My D was also considering medical school as well, and prior to her applying anywhere we had a long discussion about the colleges that were best for an undergraduate education vs. those that were best for medical school admissions.
Now this advice is worth what you paid for it, but IMO Chicago (and MIT) provide one of the best undergraduate educations, but also the worst prospects for getting into top medical schools because of the level of competition and grade deflation. In contrast, excellent schools like Harvard, Rice, WashU and Vanderbilt don’t suffer from grade deflation. And further down, places like Pittsburg and Alabama provide quite good educations with ample scholarship money, and the ability to get the very high GPAs needed for medical school. All of these places were on D’s list.
For my D, the choice of Chicago ED was very much a decision that there are many professional paths she can take from Chicago, but medicine is among the less likely.
That’s the direction in which we are leaning. He has two other acceptances from great schools, but his 1st choice remains Chicago. He will thrive wherever he lands, because he’s that kind of kid, but he’d like to take a chance on maximizing his chances.
I also think the deferral has caused him to further question how successful he will/would be in the RD rounds at his other application schools, which all fall into the “crap-shoot/long-shot” category for everyone. He’s a 4.0 UW with a 36 ACT, NMSF, 12 APs (all 5s so far), & 800s on several SAT IIs. The stats are there and we feel positive about the other parts of his app, but we understand the odds.
I wish ALL students well as they navigate the application process!
If med school wasn’t a definite, she would have applied to Chicago ED and we could have paid for it if she was accepted. But she is absolutely certain she wants to be a doctor, so we had to have those tough conversations too. It’s so hard, because culturally/socially UChicago would be the best fit for her. When we visited, she felt like she was among “her people.”
But she is applying to 12 other schools…great private schools and public schools with great honors programs. She will do well wherever she lands because she is so motivated. She does have some great scholarship offers. We’ll evaluate it all when she’s heard from every school.
@econmomto3 Yes, these great kids will thrive. I wish your daughter well in the RD round and in all her apps. This process seems infinitely more complicated than back in my day!
Guys is any international student who’s been accepted on this chat? Have any of y’all received financial aid? If anyone hears about merit based scholarship, please remember to post on this chat!
Hi, I’m an international student from China who has just been accepted to EA with a Provost Scholarship (36000 dividend over four years provided I do reasearch at Argonne or Fermilab+ 1500 travel allowance). It seems that Chicago has admitted about 40 students in China, but only 2-3 of them are EA applicants. Most EA got deferred or rejected.
Guys, if u weren’t accepted early, I don’t think it means too much because it truly is a crapshoot at a certain point. I have a 31 ACT and meager 3.82 GPA yet somehow I was accepted EA at both UChicago and Georgetown SFS. While greatful, I still think sometimes they just play pin the tail on the donkey with college apps. Keep your head up!
“Ahem! My ED-accepted child would be at/near the top of last year’s class, stats-wise.”
@hebegebe - ahem! Same with my EA-deferred child and with @econmomto3’s EA-deferred child as well.
I could be very wrong but right now I’m questioning the wisdom of using ED to determine someone’s eligibility to attend UChicago. If my kid opts for ED II and is accepted, I’ll always be questioning what the true deciding factor was. Obviously there are a LOT of elite schools who strategically admit the same way, but at least you know that going into the application process. It’s a bit of a shocker to see this applying - now - to UChicago as well.
It begs the question - what are they trying to accomplish? Chasing a higher yield seems a bit short-sighted. You need to take care of the back-end as well (ie the 4-6 year grad rate, currently at 85 - 92%) - all Admissions can do is choose those kids who would improve that statistic. Does making ED the primary criteria actually accomplish that goal? That’s what I’m wondering.
You did sort of slam the ED students who were accepted in the process of whatever point you were making…I am struggling to understand why there seems to be so much lamenting over the fact that more ED students seem to have been accepted. That is the strategy that some students chose to use in order to improve their chances. My child gave up a chance at hearing from all of the other amazing schools in order to get a place at Chicago. And his stats were at the top also. Stop hating on the process, you made your choice as to how to play your hand.
As I said earlier, I really do sympathize with the families of very strong kids that were turned down. But there is no reason to start second guessing the qualifications of the ED families.
I recommended that my D apply ED because we thought it might provide a small edge. It sounds like all our kids have excellent grades, test scores and outside activities. For those kids at this level who have not won international awards or cured cancer, sometimes a small edge is all that is necessary to decide between acceptance and deferral.
@Mamcq - no slam intended and I apologize for offending you. Full disclosure: I had actually encouraged my daughter to apply ED in order to assist her chances. Furthermore, she is legacy so presumably that is an advantage (is it fair? Probably not). She is also NMSF which helps (Cut-offs vary by state - we don’t live in the highest cut-off states so she got NMSF. Is that fair? Probably not). Despite these advantages we knew it’s a reach so weren’t surprised at her outcome given the EA. What IS surprising is the discrepancy between EA and ED suggests that it wasn’t just an important factor - it might have been the primary factor - even more important than stats or essays or rec letters. Not sure that’s the same UChicago my daughter applied to. If UChicago needs to choose among equally talented kids and uses ED to do so - that makes sense. If UChicago is deferring some superlative applications merely due to lack of ED - not so good. That’s my point.
@JBStillFlying- I hear you…so much about all of this college process seems unfair at times. I truly hope your daughter winds up where you are all happy! I do think Chicago has changed and is going to continue to do so. I think they are tired of playing second fiddle to the HYPS,etc. and ED is a way for them to start playing hardball. Will it change the student body? I guess we will wait and see. Best of luck to you and we look forward to hearing the update.
@JBStillFlying, I can’t help but agree, and have the same fear that Chicago is changing. I fully understand why the school would choose ED applicants over EA, but it’s disappointing nonetheless since I applied EA to Chicago over SCEA at other schools.
Also, @CGHTeach, I had the exact same experience-- I have basically same stats as your kid, and while I knew Chicago was a long shot, I poured my heart into my essays. Getting deferred to the school where I thought I fit best was a nice reminder to temper my hopes.
I do not plan to switch to EDII; I can’t help but feel that Chicago deferred so many EA precisely with hopes that some (or a lot) would switch into the EDII pool. It’s not logical for me to ED anywhere in my financial situation, but we’ll see with RD.
@PeregrineFlute I wish you well in the RD rounds and with all your other Apps. With your stats, I imagine you will do very well. I do so empathize with your disappointment.
We never expected merit at U Chicago, so I figured we’d pay according to the NPC if he got in EA and assume the same now if he gets in ED 2 or RD. He is still working on making a decision whether to switch or not.
@Mamamcq thank you! My D is fine - she’s not even thinking about any of this stuff - too busy with finals.
@hebegebe no second guessing of qualifications intended or even pertinent to this discussion. UChicago has stated that everyone accepted, deferred and waitlisted is able to do the work - not everyone can be in the former category. I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. The issue is about whether Uchicago has prioritized ED over stats. It’s possible to have an honest debate on that subject using data that has come in and will continue to come in throughout the next couple months. That I personally think it would be a shame to find that this is, indeed, the case is beside the point. I’d much rather be totally wrong, TBH. But I think it’s an important issue and it’s one that I would have looked into had my kid been accepted EA . . . or ED. We are UChicago-trained researchers in this household
“I can’t help but feel that Chicago deferred so many EA precisely with hopes that some (or a lot) would switch into the EDII pool”
@PeregrineFlute - what’s interesting about your comment in #855 is that someone I know who is very experienced in game theory mentioned the same possibility.
