UChicago Class of 2023 Applicants

Harvard SCEA

@nrsebayer - just to be clear - are you referring to the college-sponsored scholarship for listing UChicago as your first choice on the NMSC portal, or are you referring to additional scholarship money?

UChicago never fails to surprise. Last years NMFs who were ED learned that they got a big fat nothing.

Additional scholarship money has to be applied for externally right?

Examples: Coca Cola scholarship and so on, but even lesser monetary value ones which are lesser competitive, for which there are a few essays to write and some docs to submit (non/academic and FA based)

The other forms of aid come in through UChic’s finaid office.

@JBStillFlying actually they gave 184 of them scholarships last year. But maybe all 184 of those applied RD, idk ?

@catmomof3 Nope. That doesnt happen. Much more than 184 apply for it.

Getting it is competitive, but not as much as getting in (rate wise)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE WHO GOT IN!

THOSE WHO GOT WAITLISTED, HANG IN THERE, AND HOPE FOR THE BEST (also update them with the latest good things you’re doing, cuz that always helps to nudge them)

THOSE WHO DIDNT GET IN, REJECTION DOESNT DEFINE YOUR OTHER RESULTS. IF YOU TRUST YOURSELF, YOU WILL MOST PROBABLY GET IN WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.

Hope this helps anyone who’s happy, sad, indifferent or any other crazy emotion; or any mixture of emotions.

My D was accepted RD last year and received a $2000 annual NM scholarship from UChicago. However, the NM notification letter didn’t arrive until a few weeks after her acceptance. We were happy that she changed her NM first choice online to UChicago the day she received her acceptance.

@JBStillFlying I am not 100% sure. Our UChicago admissions counselor told us all NMFs would get a blanket scholarship. Early on in communication. I do not know if that was the reason for his scholarship offer upon admission or not. It did not say. So I guess you could be right if they’ve gotten nothing in the past. I just assumed that was the reason for his offer since we were told that by AO up front.

Waitlisted RD UChicago 2023. ACT 34. W:11 4 SAT Subject exams with scores above 750. 2 Amazing recs from AP Language and Composition and Anatomy and Physiology Teacher. Ok one with all positive details from biology teacher. Extra recs from local newspaper advisor, my school principal, and the State of Iowa Youth Couoncil coordinator. Applied for Preparation of Journalism as top choice and Interdisciplinary Studies for Humanities as #2 and Creative Writing #3. 9 APs with 4s and 5s at the end of junior year. Class Rank #1.

Others achievements: State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council(SIYAC) Executive Chairperson and 3 year member(working on an education bill that’s highly likely to be signed into state law), features writer for my local paper for the past 6 years, written for Hindu newspaper and Chicago Tribune, United States Senate Youth Program Delegate, Asian American Journalism Association JCamp Student Leader, National Society of Colonial Dames Student Leader, 2019 Coca-Cola Scholar, and World Food Prize Global Youth Institute.

UChicago has been a dream school forever, so I really wanted to get in, but I realize how selective it is. I have applied for 4 national prestigious scholarships that I’m awaiting results from including AXA Achievements and NHS. I’m also vying for a spot in the prestigious Borlaug Ruan International Internship, which only has 20 students nationwide who are selected each year. I’ve been planning to update UChicago periodically and I’m currently working on a journalism piece for the Chicago Tribune or NY Times to get something that’ll catch their attention. I’m also drafting a LOCI carefully after hours of proofreading to make my passion for the school shine through. If anyone has any advice, please let me know.

Thanks!!

Also if this helps he did not list UChicago as his first choice on NMF. He listed Tufts. So I don’t know if that makes a difference for awards. Our read on the email for AO was it would not…

S’s stats: 36 ACT (ss) 1560 sat. 4.0 uw gpa ar a highly competitive private school who doesn’t weight or rank. 98% cumulative gpa with 11 APs. NMF. ECs not amazing due to a committed rower for 4 years 6 days a week 48 weeks/yr many rowing accolades including midwest champion and national contender for 3 years. Leadership and service fairly strong. Deferred to Harvard SCEA, waitlisted UChicago RD. Accepted to osu, Wisconsin and Michigan all with scholarship offers.

@catmomof3 last year there were definitely ED’s who were NMF and specified UChicago as first choice in a timely fashion, but didn’t receive a college-sponsored scholarship. Not sure how they chose who got what. It’s very possible that different applicants were told different things.

I certainly hope that if they weren’t consistent last year, they are so going forward. They really need to be more straightforward on this issue.

Good luck to everyone waiting for an answer on this!

Hey, so I found out that the University of Chicago only waitlisted 200 people…

@waitlisted19 how do you know that??

My best friend was waitlisted and my cousin’s friend’s brother works in admissions and said they only waitlisted 200 people

Waitlisted RD UChicago 2023.
IB grades constantly changing. 40/40/37
ordinary extracurriculars, nothing special
Worked hard on my essay, especially for the unique prompt
Honestly already expected I would not get in and I was already overwhelmed by the “where fun goes to die”
Anyone knows the acceptance rate for waitlist?

“Also if this helps he did not list UChicago as his first choice on NMF. He listed Tufts. So I don’t know if that makes a difference for awards. Our read on the email for AO was it would not…”

  • @nrsebayer, not to beat a dead horse on this issue, but in order to qualify for the college-sponsored NMF scholarship, one would have to designate the sponsoring school as a first choice. No exceptions. if a college is making up for that somehow with internal funds, that's a separate decision. Colleges DO supplement NMF awards in order to attract applicants; however, UChicago probably doesn't have much incentive to do so for binding candidates who have already committed. If there are blanket scholarships, those would more likely be from college-sponsored (ie dedicated) funds associated with the National Merit program. BTW, my personal opinion is that UChicago SHOULD honor an automatic National Merit college-sponsored scholarship of some kind, regardless of how one applies. After all, NM kids can use that information to figure out which application plan works best for them. But in any case, the university should NOT be murky, unclear or incomplete in information (including telling some about the policy and not others). A clear policy - even if saying these are competitive scholarships and priority goes to the non-binding admits, would be an improvement over the current (non) disclosure practice.

@waitlisted19 How sure are you that this is accurate information? I was waitlisted at the University of Chicago, and my statistics are not as competitive as the people on this thread who claim to have received a waitlist offer.

@JBStillFlying as I said I’m not sure. He did not designate UChicago as first choice so maybe it is not based on NM. No idea but happy with his status

@nrsebayer - he sounds like quite an accomplished young man. Hopefully he’ll be asked to join the class of '23!