<p>Any one have any predictions as to how the number of RD applications changed? Almost as much as the number of EA apps increased? Or possibly little change from last year? And what reasons would you give for said changes? I'm just curious to hear what other people think.</p>
<p>I would predict that apps would rise significantly. This year has seen a jump in the number of college bound seniors. As for how much they will rise, we can only hope. Of course they will be up, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is not as bad as EA. A lot of the EA crowd applied simply because other schools had eliminated early admissions systems this year.</p>
<p>Last year, we reached an all-time high of 10,000+ applicants. This year will probably be higher. By how much? I don't know.</p>
<p>So everyone knows, an article in The Daily Princetonian said that Chicago's early action applicant numbers shot up 42% this year!</p>
<p>I wonder when they will release the RD numbers for us.. maybe in february after they finish sorting out the tons and bins and shelves and masses of mail (that I sent them). Maybe.</p>
<p>Im gonna take an optimistic, crazy gamble and say the numbers will be LESS than last year. How about that? I mean, maybe everyone just went crazy with being early and decisive and applied early...why not? Or (and no offence to any RD's because this is just my dream) all the good kids just applied early. ha. HA!?</p>
<p>That's wishful thinking, but I highly doubt it, for a few reasons:</p>
<p>1) I've noticed a rising trend against what has typically been East Coast provincialism, at least in my whereabouts (wealthy and well-educated NYC). When my brother was applying to colleges, very few ventured west of Ithaca, north of Hanover, or south of Philadelphia. In the past couple of years, some of the most incredible students in the graduating classes have turned to schools like Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Hopkins, and Chicago in near spite for the Ivy League. Additionally, there's been a rise of interest in schools like Vanderbilt, WashU, Notre Dame and USC-- schools that wouldn't have been on the radar for most a few years ago are now getting a crush of early decision apps from my school. I don't know what caused this trend, but I've always thought that some of the schools I've mentioned give many of the Ivies a run for their money in areas like weather and social life. My dad and I always thought that Duke's marketing campaign was clever and gorgeous, a sort of "We're like those Ivies too, but we're way cooler than them" and I also remember liking USC's brochure when it came in the mail. (I was a bit biased beforehand, as I know some USC faculty casually and I think quite highly of them).</p>
<p>2) There seems to be a manic surge of interest in urban schools-- BU, NYU, Columbia, Chicago. Columbia had the lowest acceptance rate (for arts and sciences, I think) of all the ivies last year. Living in New York City means a lot to a lot of applicants. Considering how much the schools have in common when it comes to location and setup, I'm actually surprised that enthusiasm for Columbia hasn't coincided even more with enthusiasm for Chicago. Then again, maybe it's the difference between the first and second cities :-)</p>
<p>3) Chicago's gotten itself some pretty hot press. Diane Sawyer blabbed about it on ABC or whatever. It's now tied with Columbia and ahead of a bunch of schools in the USNWR rankings. We have had a truckload of Truman and Rhodes scholars, besting every school in the nation for number of Truman scholars, and tieing with.... Stanford or Princeton, I think, for number of Rhodes scholars. That's doubly impressive considering that our student body size is smaller than a lot of the ivies.</p>
<p>4) Chicago's marketing campaign is, if nothing else, memorable. I think it used to be the case that East Coasters in my cohort in particular didn't even have Chicago (or Northwestern, or Stanford, or Duke, etc.) on the radar and didn't know anything about the schools. (Some, of course, still don't). At least Chicago has claimed its niche as the sort of black sheep of the superelites. It might not appeal to you immediately, but hey, it's memorable.</p>
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Chicago's marketing campaign is, if nothing else, memorable. I think it used to be the case that East Coasters in my cohort in particular didn't even have Chicago (or Northwestern, or Stanford, or Duke, etc.) on the radar
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<p>Thats what had me confused for a while. How did Chicago, while not being on the radar of North eastern hs students, rise in ranking so rapidly and consistently? I mean, you wouldn't expect the highest achieving high school kids to come from the Midwest, where UofC is obviously more well known and more sought after(for now at least). But its the individuals that set Chicago apart. I really see that now.</p>
<p>Two things:</p>
<p>(1) In the past decade, as application numbers have soared across the board, and international applications increased, and there has been a lot of media attention on "top" schools . . . in other words, as admission to the Ivies and Stanford has gotten more difficult, a number of schools that are viable alternatives to them have gotten increasing attention. That includes prestigious LACs, but also certainly places like Chicago, Northwestern, Duke, and Washington University. It's not like they were ever a secret in the northeast. At the highly regarded private school my kids used to attend, Chicago was the #2 destination for its graduates over the past decade, after the local Ivy, and slightly ahead of Harvard. Frankly, it was usually a third or fourth choice after Harvard and Yale. When the students who "should" get into those schools mostly got in there (3 or 4 per year apiece out of a class of 90), Chicago seemed slightly second-rank. But as it became harder and harder to distinguish between kids who were accepted at HYPS and kids who weren't (i.e., instead of 3 or 4 a year at each school, it was 1 or 2), the quality of the kids going to Chicago looked pretty much like that of the kids at HYPS.</p>
<p>(2) Three years ago, I think, Chicago changed the way it reported its core course sections to USNWR. Before, they had looked like huge classes, with adjunct faculty or graduate students. After, they looked like what they are: intimate seminars mostly taught by faculty. That correction in reporting method boosted Chicago's USNWR ranking from the mid-high teens to where it is now, around #9. Chicago had always had an academic ranking on a par with HYPS, but lower selectivity and financial resources. It had looked like it had worse class situations, too, but when that changed its USNWR ranking corresponded much more closely to what people actually thought about it.</p>
<p>At least in my school, it seems like 1-2 kids a year was dead-set on Chicago while another 4-5 apply RD as a backup to HYP. The 4-5 who apply tend to be the strongest students in the school and are admitted elsewhere. That trend, though, is beginning to change.</p>
<p>JHS: I think I know what school you're talking about :-) If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's a great Chicago feeder school because it's quite academically rigorous and has lots of core-like course offerings. If it's the school I'm thinking of, the U of C is tied for third in popularity. (From '03-'07, 48 students went to Penn, 13 to Cornell, 12 to NYU, and 12 to Chicago). Looking at the pattern of what's popular, it seems like mid-size, urban, and elite are all very important characteristics.</p>
<p>I see your point Unalove... but if I may be so bold as to quote the wise words of Wilco, from chicago, "what would life be without wishful thinking?"</p>
<p>awww, I didn't mean it as a deterrent!</p>
<p>A bigger applicant pool does not necessarily mean a more competitive applicant pool.</p>
<p>(yes it does) V_V</p>
<p>I see a few situations in which a larger applicant pool does not translate into a more competitive applicant pool.</p>
<p>1) The applicant pool is increased, but it's not as statistically strong. (It's unlikely that every "new" applicant has significantly lower numbers, but I don't think it's unlikely that more and more students use Chicago as a "pie in the sky" school).</p>
<p>2) Yield goes down.</p>
<p>I think it's too early to tell how competitive it is to get into Chicago (I'm thinking about the hordes of deferred applicants, a large chunk of whom I imagine will be admitted), especially because it seems like UChicago EA was a "strategic" choice for many college applicants who do not think they're going to end up attending, while in my year it seemed like more EA applicants had Chicago at or very near the top of the list.</p>
<p>We'll see, we'll see, we'll see. Best of luck to everybody!</p>
<p>I hate that Chicago is used a second choice for HYP applicants. Damn it.</p>
<p>^^ I think every school that's not HYP is a second choice for HYP applicants. It's a good club to be a part of! I'm not complaining.</p>
<p>One of my friends didn't think that her admission to Stanford was such a big deal "because, like, it is only third in the country."</p>
<p>But believe me, though, the Harvard kids don't necessarily enjoy sharing with other people that they go there. They can't meet somebody on the street or at a party and have them ask where they go to school without ensuing hero worship/excessive spite/awkwardness... also, they tend to get a lot of "You're at Harvard, you have no right to complain about anything" from other people.</p>
<p>I agree, unalove.
If you went to Harvard it seems like telling others about it would be pretty awkward...</p>
<p>"University of Chicago admissions officers are sorting through 12,267 applications -- 18 percent more than last year -- for a freshman class of 1,270."
Midwest</a> college applications soar :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education</p>
<p>BAM</p>
<p>Note that that's only 500 more RD applications than last year, after the 1,350 increase in EA applications.</p>
<p>Which vindicates my prediction that RD applications would increase a lot less (about 7%) than EA applications (42%).</p>
<p>My year (class of 2010) had 9,542 applications. Chicago:</a> Class Statistics</p>
<p>Believe it or not, 12,267 applications is still lower than schools of comparable size and reputation to Chicago: Tufts had 15,380 applications for the class of 2011, and JHU had 14,848 applications. That's my way of telling you not to worry too much about Chicago's soar in applications, because I think Chicago is about as hard to get into as either Tufts or Hopkins, but now Chicago is working with a bigger applicant pool.</p>
<p>i think that the chicago applicant pool is a bit stronger than hopkins' or tufts'</p>