Sobering Statistic --EA/ED1 class of 2017 -University of Chicago

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
41

One thing Chicago,has over lots of other schools…it uses the FAFSA to calculate need based aid. There is a very short University of Chicago form…but it does not have the detail or questions that the Profile or Princeton’s finaid form have.

In addition, Chicago does not ask for financial information from non-custodial parents.

This opens the door for a number of applicants who might not otherwise even consider this school.

42

In light of all above, how does an EA admit chance of getting any merit aid? No bargaining power, as EDs will provide the yield needed?

43

Well, it’s nothing profound. It consists of two parts:

  1. Given that it was UChicago's first year with ED1 and ED2, they would want to send a clear signal that they preferred ED applicants over equivalent EA/RD applicants for the purpose of influencing behavior in future years. Since we were full pay everywhere, and D's clear first choice was UChicago, she did ED1 and was accepted.
  2. Given that there will be many highly qualified applicants deferred from HYPSM, many of them might be very interested in locking in admission to a near-peer, rather than dropping down to the level of Vanderbilt or Tufts.For this reason, ED2 would be highly competitive.

There is a third factor that I didn’t anticipate, which may further ratchet up the competitiveness of the ED2 pool:

  1. UChicago EA applicants that were deferred are encouraged to convert their application to ED2.
44

Actually, I think EA/RD applicants have the most bargaining power in terms of merit. ED1/2 applicants have none.

45

@hebegebe UChicago “a near peer” ? Hardly. Definitely a peer.

46

I agree, definitely a peer. The timing of the EDII was brilliant.

47

The financial aid stuff is a real change from the past. Chicago was much more aggressive than many of its peers about assuming that people could/would liquidate assets, including retirement savings, to pay for college, and in valuing closely held businesses. If they have abandoned or mitigated that, and are giving a free pass to children of divorce who primarily live with their lower-income parent, that could indeed distinguish Chicago as a bargain for some subset of highly desirable students.

48

It is a double-edged sword. If more of the class is filled in the ED rounds, they will not have to fight over as many kids in the RD round and may be able to limit the amount of merit offered.

49

As with admissions, in the end it doesn’t matter how much merit aid you offer; it matters how much of what you offer gets accepted. Chicago has been pretty aggressive the past few years in deploying its merit dollars to get the class it wants. I highly doubt the changes this year were in any way connected with a desire to use less merit. Rather, I suspect they plan to use the same or more merit money even more effectively.

50

Can we derive ED I acceptance rates from these stats?

51

800-900