not be a concern.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>Hi UChicago,</p>

<p>I would like to know if an international applicant being placed in the wait list pool will have higher chances if he/she does not require financial aid compared to one who requires financial aid. As an international student who initially applied for financial aid, is it more favorable if he/she looks for an alternative source of funding(eg.scholarships) to boost his/her chances?
Thanks!</p>

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<p>Several days before the decisions were released, a mistake was found in my mid-year report. Due to the error, 2 C’s were reported instead of A’s. The correction was made via the optional report right away but obviously not in time for consideration. </p>

<p>I know with certainty that I would have been a stronger applicant with the correct grades and was wondering how I should go about reflecting the situation to the admission committee or regional officer (Christopher Quintos for Florida).</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>What if the student didn’t get an interview during the RD round, but asked for one? Would it be possible to still get a 1st interview, or not?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>g8h9y8, we recommend that international students do not rely on the receipt of merit-based aid or outside scholarships if they do not have the funds to afford their entire four years of schooling. We are not able to provide need-based financial aid to international students at any time beyond their initial acceptance. Please do not withdraw your request of aid if you will need aid to be able to attend.</p>

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<p>asaf, we do try to process material up to right before our deadline; it is likely that this change was received and considered, but if wish to, you may email Chris at <a href=“mailto:cquintos@uchicago.edu”>cquintos@uchicago.edu</a> to make sure he is aware of the correction.</p>

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<p>AustroHungarian, we are not able to offer interviews to any waitlisted students, regardless of whether they had previously interviewed.</p>

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<p>hi u chicago,</p>

<p>Getting in off the waitlist is solely dependent on institutional needs, right
So once your final class has enrolled, you will admit, say, more English majors or more ppl from te south, etc., correct?</p>

<p>so is there nothing that would help us?</p>

<p>is there any preference shown to legacy students</p>

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<p>Hi UChicago,</p>

<p>I was just wondering if there is a separate waitlist for International students or is it a combined list?</p>

<p>Also, how does the admissions committee determine who is accepted off the waiting list? is there another round of reviews of applications?</p>

<p>Thanks :)</p>

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<p>johnhawkes, our ability to select students off of the waiting list depends on a variety of different factors-- first, specifically, is space available, followed by institutional needs (or really just having a student we love and wish we could have admitted outright!) We encourage you to accept your place on the wait list officially and to communicate your interest to your regional counselor if you are still interested in attending, but there is nothing a student can or should feel the need to ‘change’ about their application to improve their likelihood of acceptance on the waiting list. </p>

<p>ishfromaus, both domestic and international students are in the same wait-list pool. Our review process to select students from the waiting list can consider many factors-- I’ve described some potential scenarios with johnhawkes above.</p>

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<p>Is legacy of any kind considered? And by considered–what does that specifically mean? If two very similar candidates are from a state where you haven’t accepted many students from and you have to choose between one of them, will the legacy student be given priority? A legacy applicant might not actually want to go to the college but might have only applied because the parent that went to the college forced the student to apply. There could be also be a legacy applicant who genuinely wants to go to the college. How does one differentiate between the two or is this something that really has no way of being solved right now? And the only good idea for the waitlisted legacy is to email their regional admissions counselor reiterating that Chicago is their first choice? After the admissions counselor receives this email, what usually happens next? Does he or she talk to the admissions committee or is it just kind of passed over? Sorry for all the questions!</p>

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<p>siggyfreud and others, many things are considered as part of our waitlist process; that’s really the best I can do here, simply because our ability to accept students, and which students we accept, is contingent on whether or not we find that space is available when our admitted students have accepted or declined their offers of admission. The best and only advice I can give to any waitlisted student is to officially accept your waitlist offer if you are still interested in attending, and to send your regional counselor a short note when you’ve considered all of your college options if we’re still a top choice for you.</p>