Gap Year

Is it common practice at U Chicago to offer admission for next year instead of the year you applied if you aren’t 18?

Do you mean younger than 18 at the time you apply (which is true for many applicants) or younger than 18 by the time you arrive on campus? Will you be a high school senior at the time of application?

If you are 17 as an applicant and part of freshman year.

*bump

Are you still a high school senior at time of application?

Not me but yes.

My D had a couple of friends who skipped grades early on and went to college before they were 18. Their parents had to sign extra forms but that was the only difference. I’ve not heard of colleges delaying admission for any reason other than academics.

Academics aren’t an issue in this case.

are you talking about the gap year option from the waiting list? the z-list?
UChicago and a few other schools offer this option for kids that are wait listed. Once the current year class is full they offer a few students the option of admission for the following year with conditions - no college course work during the gap year, withdrawal of acceptance from other schools, no applications to other schools, etc. Kids who turn them down were never officially offered acceptance so it doesn’t count against yield. But their stats will count in the next year’s class. So they are high stats kids, I don’t think age is the issue, more likely it is based on profile - specific interest or talent that doesn’t have room in the current class, etc. Also a possibility that its a strategic decision to offer to kids who aren’t full pay but don’t have low enough SARs to get serious aid. Those families will struggle to pay for UChicago and are more likely to turn down the admission because of the aid formulas.