<p>Is it easier for EA applicants to be admitted? Or does UChicago treat EA as just an earlier deadline with no "early admissions boost" (unlike Penn, but similar to MIT)? I'm applying to Uchicago RD since I want to get my senior grades and more time to write better essays. Just wanted some input as to whether applying RD makes admission significantly harder.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Just a little bump…</p>
<p>EA was ~28% and RD was ~15% this year.</p>
<p>I know EA has a higher acceptance rate, but isn’t that because of a more competitive and self-selecting pool? What about athletes, legacies, etc. EA and RD have the same criteria. Also, how much of the incoming class does Uchicago fill through EA?</p>
<p>There is this persistent myth that EA acceptance rate is so high because of a better qualified applicant pool.</p>
<p>In my mind, this is a total bogus. EA pool cannot possibly be strong enough to account for close to 100% boost in acceptance rate. If anything, some of really competitive candidates may have chosen single choice early action (SCEA) schools like Stanford and Yale and not be part of Chicago’s EA pool.</p>
<p>The admissions standard is easier for EA. Nobody with a bit of a strategic mind should miss the opportunity to apply EA unless they are gunning for SCEA schools. Even those who are applying ED to top elite schools should consider EA to chicago: there is absolutely no penalty and only the upside. If you get deferred to RD, you can submit better test scores and better fall semester grades of the senior year for the RD round - they let you do that. The only thing you probably cannot “redo” is the essays.</p>
<p>The only down side is to be rejected outright in the EA round. In my mind, if that happened, the candidate would have been rejected anyway during RD. In general, Chicago does not seem to reject outright many applicants during the EA round. If they are on the borderline, they defer to the RD round. Outright rejection means, the school knows ‘FOR SURE’ that there is hardly any chance that they will consider candidate competitive enough for any round, EA or RD.</p>
<p>Don’t miss the one time only “sales event” of the season!</p>