In 16-17, the University of Chicago will have EA, ED, EDII, and RD

I posted this in the UChicago forum, but it’s worth posting here, as I often compare Chicago and Penn.

Here’s the news:

For 16-17, students can apply EA, ED, EDII, and then RD to UChicago:

https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/apply-for-aid

This is ridiculous. Seriously, why even bother having an RD round then? Between EA, ED, and EDII, Chicago can easily fill 70-80% of the class, and have an absurdly high yield. All these options also just further confuse the process.

It looks like Chicago is leaving no stone unturned in its unabashed quest for artificial selectivity. With the plethora of plans, it can drive yield way up, drive down overall accept rate a point or two (the RD rate will be infinitesimal), and make it clear that, for anyone who doesn’t win the HYPS lottery SCEA, UChicago is there for you!

A lot of the news coming out of chicago over the last 6 years has really disappointed me. I feel like its a school with which I easily could have fallen in love and yet the ideal I imagined already seemed to be slipping away by the time app time arrived.

More bad news
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/06/09/university-chicago-cost-cutting-draws-objections

This is probably even more serious since it’s no secret that Chicago produces a lot of groundbreaking research and it is among only a handful of universities that truly have powerhouse humanities departments. Would hate to see those priorities shelved in any way

Wow. Why would they offer both EA and ED ? If the dates are the same who would bother ED?

Chicago is an academic powerhouse and an amazing school in its own way. Acrobatics and desperate moves like these diminish the stature of the school and strip away it’s very unique identity. No one likes a try-hard. I highly doubt it will end up making much of a difference anyway.