UChicago Class of 2023 Applicants

I read somewhere that it was Jim Nondorf who first instituted the aggressive use of LL’s for sought-after students other than athletes. He worked as Assoc. Director for Admissions for Yale at one point and might have instituted the practice there first (he was in charge of recruitment and yield). Yale does issue LL’s to non-athletes but at this point a lot of other schools might do so as well.

@JBStillFlying True, but Yale still issues way more LL’s for athletes, as do all the ivies, Stanford, Vandy.

UChic is the only outlier IMO. Idk if any other schools do LL’s.

Ik many who certainly dont.

I agree with ‘sought after’. It means for reasons the adcoms know (only), you’d be one of the best fits after your apps analysis into UChic’s class (of '23 in this case) @tiredstudent1

@tiredstudent1 The stuff you did is still pretty great IMO.

Again, like i said in my previous comment, ‘for the reasons only adcoms know’, regarding your LL.

Congratulations! (Sorry for not doing that earlier).

Just a note: Sibling/Legacy benefits dont apply to apps if family members are still attending the school, (and some schools have restrictions as to legacy qual. based on which fam. memb. studied there)

@TheGuy1, Stanford and Vandy don’t have to use LL for athletes. They offer scholarships. Most of the top D-III give athletic LL. I am pretty sure that others give non-athletic LL, but don’t have first hand knowledge.

I’m also not 100% sure of your Legacy comment? Might not be in a formal formula, but I’ve got to imagine that if an applicant has a sibling at a University, it has to help your case, even if it is an informal bump in the mind of the AO.

@BrianBoiler I dont think a sibling in the same school as youve applied to matters as much. Maybe an infinitesimal amount, but nothing more.

True regarding LL’s. THey dont have to, but they do anyways.

THe non athletic LL’s are way to less compared to athletic LL’s.

@TheGuy1 the circumstantial evidence flies in the face of the sibling statement. I’ve been following UChciago on this board for a while. I remember many “My brother goes… My Sister goes…” in the chance me or results threads. I remember many “got accepted” or “Accepted ED” or even on this thread “Received a LL” where it appears it does make a difference. I don’t remember any of the opposite. Granted, non-scientific and self reported, but from observation that is what I see.

There could also be some “UChicago traits run in the family due to genetics and/or upbringing” that in a blind test they’d be accepted anyway, but I think the simplest explanation is the most likely.

@BrianBoiler Could be, but it seems specific to UChic if youre so confident about this claim. Not other schools definitely.

@TheGuy1 I can’t really talk about other schools.

@BrianBoiler Okay, but if you’re confident about your legacy policies for UCHic, cool i guess?

I’m going by normal stats and figures, and some first/second person knowledge.

Agree with @BrianBoiler - may be hard to find concrete data on the sibling bump, but, having 2 in college and watching the admissions process over the past several years, the anecdotal evidence is hard to ignore. And this is not just at UChicago. The number of sibling acceptances at schools with which I’m familiar appears to be well beyond what would be randomly expected. Sure, it could be that traits run in families or having a sibling at a school enables the applicant to write a much more compelling application. But, regardless of the reason, anecdotal evidence does seem to suggest that having a sibling at a school is a fairly significant bump.

@CUandUCmom It may be a thing indeed. But i just find it hard to believe due to no CONCRETE evidence, and due to having 0 anecdotes such as these.

As far as I know, I didn’t think Vandy does non-athletic likely letters, or likely letters at all-- I thought they just give out MOSAIC invites, which I received in Mid-February. They tell you in the letter that you’re admitted, without using typical likely letter language-- it’s very direct.

UChicago’s non-athletic LLs seem to be outliers, and receiving one with my average resume was definitely a shock. All thanks go to Nondorf.

I am not certain, but I bet Duke sends a lot of LLs to their athletes, and I did receive one packaged together with my notification about a merit scholarship. Not sure about non-scholarship finalists that aren’t athletes.

In general, I do think each school varies a bit in how they choose to use their LLs, but UChicago’s focus on non-athletic LLs seems to be different than its peer schools.

@carey46 I heard vandy does LL’s mostly/all for athletes (recruited ofc). Hence i included it in the before mentioned list

So here goes:

LL’s

Definitely: Stanford, 8 Ivies, UChic

Iffy: Vandy

Not (Definitely): The rest top colleges

Note: Mid/low tier colleges operate differently compared to top ones.

This is my gathered list by far? I think its accurate, but based off personal interaction with Vandy stuff, i think it should go into the Definitely pile, idk

Note: LL’s are different from program invites/acceptances or Scholarship invites (or any other early dec. notification of any sort)

I personally know 3 sibling pairs at UChicago alone so that is 3 anecdotes for me. I definitely think its a thing.

Tend to agree that sibling pairs are attractive to a school, all else equal. I’ve seen it across several schools, not just UChicago. However, had my son NOT applied ED2, it’s not at all clear he would have been admitted, sibling or no. D17 was a double legacy at UChicago when she applied and, as I’ve posted before, that and ED2 got her in (she was deferred EA). We know a family or two with sibling pairs who were admitted non-binding, but a whole lot of the ones now are binding. They really know all about UChicago and they really really want to be there. IMO, those two factors, taken together, speak volumes, assuming that the rest of your application is strong. Keep in mind, however, that there are LOTS of UChicago kids with no sibling on campus (or on the alumnae rolls) so having a sibling there is not actually REQUIRED for admission. Nor is there any evidence that having a sibling there at some point gives you a bump on its own (as opposed to providing context for your ED application).

Hey everyone! Anyone on here applied RD and waiting to hear back? The site says early-mid March so I’m eagerly awaiting decisions! UChicago is definitely a reach for me but it’s my dream school

@JBStillFlying Still, I think its a bump and it seems that legacies or siblings at any of these schools need to apply ED to get the benefit of that bump.

The biggest problem with the sibling pairs I know is that they are all way smart kids! Hard to separate one bump from another . . .

@JBStillFlying Sometimes they arent

Sibling bump makes logical sense as it signals family belief in the institution’s value and therefore increased likelihood of attending.