Hi guys,
Let’s say that Columbia is my top choice and UChicago is my second choice. (I don’t really have a fighting chance for either of them regular decision, but hey, I’m passionate about them and that’s what the early round is for.)
I’ve always wanted to apply to Columbia ED, but it’s very unlikely that I will get in. So would it be more beneficial to apply to Chicago EA (which has a demonstrated history of accepting a larger percentage of students) or ED2 (this is the first year they’re offering it, but I’ve seen a lot of speculation that the ED2 round will be extremely competitive)? Basically – which round do you think will be less selective?
Thanks!
I’m a highschool senior taking a course at UChi this summer actually so I have some first hand insight. We have had several workshops with Veronica Hauad, an admissions director (you can look her up on the website so you know I’m legit or whatever) She was discussing this and told us that there really is no difference if you apply EA or ED2. EA just means you have all your application ready early and want to know, but they won’t hold it against you if you apply RD. The reason for the higher admit rate is that more qualified candidates are applying earlier, they don’t choose to accept more people intentionally. Be careful where you apply ED because under contract you must go there despite how much it costs. Hope this helped, hmu if you have more questions.
@ophiuchus
Columbia accepted just over 17% of its ED applicants. Chicago around 10% of its EA applicants this year. I think Chicago’s ED1 round may have a higher admit rate than Columbia ED at least for the first few years. Educated speculation on my part. ED2 round will attract a lot of desperate kids who got deferred from HYPS or one of the other selective ED schools. So I expect that round to be quite competitive.
In general (with a lot of caveats), if you are a strong candidate for ED2 round in Chicago you should be a strong candidate for Columbia ED. If you don’t make it at Columbia in the ED round, I wouldn’t hold my breath at getting ED2 at Chicago unless you knock them off with a fabulous essay or have some other hook.
@Rugrat26
May I suggest you take any of these boiler plate answers given by adcoms with a large grain of salt. You will never be told the truth. They have to tell you the party line answer. Imagine they tell you otherwise and then it gets in the news media that Chicago says that applying RD puts you at a severe disadvantage of getting a spot. The proverbial S**t would hit the fan. So don’t expect candid answers from adcoms.
I am skeptical whether you should apply EA. UChicago has a lot of data from years of offering EA. They know which kids take their EA offer very well by now. With the ED1 and ED2 options, they expect some of those kids to exit the EA pool. What is left in the EA pool are a large pool of shoppers. So unless they are almost 100% sure that you will accept their offer (i.e fit into their secret sweet profile that they never reveal to the public), they will not give you a nod. So if there is even a small chance that you look like you are a shopper, you will be deferred into the RD round, where they chances will be dismal.