Do you all think there’s an advantage to applying ED1 as opposed to ED 2? @ReqCollatz @JBStillFlying @FermiLives
Unknowable both because we don’t have last year’s stats broken down in ways that answer your question and because we don’t know how/whether last year’s experience will affect Admissions’ (and applicants’) strategy this year. Also last year EA applicants were allowed to switch to ED2 and that may well have been a one-time offer.
It would be pretty logical to predict that, compared with last year, this year there will be many fewer EA applications and many more ED applications (both I and II), but that the increase in ED applications is probably going to be at least a little and maybe a lot smaller than the decrease in EA applications. RD, who knows? It could go up, stay the same, or decrease; I would bet on a small decrease.
So, yes, I would expect that ED acceptance rates will be a little lower this year, because there will be more applications and they can’t possibly think of accepting a bigger percentage of the class ED. And RD rates may be a little higher, if they accept the same number of students from a smaller pool. But there’s no question at all that if your main concern is getting accepted at Chicago, and you can swing it, you should apply ED.
I would also say flat-out that the ED I pool has to be meaningfully less competitive than the ED II pool. We have no idea what the numbers are, and it’s not clear whether the University will ever tell us, but Chicago’s ED II is at the moment a unique offering among top-whatever colleges, and as people understand it more I think it will draw a lot of applications from deferred SCEA or ED applicants at other top colleges.
@DownRiver55 at #60: this past year I’m not sure there was an overall advantage one way or the other as they allowed EA-deferreds to switch to EDII (will they allow that in the future?) and it’s unknown how many of the 15,000 or so “non-early” applications were EDII vs. RD - if not many, then EDII were primarily deferred EA’s as well as some hooked athletes. Favorable admit rates under those circumstances. Don’t expect the same going forward, however, for two reasons: 1) you’ll probably see more EDI applications relative to EA; and 2) Admissions will work very hard to shore-up where the application numbers fell short this year (i.e., the non-early pools) which will probably increase the number of EDII apps coming in.
RD and EDII are manufactured admit rates, btw, at least to some extent. Last cycle they deferred a ton of kids and opted to let EA’s switch to EDII (something that wasn’t advertised during the earliest part of the cycle). They can always manage the admit rates of these pools using those strategies.
From what I understand, some ed I/ea applicants from the Ivies, Stanford, etc apply ed II, which makes it more competitive. By how much, idk.
@ReqCollatz - that’s most likely UChicago’s strategy in offering EDII. It can’t just be for clueless EA’s who are given a 2nd chance.
Thinking as an AO it seems that they probably didn’t expect the number of quality applicants to apply ED2; which they in turned offered, which in turn drove down the RD rate. So with the same logic this year its entirely possible that they will now expect a fairly competitive group this time in ED2 which may mean that they defer more ED1’s to RD in order to be able to offer more ED2’s without decimating the RD rate. Just speculation. The one thing we do know is that they can, if they want to, review all the RD and ED2 apps at the same time.
Does anyone know what happened to the “list your favorites” subsequent prompt? Did they decide to remove it this year??
@yayhamlet Yep, it’s gone
how is everyone progressing along on their essays? what prompt did you choose? good luck to everyone! 
One character at a time. Anyone choosing the major with a typo?
can someone shed light on UChicago’s ED policy? If you apply under ED1, can you also apply non-binding EA to other private colleges EX. Bryn Mawr?
@friendfiend The UChicago policies for admission are outlined here.
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/apply/application/application-plans
I would read it carefully, but to answer your question, here is what they write…
“Students may only apply Early Decision to one college, but may apply to other schools through non-binding admission plans in addition to an Early Decision application.”
How’s everyone doing?
I am applying RD and I was wondering if I get an award or a notable achievement after I submit the application in January, could I update my application and add the awards or achievements I get?
Yes
Is anyone applying ED?
I am applying ED.
ED1 as well
Did you guys finish your essays already?