Any Overqualified Applicant Got Deferred by UofC?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
61

<p>Well, Harvard and Cambridge are better than Chicago, and I would choose them over Chicago at any time. Of course, general rankings are just one thing, but subject ones are the most important - or at least at this level. Chicago could be a good choice if, say, you want to study some orientalist stuff and eastern languages - although Cambridge is likely as much as strong in that as Chicago. But Harvard is surely not.</p>

<p>Still, the ultimate no 1 uni in the world is Harvard, like or not. In certain areas, like engineering, it’s wiser to go to MIT, but usually, it’s the best. Harvard is Harvard, especially when it comes to job prospects…</p>

62

<p>^ I think that at this level job prospects depend less on where you go and more on what you do. While HYP might have a greater “wow” factor on somebody, UChicago is not by any means prestige-less. </p>

<p>I’ve actually met several people who regard UChicago as far better than Harvard in terms of academics. Whether or not that’s actually true is somewhat beside my point, which is that Chicago has plenty of prestige.</p>

63

<p>My school’s 2010 valedictorian with a 2400 was admitted EA last year - she also won numerous national art competitions and whatnot. She ended up getting into, Penn, Brown, some other Ivies, and Pomona, where she is currently attending. I got in EA this year with lower scores but kickass essays :)</p>

64

<p>I don’t think UChicago purposely defers/rejects over-qualified students. However, I think it is really tough for international students needing financial aid to get in. I got in ED to University of Pennsylvania Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology (only 50 applicants get in every year) but was deferred from Chicago. I thought my interview was really good and holistically I was a very strong applicant. Maybe Chicago should be need-blind to internationals as well?</p>

65

<p>I was accepted into Caltech and deferred from MIT and UChicago… and I was honestly surprised at Chicago, considering my stats.</p>

66

<p>^ same. i think i defeintely showed my intellectual curiosity and i had good stats to support me… good thing graduate school cares more about stats and thats what matters…</p>

67

<p>I stumbled across this, I was deferred, but I am far from overqualified like some of the previous poster, and I found it kind of crazy some of these amazing students got deferred, so I thought I would put my stats to add to the discussion.
3.6 UW, 4.0 Weighted
1400 CR+Math
Nothing really spectacular like all of you guys.
Then im president of NHS, cellist in orchestra, A PEERS mentor,and have full time job over the summer and part time during school, just a couple highlights sort of.
I definitely don’t have the kick ass scores and gpa’s and UoC was my reach school, just because it is the school of my dreams but I wasn’t really banking on getting it, and kind of thought I would be rejected, but I have a slim hope I guess. :wink:
It makes me feel a little better super students like you guys also got deferred, but thats also a double edged sword because for regular decision I will be compared to half god, half robot students. The only thing I could really think of that kept me from getting rejected is I think I wrote pretty good essays, I can post them if you guys would like.</p>

68

<p>Intellectual curiosity is definitely important to Chicago. It’s fit, fit, fit. Saying learning is important isn’t enough. It’s got to ooze from your pores. It is NOT all about the GPA and scores.</p>

<p>I have one who got into Chicago and MIT EA, waitlisted at Caltech, rejected at Cornell and Harvard. TOTALLY about the fit. The kids we know who attend Harvard are amazing, but in a very different way than my son.</p>

69

<p>College admission is more like a marriage/match-making than a prize/award competition. The latter is all about your qualification, score, achievements, etc. If you are above everybody else in these, you win the grand prize. The former is that you need to manifest your good qualities (scores, GPA, and achievements), but then that’s only half of the story. The other party (college) needs to like you too (fit) for marriage to happen (admission).</p>

70

<p>@kilenm, I just was about to write an identical comment to yours! I was also deferred, and I’m amazed at the quality of students who were also deferred. I have a 3.9 UW and a 29 ACT, and I can’t believe all of the 4.0/34+s that were deferred. However, I’m also president of Key Club, secretary of Student Council, two-year editor-in-chief of my school’s yearbook, a complete theatre and forensics nerd, writer of online music reviews, and a lover of all things piano-y, and not to brag, but my essays were ridiculously awesome and creative. Unlike many of you, I think that my deferral was about my scores and statistics, not about my ECs and essays, and all I can think about is how difficult it’s going to be competing with people who are essentially academic robots, programmed for admission into the best schools possible. I can only say two things at this moment: a) April will be the most insane month possible for all of us and b) College admissions = the most ridiculous, biased, subjective, yet fascinating process in the world.</p>

71

<p>hey should i send a 33 ACT (36 M 33 C 33 E 28 science) or a 2200 (770 M 730 C 700 W) SAT?</p>

72

<p>I’d send in the SAT.</p>

73

<p>I would send both.</p>

74

<p>jerome, I’m pretty sure all the elite colleges are looking for intellectual curiosity.</p>

<p>maybe chicago puts alot of emphasis on its quirky supplement essays? o.0</p>

<p>2 of my friends were deferred, and they both seem pretty qualified academically and extracurricular wise</p>

75

<p>Hmm, maybe I just feel like playing devil’s advocate, but if the info supplied here is true, it does seem to me like Chicago is doing some (mild) yield protection. It’s not surprizing to me, and I don’t even think it’s necessarily a bad thing. Chicago is heavily focused on extending and maintaining its new-found selectivity, and being strategic about admissions is the best way to do that. Every school, I think, ultimately does something similar, to a greater or lesser degree (with the possible exception of Harvard…). I just know that, when I applied to Chicago six years ago, I couldn’t dream that people of the above caliber would have been rejected or deferred, even with a suppossed lack of intellectual curiosity. Just my two cents.</p>

76

<p>Chicago has historically cared little about yield and though it has risen a little recently, it has remained pretty stable at about 38% for some time. Too large a variance causes trouble in accommodating the incomming class. My guess is that when the smoke clears just about everything will be as it has been in terms of the number admitted and the number who elect to attend. It might appear they are doing a yield protection thing, but it is more likely that they have had a very high number of EA applicants and are admitting based on fit as best they can, and by deferring to RD they don’t close the door, but can also take a look at the entire RD pool.</p>

77

<p>Agreed fully with idad.</p>

<p>Also, in addition to seeing very qualified students deferred, we’ve also seen some Siemens semi-finalists, et al. accepted. I think the #1 reason students think there is yield protection is because they don’t understand what the University of Chicago is about or what it stands for. The University of Chicago is not MIT, it isn’t Harvard, it isn’t Stanford. It is not looking for good math/science kids, it is not looking for excellent humanities kids. Excuse my academic language (which may not be clear to College applicants), but the University of Chicago is, above all, searching for philosophers. People who think well, and across a variety of disciplines. A while ago, there was an in-depth look into the University of Chicago admissions process when Ted O’Neill was in charge. In particular, they were in the process of examining a math student who had perfect scores, grades, and a variety of prestigious awards. But the committee asked themselves, “This kid is great at math, but how is he going to communicate his thoughts in his social science classes or his humanities classes?” As a result, this particular applicant’s application was pushed into the deferral pile. And this was back when the acceptance rate was 40%.</p>

<p>I know this may be confusing terminology for a lot of applicants, but if I were to describe Chicago’s admission philosophy in one term, I would choose: “anti-division of labor”. We have seen that MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, basically every elite college but Chicago has greatly valued the division of labor in academia. But one look at the Core will show you that Chicago doesn’t care a bit. In fact, in the popular SOSC class ‘Power, Identity, and Resistance,’ the entirety of the first quarter is dedicated to an analysis of the division of labor via Smith, Marx, and Durkheim. In particular, Durkheim specifically brings forth the issue of the anomic division of labor in academia, wherein science and the humanities essentially become alienated from themselves. That such material would be taught in such an elementary class that virtually every student takes elucidates the University’s philosophy of academia more than anything else: Chicago does not care much for the division of labor, especially in academia.</p>

<p>This is how Chicago is different from MIT, Harvard, and Stanford, and this is where it is better. This is why it has more Nobel Prizes than those institutions… because the greatest philosophers are attracted to the University of Chicago’s philosophy and hence decide to make Chicago their home. This is also why we firmly believe that we have the best education in the entire world. It is also why the East Coast elites, who have no perception of the anomie that has occurred in academia, look down on Chicago as an inferior institution. Regardless, Chicago’s admissions philosophy is based on these characteristics. If you bring nothing to the table but mathematics or physics knowledge, no matter how great in math/science you are and no matter what level of prestige you have attained through your international awards and whatnot, you are simply not desirable to the University of Chicago. Harvard and MIT might want you, and that’s fine. But at a University that admires philosophical education above all, you will not be accepted, and any such complaints stream not from unfairness of University policies, but rather ignorance on the part of the applicant about the philosophy of the University being applied to.</p>

78

<p>I think they’re just more about “fit” than grades and SAT scores after a certain point. I know someone who probably wasn’t even in the top 10% and had a 2100 SAT who got accepted, and someone else with a 2360 SAT who’s pres of national honor society and an all-state musician who got deferred.</p>

79

<p>Amen phuriku! Very nice post.</p>

80

<p>I don’t think Yield Protection is real. Supposedly “overqualified” students are very valuable to a university, and students don’t always choose the most highly ranked school that they are accepted to. If anything Yield Protection would take away a school’s best students and only marginally improve acceptance and yield rates. </p>

<p>Nonetheless, I think schools reject/defer students who don’t show any sort of interest in the university, regardless of their strength as an applicant.</p>