<p>Can anyone's credentials be so good that Chicago would be a safety for him/her?</p>
<p>No. Don’t. Really. Just . . . don’t do that. Any school in the top 30 (we could even stretch it to top 50, if need be) is not a safety. A high match? - yes. A safety - no.</p>
<p>There was a guy here last year who had amazing credentials. I think he’s at MIT right now, but he was flat-out rejected by UChicago (which I actually found weird, since he did seem to be a fit).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Sure. If you get accepted at Chicago EA, it’s a safety.</p></li>
<li><p>Sure. If you are the best student at the Lab School, your teachers love you, and your parents are currently in negotiations to name the South Campus dorm after themselves (but haven’t committed yet), then maybe it’s a safety, too.</p></li>
<li><p>If your credentials are so good that Chicago is a safety, then you don’t really care, because you are going to get into most, if not all, of the colleges to which you apply anyway.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>funny you say this. While I was there during the move in day, a school official (I forget who) said, they will eventually give a proper name to the South Campus Residence Hall, but it will remain as “south campus residence hall” for now. I turned to my H and said "they are waiting for the highest bidder :)</p>
<p>Of course. They might as well have called it “For Sale” or “Your Name Here”.</p>
<p>^Oh yes. Saw the asking price for a named house :-0</p>
<p>Agreed with above. I know a student who used a top-15 school as a safety, but that was because he was a) brilliant beyond brilliant and b) his parents practically run the school. That admissions understanding was made known to him privately, so I have to say, if you’re asking the question on CC, it doesn’t apply to you!</p>
<p>There is a difference between feeling a school is a particularly good fit (for student and school) and whether that school is actually a safety for the applicant.</p>
<p>Assuming that you have sky high stats and tons of EC’s, your question is proof of the fact that stats do not say everything about an applicant. Your question demonstrates a complete lack of talent in independent, analytical, creative, and CRITICAL thinking. Are you sure you want to go to UChicago?</p>
<p>Did I ever say Chicago was a safety school for me? I’m already aware that it’s a reach school for me. I’m just asking this question out of curiosity.</p>
<p>Whoa TaiTai, lets ease up on personal attacks eh?</p>
<p>
Someone in here is certainly being critical, and it isn’t the OP. ;)</p>
<p>oneguy21: My apologies! True, you never mentioned that it was a safety school for you. I will re-phrase my answer:
Any student considering UChicago as a safety school because of his/her high stats, tons of EC’s etc. demonstrates a complete lack of talent in independent, analytical, creative, and CRITICAL thinking. Not a good start to be successful at this college!</p>
<p>The year my D applied to UofC, a classmate of hers who was accepted at Harvard and Stanford was rejected by UofC. The guy went to Stanford and won a Soros fellowship among other honors.</p>
<p>@neltharion: I mostly agree with you, but I’m sure for some there are schools in the top 50 that are clear safeties, not “high matches”. UF, UCD, UCI, USBUW are all in it.</p>
<p>What’s USBUW, for lack of knowledge?</p>
<p>ur daddy built 3 museums for the school, ur grandparents, ur parents, ur siblings all went to chicago, ur a member of the Royal British family, u go to Phillips Exeter with Valedictorian status, then SURE WHY NOT :D</p>
<p>I think everyone is saying that it is as much of a “safety” as any other of its peer schools.</p>
<p>What sets U of C apart in terms of acceptance from its peers is that it is easier for it to fall under the category of “reach” from “far reach” if you get what I am saying. Or more of a “target” than “reach” for very very high achieving students. I would never ever tell anyone to “count on U of C” for admission though.</p>
<p>Admissions of course are random to some degree, but except for those star kids, its not really a safety to any degree. </p>
<p>I will say it used to be the “ivy safety” i.e. didn’t get into the 1 of the 8 ivies, got into U of C. This is a very very quick changing fact. I would say that term went obsolete 4-5 years ago.</p>
<p>I actually thought of Chicago as a safety when I applied. Given its ridiculously high acceptance rate (compared to peer institutions), it “felt” like a safety in that I would’ve been absolutely devastated and surprised if I did not get in. Then again, I also thought of Cornell as a “safety”. I knew several people who were attending Cornell with HS academics greatly inferior to mine. I got into Chicago but not Cornell. The difference? I blew off the Cornell application because I felt overly confident. However, I did not blow off the Chicago application because it had the only essay prompt I truly felt passionate about as well as some of the most enticing advertisements. In the end I didn’t get into any of the other top ivies/ stanford that were my reach schools. Luckily, even though Chicago was a safety, it was #3 on my list of colleges and I’m enjoying it here right now. My best friend actually got into Cornell with grades that were literally half a letter grade lower and an SAT about 200 pts lower but he tried really hard on the app. The lesson? No matter how easy you think a school is to get in, don’t equate safety with “I don’t have to care as much about the app”. While I got in a few other schools which were not safety schools in my eyes (NW, Georgetown) I still ended up choosing my “safety” school purely because I liked it alot more.</p>
<p>I don’t think Chicago’s essays are that “uncommon” this year. In previous years they were, but this year I’m just not seeing the same uncommon flair in them that I saw last year.</p>
<p>I agree. What ever happened to ‘mind that does not stick’?</p>