@TheGuy1 Can you post a link to the story. Sounds interesting!
Are we allowed to here? @browniesundae
It’s one from allen cheng (sorry if the spelling’s wrong).
It’s pertaining to harvard, but he jabs at top colleges as well.
I’ll link it here nevertheless when I find it. (It’s not always at hand on me, and i havent bookmarked it. I’ll surf on the net and get it)
Btw it doesnt speak about only the topic in question, so there’ll be some diggin’ to do in the article.
@TheGuy1: assuming that you are asking why UChicago specifically has leaped in the rankings and experienced a steep decline in the admit rate . . . that’s the topic of hundreds upon hundreds of CC posts over the years. There are cynical narratives and others that are not so cynical. My own take, in a nutshell, is that the College was an under-utilized asset for decades while attention was focused on the graduate divisions, and it’s now in its proper position. That’s great news. There were quite a few steps to make that happen - you can read about it in Dean Boyer’s history of the university (available on Amazon) - and it’ll take some work to keep there.
College application numbers soared once the Common Ap. became standard. Elite schools are seeing ever-larger application numbers, including early apps. UChicago is unique in that it has always attracted a huge number of early applications but the +2,000 jump this year is pretty astounding. Whether that was due to The Empower Initiative (including going Test Optional) or something else - not sure.
That article you read has probably captured a good amount of truth if applicants are applying with a “What the hell” attitude. Or if they have a great list of schools . . . but SCEA at HYPS “just because it’s Harvard” etc. That’s a really dumb reason to apply anywhere and a total waste of a good early option somewhere. The smart applicant needn’t worry about most of those types of applications. He/she may find, however, that as colleges are reaching out more to the non-traditional candidates (say, low SES or first gen) the playing field might, indeed become a bit tougher. Some of those kids are going to be diamonds in the rough and very attractive to the Ad Comms. And these schools are leaving no stone unturned. UChicago is no exception - in fact, they have only increased efforts over the past couple of years. Many view that as simply a PR stunt, but I suspect Dean Nondorf might be more genuinely committed to the cause here than people suspect. So yeah - you are going to see admit rates plummet further, just when you thought they were too low as is. #-o 
@JBStillFlying I agree, but it’s kind of taxing on the apps side and the Adcom’s side as the years go by.
The problem here is people wont stop even if they know they dont have a chance/still just want to try it for the name sake (or for no other valid reason). THe no. of these apps are surprisingly high.
There must be efficiencies of some sort that AO’s are employing in order to get through so many apps. And at $70-$80 per, it’s an easy money maker.
GU refuses to join the Common Ap. precisely in order to keep the numbers down. Other schools could follow suit but then the complaint would be how tedious it is to fill out all these distinct applications . . . couldn’t schools get together and devise a more Common Application? LOL. Theres no perfect solution that will please everyone.
True. Well, we cant do anything about it.
Can’t do anything about it, nor is it as hopeless as it seems. Too many applicants throw there name in the hat for too many schools but that simply means more work for the adcom (and more fee money for the school) for apps that aren’t competitive, and by competitive I mean in all phases (essays, scores, grades, EC’s). It really does eliminate at least 50%. How many times do you hear about someone who forgets to change the name of the school in the why us essay. Its a quick elimination when you forget to change Rice to Princeton. The real increase in competive apps come from those who need FA. Before the top privates were simply out of reach for those who couldn’t pay the high tuition, now the colleges meeting full need they are attracting a lot more qualified applicants who would not have applied before.
According to Jim Nondorf at the summer recruiting visit for the class of '22 (two summers ago). He said in a paraphrase: We could eliminate the entire first class of admitted students, and the entire 2nd class of admitted students and stick with the 3rd admitted class and have the same great class. I take that to mean that if you are a “UChicago” student, you have a 33% chance of admission. I’m not sure he took EDI, EDII, EA, RD into consideration, but I take that to mean about 67% of the applications are those that won’t be accepted.
@BrianBoiler 33% doesnt make sense as a number. But I get the context of the quote. Isnt class of '22 1 summer ago?
But then again, when choosing among the 3 sets of classes, choosing the best possible class based off their interests for a year’s class, the admit rate turns to what it is.
@BrianBoiler at #787 - Interesting stat.
Right before Nondorf came on board in 2009, the admit rate was just a little less than that - about 30%. Now, the size of the admitted class has increased by about 25% since then; however, the number of applications has more than doubled. According to John Boyer in his History of UChicago book, academic quality of the enrolled students notably increased as well (while Dean Boyer’s narrative ends in 2013, most will agree that this trend has only continued over the past few years).
So while today’s “UChicago student” still stands about a 1/3 chance, yesterday’s (or yesteryear’s) “UChicago student” probably wouldn’t anymore. Just one way to demonstrate just how much momentum this “moving target” of a school has actually had over the past 10 years.
@TheGuy1 not for prospective students. Last summer for ‘22 would have been admitted students.
@TheGuy1 - hard to read into what a marketing guy like Nondorf actually means when he starts rattling off percentages and admit rates and so forth - there might always be a bit of spin to them. But BB’s interpretation (or my understanding of his interpretation, at any rate) reads like they must get around 6,500-7,000 apps a year with a sufficiently great combination of stats, academic preparation, meaningful EC’s and overall fit for UChicago to think that, if admitted, they would do just fine. Only about a third or so of those will actually be given offers of admission (maybe a bit less now that they’ve nailed down the enrollment number and size of the College). It might come down to some hair splitting, looking at what they want to do, exactly WHY they want to come to UChicago, or even if the Uncommon Essay just made everyone crack up (it ALWAYS helps if the Uncommon Essay makes everyone crack up). My guess is that there is probably a LOT of negotiating at that point. It’s easy to think that, perhaps, those not admitted from that 6,500 number are then waitlisted (and the remaining rejected) but we simply don’t know that. UChicago rejected some - at least on paper - superlative candidates in the ED2 round this year, whereas in prior years it seems like they waitlisted everyone who wasn’t admitted. So hard to know how it all breaks down.
@JBStillFlying I get what you mean. But the admit rate is just an avg. % showing the rate of difficulty of getting in AS A WHOLE.
Personally, and by certain groups, they’d differ, but no one knows exactly by how much.
@TheGuy1 It was a LL, do you think i will get an FA offer soon?
FA offers come by a week on average or so after the actual decision release date.
At best (very rarely) its the same day as the dec. date
So ig you’ll have to wait till then. THey dont release FA awards a bit after/with the LL offer.
Were you an athlete by any chance?
@TheGuy1 Nope! I am probably the most unathletic person actually!
@tiredstudent1 Well, thats okay. What’s your major? (Also, I’m just trying to gauge how much UChic is like the Ivies with its LL structure)
@TheGuy1 I put down political science, but I am an URM (I’m hispanic) as well as the youngest of six kids so maybe they accepted me early bc of those factors?
Idk much about the ‘youngest of 6 kids’ factor, but i get what you’re tryna say.
Maybe…maybe not. You’ll never know, at least not now (maybe if you choose to attend there, and get some insights).
Any cool PoliSci stuff that you did perhaps?
@TheGuy1 No, unfortunately I’m pretty ordinary. I did participate in a selective Leadership program in my city that revolves around social justice and educating the ignorant. I also have done mock trial and model UN, but I wasn’t super committed. Honestly, UChicago was my reach school, and up until I was accepted I had planned on attending a state school. Funny how things work out, right? (I do have a sibling who is currently attending UChi)