@nrsebayer at #917 - that’s a new one. I wonder if they are being super aggressive this year with the W/L - say, like having a reserve or priority group who will get in if they are below the magic number of 1700 or so committed.
@nrsebayer Interesting that they are offering scholarships to some on the waitlist. Never heard of that before. Congrats to your DS.
@dg1968 at #921 - Thanks for providing the wording! So yeah, you stay on the original W/L even if you opt for Z. It’s just another waitlist LOL. But I don’t think there is a downside to going on the Z list - if you happened to be offered a spot in class of 2024, that’s a genuine offer and they will hold a secured spot. You will gap and then join the following fall. They’ve done that the past couple of years. S19 told me there’s as least one Z-lister on the FB page for '23. He applied for Class of '22. So joining the Z list is no guarantee of a spot, but if a spot is offered, it’s a real spot. Hope that makes sense.
@JBStillFlying Good question! Hopefully others will be able to weigh in to provide clarity on whether Z-list is an automatic option or only offered to some. Prior years threads might be helpful as well, although what happened in prior years is no guarantee for this year.
Joined for this discussion.
S got waitlisted with the potential z-list possibility. This is the wording:
“If we are unable to offer you a place in Class of 2023 (to begin classes in the fall of 2019), would you like to be considered for a place in the Class of 2024 (to begin classes in the fall of 2020) after taking a gap year?”
So in this case, S clearly does not come off the WL. However, this does not quite seem to be an offer of a secured spot in the 2024 either. Neither his original WL letter, or the automated answer saying they are pleased S has accepted a spot on the WL, make any mention of the class of 2024 possibility.
OTOH, it is basically inconceivable they would ask kids to take a year off and have to go through this process again, even if they don’t have to re-submit another application.
There is a contact person for questions, S will e-mail next week for clarification.
got in!! Honestly cannot believe it! I thought I was definitely getting rejected
“Oh well… starting to think that applying ED as a National Merit Finalist has really messed things up for getting a scholarship ?”
If UChicago is offering merit aid to some of the waitlist to keep them engaged until a spot opens up, they are probably not going to be offering merit money to ED’s who have already committed 
@JBStillFlying Thanks for providing the wording!
No problem. It will be interesting following this discussion, seems like some unusual things happening this year.
Apologies that I somehow deleted my original post. Typed it up again, and re-posted.
@JBStillFlying yep, agree. Just kind of sucks that you are penalized for knowing that UC is your top choice. It’s like playing games
@Retrotech201 Is the president scholarship coming out sometime in May? How can you get it now? Thanks!
@catmomof3 - ED’s get a bump in admissions - the ED admit rate is going to be notably higher than non-binding because UChicago admits about 60% of the admitted class that way from a smaller applicant pool than EA and RD.
It’s all a trade-off. Most of the RD’s who are getting merit have other top choices and will need to see some moola to stay at Chicago. They are simply more price sensitive than the ED’s, who are choosing based on factors other than price. UChicago has four different admission plans in order to accomodate different needs.
does anyone know when they let people into the admitted students fb group?
@waitlisted19 - there is a link to the FB group on the Admitted Student page.
@JBStillFlying I understand All of that. It would still be nice to see something since it was listed as number one choice school for national merit scholar. They gave 184 scholarships last year. Could Have Applied to a lot of other top colleges as well, but chose Chicago becausec it was the best fit. I assumed that since they are a NM sponsor school there would be some sort of award even if it was small.
My son is a national merit finalist. So maybe thats a blanket scholarship for all finalists admitted
Per our admissions counselor all national merit finalists who are admitted will receive a scholarship offer
If you are a national merit finalist you will get some sort of scholarship. It’s a blanket scholarship for every finalist admitted
@Nrsebayer that’s good news. Did you apply ED?? Have you gotten anything I writing?? Or did your scholarship come with your offer…
And btw… congrats to all who got in today!!
My s did not apply ED. He was RD. He applied to Harvard SAEC and was deferred. But his admissions counselor at UChicago as been in touch regularly with us. He was waitlisted and received an email within the hour regarding waitlist instructions and scholarship awards if ultimately admitted.
@catmomof3 at 932 - totally understand that. They need to do a much better job of disclosing who is eligible for what scholarship. The same thing happened to Class of '21 - actually, they were supposed to receive $4,000 / year but that went away at some point in the application cycle. My D was lucky enough to be one of the last ED’s to get anything for NMF. Of course, HYPS and other tippy-tops attract NMF’s as well w/o giving out scholarship money. UChicago attracts a sizable number -as you pointed out - but that might be due to the kind of school that Uchicago is. They seem to have figured out a couple of years ago that it was no longer necessary to incentivize NMF’s to apply and attend. Especially when a huge number of them apply ED.
Edit/update: just read the above posts. if they are giving out NMF automatically to everyone regardless of admission plan, that is indeed good news. Can you all please make sure to update whether/when that happens - TIA!
But no nothing in writing beyond emails