Does being waitlisted at UChicago mean I have no chance at HYPS/Columbia/UPenn?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I got waitlisted like EVERYONE else but I'm not too bummed. What I am worried about is if this means I should kiss my Ivy aspirations goodbye.</p>

<p>Stats for context:
3.8 UW, 4.0 W
2300 SAT
770 Literature, 770 world history, 800 u.s. History, 710 Spanish
5's on all my APs (AP Spanish, government, us history, world history, English (most rigorous course load in my school))</p>

<p>Pretty good ECs; hundreds of hours of service, leadership positions, piano and all that jazz</p>

<p>Hooks: low-income, first generation, ethnically "other" female</p>

<p>I am scared :(</p>

2

<p>I’ve seen wait listed students on other threads who got into MIT and Princeton. Plus admissions these days are super unpredictable, so a denial from one top school indicates nothing about the luck you’ll have at another university.</p>

3

<p>Stop crying about it. Admissions at the schools you’ve mentioned are incredibly variable - we have many, many, many stories of people getting into only one to getting into all of them with mediocre, average, and great applications. </p>

<p>If you mean to apply that getting into UChicago’s easier than those schools (hence why not getting in’s particularly devastating for you), well, I’m not even going to bother with this one.</p>

<p>PS: Before you chastise me for being so cruel, I have stats similar to yours (but not your demographic benefits) and got outright rejected. I apologize for the brutality but it is what it is simply is - at least enjoy the hope of a waitlist…</p>

4

<p>Lilarose- hang in there! You have great stats. It doesn’t mean you won’t get in at one of those other schools. Good luck.</p>

5

<p>I agree with GreekMana - your stats are fine, and all it means is that you didn’t get into Chicago. You have as good a chance as anyone at the other schools you mention. They are all “lottery” schools, but each will be looking for somewhat different things.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

6

<p>No. I was wait listed at Chicago. It’s nbd.</p>

7

<p>If you have seen the admit rate, 8.8%? That’s comprable to all the ivies. Don’t be too worried.</p>

8

<p>No it doesn’t. Chicago tends to wait list highly qualified applicants. Don’t worry about it.</p>

9

<p>Hello Gailforce!</p>

<p>You are proving to be quite the ■■■■■! Do you have any evidence to back up your claim? Also, if uchicago is waitlisting all these qualified applicants, how do you explain their rising avg. Sat scores, gpas, and accomplishments of the incoming classes? </p>

<p>How is the college ungraciously “yield-protecting” (as you suggest) while simultaneously raising their incoming scores and class strength? This seems like quite a nice little trick!</p>

10

<p>Also, gailforce, how does duke yield protect again? Is it by excessive use of their early decision program that dissuades the highest caliber applicants (e.g. those set on harvard yale etc) from applying? Just remind me how all that works.</p>

11

<p>There is no need to get so riled up about every perceived slight. I was not insinuating that Chicago yield protects any more than any of its peers. All I was saying is that several highly qualified candidates appear to have been wait-listed this year. This doesn’t mean that those candidates will not be admitted to better schools.
As far as ED is concerned, the colleges that have adopted the policy have no qualms about stating that it helps improve their yield. I prefer a transparent policy such as this one to the surreptitious measures that certain schools take to create the illusion that they are desirable.</p>

12

<p>Gailforce,</p>

<p>The reason I get “riled up” about your posts is because of a strong indication of intent you made in another thread (found here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1468246-columbia-university-chicago.html#post15606902[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/columbia-university/1468246-columbia-university-chicago.html#post15606902&lt;/a&gt;) where you stated: </p>

<p>“There is so much self-aggrandizement and arrogance evident on [the UChicago] forum that I find myself actively rooting against the university.”</p>

<p>This, to me, demonstrates that you take a pretty strong position regarding UChicago, and monitor/post on this thread with this position fueling your posts.</p>

<p>What you have to understand is that, similar to Duke in the 90s (when it was the “hot” school, and even ranked #3 one year) and UPenn in the 00s (when it was ranked very highly), UChicago is undergoing something of an upswing. In its wake comes all of this chatter (the ridiculous “when will UChicago surpass Harvard” talk). </p>

<p>Please look at early Penn threads or Duke threads - the same ridiculous commentary is all there. As schools “rise,” such a rise is often accompanied by some insecurity, especially by posters on a board such as this. After this trend occurs, all the ridiculous talk tends to die down. </p>

<p>As I’ve stated often in the past, we’re living in a world of defined super-elites (Harvard, Stanford, etc.), followed by a host of elite schools, all that should be selected based on fit. I don’t think Columbia is better than Brown or UChicago is better than Dartmouth - there’s no use in parsing between the non-super-elites. </p>

<p>Finally, regarding ED, I don’t know which strategy, Duke’s or UChicago’s, is worse. UChicago seems to yield protect by selecting/preferring those students with very strong scores who ALSO convey a strong desire to attend the school. Duke discerns the same signalling by use of an ED policy (getting high caliber students with a strong desire to attend Duke).</p>

<p>My only defense for UChicago is that, in studies conducted on ED vs. EA, EA has been seen to be the most applicant-friendly, and ED has been shown to disproportionately advantage certain groups (i.e. the wealthy), and restrict student choice. I personally favor a more applicant-friendly system, especially because ED really only benefits the school at the detriment of most applicants. To each their own, though.</p>

13

<p>Even I got waitlisted and if I get waitlisted here then I can definitely kiss my Ivy Dreams goodbye…;(</p>

14

<p>Cue7, that was a great post. Cheers.</p>

15

<p>Optimisticer:</p>

<p>Not necessarily at all! All of these schools are very competitive, and it’s a toss up. The super-elites (Harvard, Stanford, etc.) are still a shade more difficult in admissions, but UChicago/Columbia/Brown etc. are all roughly on the same level. Being waitlisted at one means nothing, save perhaps for the fact that the admissions committee was not convinced that UChicago is where you really wanted to go. (As seen in your post, it seems as if you’re set on some other schools, so hopefully the school you feel would be the best fit for you will work out!)</p>

16

<p>Gailforce:</p>

<p>Just to come full circle on this, my apologies for the tone of my previous posts in response to your comments. From both sides (the constant self-affirming posts from truth123, vitriol from others), we’re very much seeing this momentum shift for the school play out (in ugly fashion) on this board at times. It gets frustrating.</p>

17

<p>(Post deleted as a repeat)</p>

18

<p>Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I feel much better :slight_smile: </p>

<p>@Honorlions - I apologize. I realize now that my question was worded badly. What I meant was whether being waitlisted was indicative of my chances at similarly competitive schools.</p>

19

<p>Lilahrose, you will get into HYPS or other Ivies. You have good stats, and first gen hook, u of c knows u’ll be taken by other schools. That’s why u r wait listed.
Good sign, be happy.</p>

20

<p>Ehh shortcut - it’s really hard to say why the OP was waitlisted at UChicago. It could be because they sensed she wasn’t too invested in the school, or it could be that there were other applicants deemed to be more desireable. It’s really hard to say why the decision came down the way it did. </p>

<p>I don’t think UChicago waitlists all these students it thinks “will be taken by other schools.” If it did that, it’d be really hard to keep its incoming avg. SATs, grades, etc. as high as they are, no?</p>