<p>^^ Also sucks if you want to go to Harvard or Yale right now. :P</p>
<p>@ tomorrow: But the trend should start reversing b/c we’re at the end of the boom.</p>
<p>Last year, they accepted about 1,200 out of about 3,800 EA applications. So . . . a little more than 30%. EA applications dropped by about 300 from 2012 to 2013, but RD applications increased by over 1,000.</p>
<p>Jim Nondorf didn’t just replace Ted O’Neil, he also replaced Michael Behnke as Dean of College Enrollment (“il DOCE”). That means that the overall approach to EA and RD acceptances may be up in the air. But if they follow past patterns, they will accept 1,200 EA and 2,200-2,400 RD. That’s what it takes to fill the class. The percentage admitted will be that number divided by however many applications come in. Of course, it sounds simplistic to say that, but that’s how things work. They know what yield to expect from EA acceptances, and they aim to fill a certain percentage of the class from the EA pool. They don’t go in to the deliberations thinking “we are going to accept 25%” or “we are going to accept 33%”. They go in thinking “we are going to accept 1,200 kids, and we’ll stop when we do”.</p>
<p>Of course, of course, JHS. But, without a doubt, application numbers are going to go up this year because of the Common App and heavier marketing. Mostly Common App.</p>
<p>Sure, there’s been lots of chatter about more people applying, but I want to see the actual numbers. I suspect a lot of students who were thinking about Chicago had second thoughts in the past two weeks as they were trying to get those supplemental essays finished!</p>
<p>Marketing has definitely become more intense. My sister (she’s a junior) is being constantly bombarded with Chicago mail (probably e-mail too but I don’t know about that). And everyone is starting to get the idea that Chicago is a very good school. I wouldn’t be surprised either if admit rate drops even more (it’s supposed to, given Chicago’s caliber), but I would credit that with O’Neill, not Nondorf, because changes like these happen over several years of work, not overnight.</p>
<p>Remember just a 10 years ago the admit rate in 1999 at Chicago was 60%. It’s now 25%-ish.</p>
<p>Talking about this makes me want to choose Chicago all over again… :(</p>
<p>@countingdown: I’m sure people who said they were going to apply balked at the supplemental essays because Chicago had the most writing out of all the schools I’m applying to. (Which I’m fine with 
)</p>
<p>Yes, and all those IB students look at the Chicago essays and think, “OH NOES! NOT FOUR MORE YEARS OF THIS!” and quietly delete their files… OTOH, the more S2 wrote, the more excited he got about Chicago.</p>
<p>Have seen a few folks on CC who couldn’t get the Chicago stuff done and decided to wait for RD.</p>
<p>Neogpop - going off what JHS said, the basic take on "big numbers"admissions is this: we need to accept X number of students, so if we can get a ton of applicants, our overall accept rate will be driven down, and this gives off the perception of selectivity. </p>
<p>From what I’ve heard so far, EA applications at Chicago are up significantly this year, and should probably be up by 25-30% overall for EA. I think last year around 3500 kids applied EA at Chicago, and the EA accept rate was around 33%. This year, say around 4500 kids or so apply, and I’d assume the EA accept rate will be around 27%.</p>
<p>yayy…that makes me feel so much better… NOT</p>
<p>As one small point of comfort - the EA applicant pool overall may not be stronger than the smaller pool last year. Bc of the common app, there are probably more kids just throwing an app in Chicago’s direction now, and may not have great stats.</p>
<p>@countingdown: LOLLLLL at the IB comment. Trust me, I’d rather write another supplement essay than a TOK prescribed title anyday. :)</p>
<p>^Seconded. TOK titles are a joke, I can’t believe how high the scores can be for a crappy essay!</p>
<p>@Cue7: I’m not sure about “throwing” an application, especially due to the 2 (or 3) supplement essays required that aren’t typical and require quite a bit of insight. It would be nice if the pool wasn’t stronger, but that’s my opinion. Any other thoughts?</p>
<p>More and more people are starting to realize that you can apply ED to Columbia/Penn/Dartmouth while simultaneously shooting an EA app over to Chicago. Early apps from my school have doubled.</p>
<p>^ Yup. I know a girl from my high school that has almost zero interest in Chicago but is ED’ing Columbia and using Chicago as some kind of “safety school”. She knows absolutely nothing about Chicago except for its top 10 USNWR ranking and would NOT do well with Chicago’s core.</p>
<p>I really hope that Chicago doesn’t read apps by high school. She’s ranked higher, and made up a bunch of fairly impressive ECs…</p>
<p>^Actually, the Columbia core is perhaps more “hard-core” than the Chicago core. At Chicago, one can select among some electives within the core; at Columbia, all take the same core classes.</p>
<p>^ She doesn’t know much about Columbia either. ;)</p>
<p>PBush, I mean if she’s just using Chicago as her “safety” and knows little about Chicago, it will probably show in her “Why Chicago?” essay :)</p>
<p>^^ Hopefully!</p>