Waitlisted…Don’t know how to feel. Please if u got accepted but don’t really want to go to UChicago, choose another school. There are so many of us on the waitlist that would die to go here and UChicago is my dream school. I can only pray that I’m one of the lucky few who gets off the waitlist. Congrats to everyone <3
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should the LOCI be submitted directly on the portal or emailed to the regional AO?
I have been wondering that too.
My DD was accepted off the waitlist last year. She uploaded her LOCI to the portal and also emailed it to her local AO. She sent her LOCI in about 1-1/2 weeks after the waitlist decision. She received an email from her AO about 2 days later asking if she had time for a phone call. She received her offer of acceptance around 4/1.
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Is it weird if I submit my LOCI now? And thanks for this, it really calms my nerves.
I am very glad that it worked out well for your daughter. Did she submit her LOCI before or after ‘Ivy-other T20’ Day ? I am wondering if submitting the LOCI before ‘Ivy Day’ might indicate (even) more commitment, if the student is certain about attending Chicago.
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I believe she sent her LOCI after ivy day, but maybe the next day. She wrote a really creative LOCI so it took a little bit to craft and edit it. I recommend waiting a couple of days to submit the LOCI so that some of the emotion of the decision dies down.
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While being waitlisted is definitely a weird spot to be in, remember that we should all be proud of ourselves! Out of about 32-40k students, we were at least in the top 4-3k students and some people on the committee fought for us, which is such an accomplishment when it’s a school this hard to get into. Things will work out soon enough everyone 
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Thank you Zubzebra for the reply.
If you are accepted off waitlist before May 1, do you still have until May 1 to commit or do you have to immediately commit?
Chicago is crafty. I’m wondering if the crazy amount of waitlists this year is sort of like an ED3 to try to game their yield.
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First of all, it seems like a crazy amount of waitlists every year - this year doesn’t seem to be an exception (at least via the anecdotal evidence available).
Second, it’s not clear at all that many will even be called off the waitlist. UChicago has already admitted 300 additional candidates over and above this time last year. Their chances of being oversubscribed at this current admit number is higher than being the opposite.
Third, given these two prior reasons, it’s probably best not to invest your time in crafting a heartfelt LOCI unless you are thrilled to go and truly intend on accepting if admitted (assuming it’s affordable so waiting on FA is obviously ok).
Rather than thinking in terms of UChicago trying to “game their yield” you might consider that their top goal is to pick the right candidates who will thrive there, graduate and make an impact. Yes, yield is important there but it’s the result of, not the cause for, “ED3.”
Waitlist. I’m shocked because I got rejected EA from Yale. I’m excited to just be on the waitlist!
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zubzebra, this was my daughter’s experience as well with getting off the waitlist.
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I appreciate your confidence, but when you also hear anecdotal evidence here about people last year basically immediately getting off waitlist it does make one wonder.
Not trying to cast aspersions.
@MrRobot2018 your point makes sense and I hope for your sake that you are correct. There’s a large difference - by about 300 - between this year and last year at this time. Then, they admitted 2,100 which is about right for a “normal” year, and pulled 400 off the W/L due to Covid. Ended up getting over-subscribed by 150 so perhaps they should have pulled 300 rather than 400. The numbers this year suggest that they already factored those extra 300 into the total admit numbers by admitting an extra 150 or so early and another 150 during ED2/RD. That’s my explanation for the higher numbers, at any rate, and keep in mind that this is merely speculation. I do hope you and everyone who is planning on sending in an LOCI gets admitted and is able to accept right away.
Damn. So my waitlist was really a rejection. Pain.
My DD had until 5/1 to make a decision even though admitted off the waitlist.
I guess that was my question. In the past, if you were offered a spot off waitlist prior to 4/1 did you have to accept immediately or did you have until 5/1 like RD.
For all I know Uchicago could always do this. I’m just wondering if is part of their yield protection plan. It has long been suspected that Chicago has a plan that works to “game” the US News rankings. My use of the word game here is far from pejorative. It is not unethical or unfair. I think it is very smart if they are in fact doing that given the power of the US News rankings. A rational educational institution should take the US news factors into account, as well as other constructs used to measure prestige (eg yield).
My point is Chicago may have figured out they don’t have to accept 300 kids and yield 200 of them. They can accept maybe 150 and waitlist 100 and get 100 percent yield from those 100 WL kids shortly after RD decisions come out. (Numbers totally made up for illustration). If this is the case, this is very akin to an ED3 type situation where you force the students hands who may be on the fence about Chicago and get them to commit.
If you were to accept the RD admit offer (or they calling you to commit off waiting list) and get cleared off of waitlist post-May 1 from your top choice school, other than losing the enrollment deposit are there any binding commitments with the acceptance?
I can’t tell if it is good I got waitlisted or not… did they just waitlist everyone? I wasn’t heartbroken that I got waitlisted, but now it seems like about 75% of applicants did.