Since UChicago meets 100% of demonstrated need (and my two ED-admits are proof of that), the only reason someone wouldn’t apply ED is that they wish to include price as a major consideration. There is no one right set of criteria for applying to college. Many will have perfectly good reasons to want to compare financial aid packages, and that’s why there is EA and RD. Approximately half of those admitted, or around 1,200, are non-binding applicants; however, when you have 38,000+ applying and perhaps only 8,000-10,000 do so as ED1 or ED2, that leaves about a 4’ish% admit rate for everyone else! (NB: in other words, similar to non-binding admit rates at other top schools). It’s not that it’s “impossible” to be admitted EA, it’s just very very hard when the applicant pool tops 15,000 for the early round as it has the past three cycles now. Also worth noting: UChicago’s 80+% yield from last cycle as well as Class of '23 means that they are selecting non-binding candidates who are also enthusiastic about attending. For whatever reason, they applied non-binding but in the end they chose UChicago. Is that you? If so, then do your best to convince them. If it’s not you, then you really won’t be losing out on anything if you aren’t admitted.
Price is a major consideration for the majority of college applicants. Further, many families can’t afford their EFC as calculated by FAFSA and/or CSS profile, which means schools that offer only or virtually all need based aid, like U Chicago, can’t make it on the final college list. Said differently, it doesn’t matter that a school meets full need for the significant proportion of families that can’t afford their EFC.
Each family decides individually what “afford” means. It’s a decision unique to that family. As mentioned already, there is no one “correct” set of criteria.
Just one story, but we were surprised that My D’s financial aid package when she was admitted ED was comparable to what it would have been had she been offered “merit” under the old rules (she was the first year of ED applications). We found the EFC to be acceptable and UChicago actually awarded more than that. UChicago did indeed shift away from merit and more toward need-based, in order to be more generous to those with more modest income (for instance, the free-tuition guarantee if your income is $125,000 or less with typical assets). It wasn’t the best “financial deal” for us - she would have saved significant dollars for grad school had she enrolled elsewhere, but she and we agreed that the education experience at UChicago would be notably superior. We feel we got what we paid for.
Some families cannot afford certain schools no matter what they decide.
Particularly without having the whole picture in front of them.
I agree that there are other reasons beyond financial to not commit to ED. In a year where visiting colleges was impossible, it is a lot to ask a 17 year old to commit to ED no matter how much they love a school. Plus, the 6 months between Nov 1 (ED deadlines) and when a kid commits RD is a huge growth period- minds and priorities evolve. Even ED2 is a huge commitment.
Our CC strongly advised against ED for sight unseen schools, and despite having a clear front runner, kiddo prioritized time to think over his options over marginally better odds - fully understanding that he might be giving up his front runner. If a kid knows what he wants and it isn’t going to change, more power to them. But for many, time to mature before making a decision that big is priceless. I think that is especially true for those wavering between, for example, engineering (where you often have to direct admit) v more liberal arts-style education. Another 6 months of science and math courses would be very informative.
So while I get that EA and RD are nigh impossible for competitive schools, so it goes. It isn’t a fairness thing - I think kiddo likes slow decisions rather than fast ones, so he is applying to lots of schools and will see where the chips fall. Slow decisions come with different risks and costs than fast decisions. Pick your poison.
I take solace in the fact that regardless of how many apps applicants send out, the number of applicants and number of slots stays the same. There will be spots for top students somewhere, but it might mean being taken off a waiting list after things shake out. Or if not - getting in EA somewhere eases the worry on that front. Also, the safety/match/reach approach is essential to the slow decider.
Very well said. I just hope with this COVID situation, colleges give little higher priority to the applicants rather than yield.
This is 100% accurate. I have 3 children who are all 4 grades apart in school. We just paid our 16th consecutive semester of tuition. Child #2 will graduate in May and child #3 will start college in August/September. We will then pay our 17th consecutive semester of tuition. According to FAFSA and the CSS, we are eligible for 0 financial aid. We are full pay no matter where our children have decided to go; as such, our EFC at many universities is completely unaffordable to us without merit. At the schools that offer merit, our children have done very well. The ones that don’t aren’t affordable for my very high achieving and high stats kids. In many ways, it doesn’t seem fair, but it is what it is. They still have/had very good options. Our oldest just turned 25 and recently called to thank us for paying for his college education and allowing him to graduate without debt.
So my youngest probably won’t be attending UChicago (deferred EA and now in the RD pool), but he will be fine. And yes, we let him apply even though we knew that his odds of being able to attend were slim, even if admitted, due to affordability. He understands the financial aspect, but wanted to give it a go anyway.
Not sure what that means, they simply take the ones they want. ED simply gives a boost over equally qualified candidates. They’re not going to take an ED over a clearly superior RD applicant, but of course the RD applicant needs to be clearly superior (a high bar). Like I have said previously, ED is the last bastion of the unhooked applicant but qualified candidate.
Those individual factors such as number of dependents in or headed to college and subsequent timing of that will help determine EFC. In our case, we had three attending private college for three years in a row and that definitely helped reduce our EFC for the two at UChicago. The FA offered really did help offset the liquidity crunch. Importantly, had we been able to earn or save more it would all have gone toward COA. That’s a steep tax on the marginal dollar earned!
Three of our kids also borrowed via the federal student loan program and have definitely benefited from the suspension of P&I the past couple of years (it applies to all federal debt outstanding as well as any new debt incurred during the freeze). No full-time undergraduate is excluded from being able to finance a portion of their college education with favorable rates of interest, and last year the rate was a very low 2.75% (of course, interest isn’t even accruing right now so big whoop 
). My kids will be able to pay back their loans with no difficulty, in part because principal has been frozen this whole time while they’ve saved and invested, and in part because they planned for and borrowed sensible amounts to begin with - just enough to help them realize their goals and attend their #1 school rather than the less expensive but less desirable alternative. It all worked out for our family. However, each is unique so what works for one might not work for another.
Did anybody accepted here get any cool stuff from UChicago yet? Like tshirts or water bottles?
Nothing for us yet. But a Chicago parent received a scarf today.
I mean a parent of an accepted student who lives in Chicago posted that her son received a scarf in the mail today.
My daughter got a scarf a few days ago, and yesterday “The family of” our daughter received a package with goodies. We love the university our other 2 attend, but they didn’t send us swag! 
It is the game Chicago and others play to weed out commitment and increase yield.
If deferred EA you are almost forced to ED2. If you don’t or cant you’ve told them twice ( by not applying ED1 or ED2) that they are not your first choice (yes financial issues come to play with an ED vs EA application). With little time between an EA application Nov1 and an ED2 application Jan 1 there is little that will change in your application so its obvious that is what they are doing. Has anyone ever heard of an ED1 applicant being deferred and asked to apply ED2?
Hey everyone.
Curious to know… did any of you receive a letter from UChicago (ahead of the EA/ED decisions) addressed “To the family of ______ (applicant)_____”?
Basically a nice letter thanking the family for supporting the applicant through the application process; followed by information about financial aid, etc.
We seem to have overlooked it back then, tossing it into the pile of all the other college mailings. Just happened to open and read it today!
It doesn’t change anything (D was deffered) but was curious to know who else received such a letter.
thanks!
Yes, we got one as well…deferred also.
Thanks for the response @sandbox11. I wonder if these went mostly to deferred students - or if there’s no correlation. Let’s see if others chime in.
Same. Received letter and deferred.
When do we think they’re gonna release EDII? Last year it was the 12th, which is the 2nd Friday of February. Maybe the 11th?