Ask away- it's UChicago Prospective Students Advisory Committee

<p>Paper Chaser- everything that is submitted for your son’s application will be read before making a decision. Because of mail (see my new Your Application Materials post) it may take a while before everything is ready to go in his file, or anyone else’s file- don’t worry about it, order in which things come in by mail will not change his chance of admission :)</p>

<p>Chitowngirl- see my new post on the main board, but know that we’ve got tons of mail coming in right now, and it may take a while for everything you’ve sent in to show up in your Chicago Account. Don’t worry! It will all be listed there eventually, and we’ll let you know if anything required seems to be missing with ample time to get it all in.</p>

<p>hi grace…</p>

<p>…i just realized that on my application i wrote that i had taken math II instead of math IIC… </p>

<p>is this a big deal? i mean, i did send the official score report from collegeboard…and ugh…i’m so stupid. should i email my regional counselor?</p>

<p>After I pressed submit, I suddenly realized that I was supposed to do the supplemental teacher rec in paper form, from the supplement instructions, but I did all 3 recs online, did I read something wrong, or should I redo the supplemental rec, or not bother at all?</p>

<p>hi grace, sorry for consistently bothering.
re: the chicago account - i submitted my app on the afternoon of 30 oct CDT. my common app doesn’t seem to have been linked to my chicago account at all, let alone show the stuff about documents coming in.
my regional counsellor appears to be inaccurate as well: i’m an international student, but the one indicated for me is ms brumfield. </p>

<p>should i call the admissions officer or wait a little longer?
thanks much!</p>

<p>qwt2- SAT II Subject tests are not required at all, so this is definitely not a problem, and you should not contact your counselor.</p>

<p>ponder- if you were able to successfully submit all three recs online, then you’re fine- don’t worry about it.</p>

<p>resolutely- the boundaries for admissions counselors changed this year, and there are some with small overlapping areas that may not appear defined on our Contact Us page, so it is quite possible that Ms. Brumfeld is the counselor you should talk to. Wait out the Chicago Account- as long as you have one, you should see your credentials come in to that in the coming weeks.</p>

<p>Grace, I didn’t see an answer to my question #158… My D sent in her EA app on Sunday and she did get a mail from UC confirming receipt plus pointers to FA pages etc, but no mention of an account. She hasn’t had an interview, are the accounts still being processed and will there still be time to set one up or did the deadline of yesterday Nov 3 not change? I saw your other note about not calling or emailing the office, but wonder if the volume of apps and the deadline being on a weekend may have caused delays and will extend the interview request opportunity.</p>

<p>Jackie- sorry your question slipped through the cracks! There have been some delays in setting up accounts because of the overwhelming volume of information that came in over the weekend. I am not sure about an extension of the interview request time because of this, but if I hear about anything I will let you know. If she is not able to set up an account by the end of this week, then you should call the office.</p>

<p>thanks Grace! Sounds like there were a lot of last minute filers, why am I not surprised, will be interesting to see what the overall EA numbers are compared to previous years. I hope they will try to accommodate these kids and at least let them put in a request, even if not all the interviews are able to be scheduled.</p>

<p>Do we have to send our first quarter grades of senior year if we’re applying EA?</p>

<p>You’ll send them in as part of your midyear report (required of both EA and RD applicants) later in the year- we’ll request this information from you when it is time.</p>

<p>Hi Grace,
I’ve scheduled an interview and overnight stay at the University for Thursday and Friday next week. I am a little confused about how interviewing relates to my application and just want to make sure I have everything set. I have not submitted any part of my application yet, but am planning on having the supplement finished before my appointment. Must a certain part of it be received by you any length of time before my interview? </p>

<p>Thank you for your help.</p>

<p>Grace, I mailed my application on Saturday, October 31st. The University should have received it yesterday. Regarding an applicant’s opportunity to interview, you mentioned earlier that the deadline to schedule an interview is November 3rd. However, for those of us who mailed in applications, we won’t get a Chicago account number until well after that deadline. Will I be able to interview? FWIW, I live in a very large metro area with many Chicago alum.</p>

<p>@dorislessing- it is not necessary to have finished your application before an interview (as long as you are RD)- the interview is a time to get to know a bit more about you as a person, and to make sure you can have some “Face Time” with our in-office interviewers, who all have some connection to the University (alumni, admissions counselors, graduate student admissions assistants, and some select 4th year students) and will be able answer any questions you may have. They will not have seen your application or use it during your interview, so just come ready to talk about things you’ve done in high school and want to continue doing in college!</p>

<p>General answer on all of the questions about alumni interviews- I realize that many of you may have had some difficulty setting up your Chicago accounts, or may not have received them in enough time to request an alumni interview, but the date for requesting alumni interviews for EA applications has passed (the final day was Nov. 3), so requesting an alumni interview is no longer possible. We have too great a demand for interviews and too little time to complete them before EA decisions come out to allow requests beyond the 3rd. Because the demand for interviews is so high, and we cannot interview every applicant, they are optional, so if you didn’t request one in time you shouldn’t worry about it! Plenty of people are admitted without interviewing with an alum or on campus (and plenty of people are rejected with such as well!). Seriously! As our website says, “Please be aware that we will not be able to accommodate all interview requests. As a reminder, interviews are not required, and if you are unable to have one there will be no effect on your application.” Message: don’t. worry. about. it.
So, sorry to all of you who were hoping to get one, but as the deadline has passed it is no longer possible. :(</p>

<p>Thank you. It sounds like lots of fun!</p>

<p>UChicagoPSAC, can you honestly say that interviews make no difference whatsoever? I think it’s pretty bush league for Chicago to punish kids by not letting them interview because your intake office can’t get accounts set up by November 3.</p>

<p>Old College – if you read what Grace wrote carefully, I think you will see that the problem is that they don’t have enough alumni with enough time to do any more interviews in the next 3-4 weeks (which is essentially when the interviews would have to happen to provide any input into the EA decision). Maybe that IS bush league, but there’s nothing Chicago can do short-term to magically expand the number of trained interviewers or the time they have available to do this work.</p>

<p>Realistically, this is going to mean that all interview information is going to be discounted, because everyone is aware that not all applicants have had the opportunity to be interviewed. So I expect three consequences: (1) Applicants who might have been rejected outright at the EA stage, but who have not been interviewed, may be deferred to permit them to be interviewed if there is any chance that an interview could push them into the “accept” pile. (2) Applicants who might have been accepted based in part on positive interview information may be deferred to see how they stack up once everybody who wants an interview has gotten one. (3) A few applicants who might otherwise be deferred, but who have strong applications, may be accepted instead, since their relatively weak or nonexistent interview results will matter less. I would bet all these marginal things affect very few students total, with applicants as likely to be benefited as harmed by not having had an interview.</p>

<p>S1 was admitted without an interview. Not interviewing has in the past not been detrimental.</p>

<p>Chicago is on this big drive to increase the number of applications in order to lower their acceptance rate numbers. That’s fine and all but they don’t seem to have the staff to pull it off this year. Seems to me that the more delays in teeing up the apps the less the adcoms can spend on each application.</p>