On the matter of applying EA:
At the admitted students’ overnight program Nondorf announced that the acceptance rate was 11% for EA but only 4% for RD. You should take into consideration that there could be a stronger applicant pool for EA applicants, but take from that info what you will
I personally know of three highly qualified high school seniors who applied to the U of C this year and were waitlisted. None got in off the wait list. Two are mixed race. All have significant extracurricular accomplishments. Two have high standardized test scores. All have high GPAs. One got into Columbia, Pomona, Dartmouth, Wellesley, and several other schools.
It’s very difficult to chance for uchicago without having seen the essay, because really the essay is the thing that ties the whole app together. Chicago wants to admit people, not numbers. They will look at your essay in relation to your extracurriculars and rec letters and try to see who you are. The best advice I can offer for your Uchicago app is to construct a package, an image of who you want to get across as a person. Make sure your essays compliment your activities and rec letters as well as the other way around. And love learning. That’s essentially the number one prerequisite to getting into Uchicago.