Hello all!
I am UChicago A.B. '14 here and I’m now a PhD candidate. I served as an instructor for a course to high schoolers in my field, and one of them wants to attend UChicago. It seems that a lot has changed in the nearly a decade since I applied. UChicago has ED now?? Not just one ED, but TWO rounds of ED? UChicago no longer requires SAT?!?! So much has changed I am worried about giving her the wrong advice, haha!
I was wondering, and I apologize if this has already been asked but I can’t seem to find the real answers elsewhere. Does anyone know what the approximate admit rates for EA, ED, ED II are? And what does financial aid look like for these kinds of students? I know that UChicago is need-blind for domestic applicants, but my student is international and will unfortunately need a lot of aid. I hope UChicago has now become need blind for internationals…is it? If she really wants to attend UChicago but is afraid of the price, would you say that I should advise her to apply EA and not ED or RD?
As a side note, it’s really interesting to see things from the perspective of an instructor who is writing the recommendation rather than as the applicant asking for a recommendation letter, haha. I love this student so much I honestly would give up my own admission for her to get in if I could. Thanks for reading ~
ED and EDII rates are significantly higher than EA. RD is ridiculously low - basically a lottery ticket.
UChicago is “need-sensitive” for international students: https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/cost-aid/international-financial-aid
I was part of the last class before ED and EDII were added, and if I applied today I doubt I’d get in.
@DunBoyer , thanks! Do you by any chance know what the admit rates are for ED?
Ughhh on the need-sensitive bit.
UChicago doesn’t publish the Common Data Set, and it is notoriously difficult to get stats on them. @DunBoyer what are you basing your assertion about ED and ED II rates on?
I’d say your student can still apply ED, but they need to be prepared to walk away from an acceptance if the aid is not sufficient. That can be a hard thing to do.
@intparent If I recall correctly, someone on this forum did the math a few months ago. More importantly, reports from admitted student events where the grand poobahs shared specific numbers seemed to confirm the above.
@intparent Thank you for the advice! But I thought ED was binding??? How can they walk away in that case?
If you are going to advise students, you need to get a better understanding of this. ED is binding with one exception – if the student finds that the financial aid offer is unaffordable, the student can get out of the ED agreement. But your student needs to get all their FA information in by the deadlines for ED applicants, and they will only be given a short time to confirm that the FA offer works for them. It is very stressful for a student to be accepted, then turn down an offer that isn’t enough money.
What does it show in terms of aid if they try the net price calculator as a domestic student? Just curious whether it is even remotely possible for them to get enough aid. If not, then I would tell them to not apply.
@intparent Thanks. I will tell her this information then tell her to decide for herself between ED and EA.
If she gets in with a good amount of aid ED, I will be super happy. If it’s not enough, I’m going to start a gofundme page for her.
Also, I looked at the numbers on the other linked thread. RD and EA acceptance rates of 4%?!?!?! That is ridiculous! Glad I applied nearly a decade ago when the numbers were at least reasonable.
Go fund me isn’t going to cover a $250,000 college bill. She needs to find colleges she can actually get into and afford, or go to school in her home country and maybe try to come here for graduate school
@intparent No, I’m saying I’ll start a gofundme to supplement whatever aid she gets, cause I’m going to tell her to apply for financial aid. If she gets like a $45k a year scholarship I’m gonna make a gofundme for the rest of the 10$k per year.
That won’t work out. She’ll have to report that 10K after the first year, and her aid will go down the next year.
Maybe you should suggest that she make an account out here. There is a lot of complexly to this.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The conversation has shifted from the innocuous “What are the admit rates?” to “Help me advise this student.” Therefore, I am closing this thread. Users are permitted to ask questions for themselves or their dependents. Everyone else needs to ask their own questions as “Asking for a friend” posts are not allowed.