<p>It seems that UChicago has undergone a drastic spike in popularity over the past year. Does anyone else just get the feeling that there will be alot more applications this year? And consquently a much lower admission rate?</p>
<p>im definitely afraid of that...</p>
<p>Without a doubt!!!!! And, with Harvard and Princeton's removal of their early admission policies, don't be surprised to see a huge spike in EA applicants</p>
<p>ohh yeaaa THAT's what it is</p>
<p>now like 1/2 the top kids from my school are doing</p>
<p>EA MIT
EA CHICAGO
EA BC</p>
<p>this sux...</p>
<p>hopefully they will see this and accept more sub 4.0-2400 students that will actually matriculate?</p>
<p>I doubt there will be a large spike; the trend has been from 8,757 total applicants to 9,039 to 9,542 for the classes of '08, '09 and '10. I would say it was around 10,000 for the 2011 application period, so it'll be ~10,500 this cycle. Assuming they admit ~3,600 applicants as usual, the admit rate is still 34%. And I'm not so sure all the HP people will immediately gravitate to Chicago -- after all, they could go EA at Harvard, Princeton and UC in the past, and so they should already have some representation in the EA pool.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see the EA count this year with no early option at Princeton or Harvard for the first time.</p>
<p>I think there just might be; I know last year my school had 3 applicants, and this year there are a lot more of us applying. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the number shot up more than expected.</p>
<p>"hopefully they will see this and accept more sub 4.0-2400 students that will actually matriculate?"</p>
<p>I hope not...</p>
<p>Yeah, actually, me neither. I think UChicago knows it's on par with Harvard and whatnot in terms of the stats of their target students, though.</p>
<p>this is true. </p>
<p>it's concerning though that a lot of kids who would've applied EA to harvard and princeton will probably now apply EA to chicago and then not care to go if they get in.</p>
<p>I think Chicago knows how to weed out the kids with no real interest. If the essays show that the student sees Chicago as simply a backup, I'm sure they're likely to be rejected.</p>
<p>I expect some increase in EA applications because of the Harvard-Princeton effect, but that effect shouldn't affect total EA and RD application much, if at all. The only people actually being added to the potential applicant pool are 600 kids who would have been accepted ED at Princeton in past years, and who would not have applied anywhere else, and a few hundred Harvard EA acceptees who wouldn't have bothered with other applications. Only a fraction of those students would ever have applied to Chicago, however.</p>
<p>That's not to say that Chicago's application numbers won't continue to go up. The combination of good recruiting materials, good publicity from USNWR, the attractiveness of relatively rational admissions, and, of course, being a great university that offers a great undergraduate education in a great city, is pretty hard to deny. But I think any increase is likely to be in line with the trend in recent years, not a tsunami.</p>
<p>We're also forgetting, of course, that Chicago is the same school it was three or four years ago (actually, even that is arguable, as recent alumni tell me that the school has changed a lot recently for the better).</p>
<p>What I mean by that is that it will continue to turn off lots and lots of students. We're not in the Ivy League, nor will we ever be. Our sports teams are pathetic. I could tell you about fraternities, but I could not "tier" them or stereotype them. Our academics will be just as hard. Our core, though it was watered down, is still more extensive than almost anything any school offers. We appeal exclusively to students who are looking for an academic challenge, and from my limited experience, we're out there in relatively low concentrations.</p>
<p>I just noticed something SCOMathmo said that is just flat wrong: "after all, they could go EA at Harvard, Princeton and UC in the past, and so they should already have some representation in the EA pool". In the past, they couldn't apply simultaneously to Harvard and to Chicago EA. Chicago would have been fine with it, but Harvard's rules precluded it. I'm not positive about Princeton's ED rules, but I think they also precluded having a simultaneous EA application anywhere else. </p>
<p>So the HP EA/ED crowd was not represented in the Chicago EA pool last year. Assuming the equivalent of those kids this year still want to take a shot at Harvard or Princeton (and therefore are unlikely to apply ED anywhere), the question is how many of them will apply SCEA to Yale or Stanford, how many will apply EA to one or some combination of colleges including Chicago (and/or Georgetown, MIT, etc.), and how many will do nothing in the EA department.</p>
<p>I'm guessing that a lot of people who are also seriously considering Harvard and Princeton are doing one of the options you mentioned: SCEA at Yale or Stanford, or an unbinding EA somewhere else. I'm personally thinking that Yale will get the biggest spike (I think there's a thread in the Princeton forum about this right now), but I would guess that between a general increase in applicants from population, increased interest, and the early action switch at HP, applications in general (but particularly EA) will be up.</p>
<p>But I'm sure admissions will let us know themselves in a bit.</p>
<p>Oh, one more thing, though. Yes, UChicago has always attracted a certain type of student, one who would embrace the core and quirky traditions and everything most of us around here love about the school. With its increase in prestige, though, I think you'll find that a lot of kids who don't fit there will still apply despite the insane application. Granted, few of them will get in because I'd imagine their essays wouldn't really fit UChicago, but they're still applying.</p>
<p>Just my three-and-a-half cents.</p>
<p>JHS -- thanks, I figured I got something wrong. All EA programmes are not made alike, I see.</p>