@mamtamalpani @goingnutsmom
I think Chicago is saving the merit for RD. Since learning of the ranking in USNews, I’m sure admissions realized they’d be getting a greater number of applicants this year, likely some of the more conventional applicants just adding Chicago as a Rd school. With that in mind, there’s little incentive to offer merit to an ED student, and they’re clearly hoping for more EA applicants to switch to EDII. So likely, it will be the Rd students who nab merit money.
I also got the odyssey scholarship (accepted EA)
The deferral letter we got was exactly the same.
@mamtamalpani, No- I don’t plan on writing UChicago. I’m a parent, not a student. I already have a kid there.
@mamtamalpani, to answer the second question- no, I don’t think that this year EA will get the most advantage for merit. Perhaps only a very very small pool EA will. I think that was a good strategy last year for merit but not this year necessarily. Unless, you were a particular type of student that they were really looking to entice.
@PeregrineFlute, Yes- that is exactly what I’ve been saying/posting for awhile now. UChicago with the addition of EDI and EDII is getting a lot savvier with their merit. They still have to compete with the Ivy schools and other highly selective but they are going to be smarter about their merit I think. I kept posting that ED favors schools much more than the students. With the old system, UChicago offered merit to EA applicants that were highly qualified and or offered the school something for their stats (URM, a major they were needing more students, talents) to entice them to come. The kid gets accepted early, gets excited, makes a visit, has time to attach to the school. Now, UChicago is right up there with Yale in US News college rankings. They can be more selective with the merit. But just my hypothesis.
@dsi411, congrats on the Odyssey Scolarship! That’s definitely an honor! But my understanding is that there is a definite need based component to it. So, if you are a high aptitude low income student, this is a scholarship that would get you excited about UChicago. My understanding is that it comes with a lot of perks too. But for non need based merit, I think that UChicago will be harder than ever.
Oh yeah, that makes sense.
@goingnutsmom Yes, I definitely agree with what you’re saying. I guess I just hope Chicago is still focusing merit on good fits who might otherwise choose HYPSM, rather than RD applicants who may have applied more on a whim. I wonder if EA admits will later get offers, after the regular pool has been evaluated.
(Course, none of this applies to me, I’m just musing.)
Ok so I was accepted EA…when should I expect to hear about merit / financial aid?
Any others admitted EA 1? Any other Asian males admitted EA 1?
Did anyone else get invited to the Uchicago admitted students reception?
Mom to deferred EA. We knew it would be tough, but were still very hopeful. Daughter’s stats:
UW GPA 4.0 (4.7 weighted GPA)
ACT 36, SAT 1560
800 on Chemistry, Math 2 and Spanish SAT subject tests
5’s on all AP exams (including chemistry and physics)
Summer research job at WashU School of Medicine
Lots of EC activities, including leadership roles
NMSF
She’s trying to keep a stiff upper lip, but she’s more than a little disappointed. Absolutely fell in love with the school during a visit last fall. Hoping there’s still a chance. Best of luck to all those already accepted and others who have been deferred or not accepted. There are many great schools, and any of them would be lucky to have such talented students.
@goingnutsmom I agree with you re: the increased selectivity for merit. Now they can definitely target a small group of kids with generous merit aid instead of trying to entice a broader group with just a little bit. There might be some high quality EA accepts in that group, btw. Sounds like some merit aid announcements were already made - at least one other besides Odyssey.
does anyone know if uchicago sends decisions by snail mail too?
They sent a letter by mail after the e mail that looked exactly like the one in the e mail. And some other info- an official looking certificate of acceptance or something.
I sympathize. My D was accepted with similar stats. I think that applying ED made the difference for us.
My son was deferred EA with stellar stats. It’s his first choice school. We’re debating a switch to EDII, which we can do IF the NPC is accurate. Stuck now wondering whether a switch to EDII will increase or decrease his chances.
@CGHTeach and @econmomto3,
I would recommend ED2 as long as you are comfortable with the NPC numbers. If they turn out to be materially inaccurate, you can back out of ED2 without any penalty or feeling of guilt.
I do believe that ED2 will offer an advantage over RD, again because the child is willing to commit and so UChicago knows it will have almost 100% yield. However, I do expect that ED2 will be considerably more selective than ED1, because in addition to strong applicants like your children, there will also be strong applicants deferred from the Ivys, Stanford, and MIT applying as well.
The tradeoff you face is a slightly better chance of admission in ED2 vs. the lost opportunity of using RD to compare offers from other places your children will be accepted to, including many places that will entice your children with scholarship offers.
We decided against ED because of uncertainty about financial aid. She’s planning on going to medical school so merit aid for undergraduate is a must. I applied ED to my first choice school in the 1980s, but it was a different (read: cheaper) era for college costs.