<p>I know that every year more and more people are applying to UChicago, but does that really make it "harder" for one to get into the school? Do you think that the extra 5,000 or so people who apply are really qualified? How much do you think these application increases affect the stats of those accepted? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>There are a lot of people applying to Chicago who probably would nt have applied may be 4-5 years ago only because it would nt have fit their idea of an elite school, despite its consistent top 10 rank.</p>
<p>So a lot of people who consider themselves top 10 material are sending in an application Chicago way to make sure they can still get into a top 10 since HYPSM Columbia UPenn have become luck of the draw and more of a numbers game. Due to the lower yield, Chicago admits a lot more people than its top ten brethren at close to 3500 (other than UPenn which has 1000 more seats).</p>
<p>OTOH, if you are considered excellent academically and do well on your tests etc (I think you also need to be intellectually quirky), you can predict an admission into Chicago which is no longer the case for anyone eles in top 10.</p>
<p>With a one reference point high school that I follow closely- sent 5 kids to Harvard, 3 to yale, 4 to columbia etc in 2010, had kids being mainly admitted to Duke and Chicago this year (all ivy league numbers dropped to 0, 1, 2). These kids were expected to follow last years numbers but except for 2 in ED to columbia and 2 to stanford and 1 to Yale, most others dropped to Chicago, Duke and to schools in the 10-20 ranks (I think MIT numbers stayed the same because they are also quantitative as opposed to holistic in their admissions).</p>
<p>Whether or not the extra students applying are academically qualified, keep in mind that they may not necessarily be fits (or anything close to a fit) and could just be throwing an application Chicago’s way. On the other hand, it does not mean that everyone who has good stats and is quirky will automatically get in either. However, it’s probably safe to say if you have ballpark stats, have worked hard to follow your interests and like the school you have a pretty good shot of getting in. (This is definitely also true for other schools, but perhaps is more so for Chicago).</p>
<p><a href=“I%20think%20you%20also%20need%20to%20be%20intellectually%20quirky”>quote</a>
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Intellectual at some level, yes, but I doubt being “quirky” is a requirement. People throw around quirky all too often for certain schools on these boards.</p>
<p>I disagree, dunbar. Chicago is known among applicants for its quirky essay topics, and I think a quirky supplement essay probably contributes significantly to an applicant’s admission decision. I did not answer any of Chicago’s optional short answers, nor did I have a particularly unique response to “Why Chicago?” I think my quirky supplement essay, which was my favorite of any essay I wrote for applications, may have made up for those things. (I was admitted EA.) I think it’s fairly clear that some selective schools have much more holistic admissions processes than others.</p>
<p>As for the OP’s post, I think that some of the additional applicants are unqualified, while others certainly are. They say that the tail end of the generation comprised of baby boomers’ children is now applying to college, meaning that there were fewer high school seniors several years ago than there are in this year’s class, and grade size will likely decrease again in a few more years. Also, I think college is becoming more accessible to internationals and those from low-income backgrounds, which also increases the size of the applicant pool. Because there are more students applying to college than ever before, admit rates decrease and the next year’s batch of applicants becomes nervous and sends in more apps per student than those in the year before them. While the norm for an applicant used to be 6 or 7 schools, the average at my high school is now probably around 11 or 12. Thus, you have more students applying to college because of the baby boomers, and therefore more “average” kids who nevertheless are applying to reach schools like Chicago, but who are unlikely to be admitted. You also have high achievers sending in applications to a higher number of schools because, even though they are qualified for admission, they are scared of the low admit rates.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p><a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/essays/[/url]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/essays/</a></p>
<p>As a person on the wrong side of 40, I draw the line to define intellectually quirky at an essay topic called (drum roll please)</p>
<p>Find X. </p>
<p>The other essay topics are approaching Alice in Wonderland odd.</p>
<p>I don’t think that HYPSM, Columbia, and the other brand names are necessarily getting meaningfully more “competitive;” what I think is happening there is a reshuffling of top applicants who previously would have only applied to, say, H and ended up there and who now apply to all top schools and who might, after the application process, end up at S. </p>
<p>But, IMO, Chicago’s rise is different. Because it was seen as a niche school for the hardcore academics, it never had the reach of an HYPSM. With the new campaign, however, many more students are now aware of Chicago in the first place and are applying (whereas most high schoolers were already aware of HYPSM but just weren’t necessarily applying to all of them). I think it’s very likely that the Chicago pool is indeed more competitive than it was in the past because it is attracting more, previously unaware competitive applicants.</p>