<p>Whatever the story may have been in the past, as someone else mentioned, UChicago’s increasing selectivity will almost certainly mean that UChicago graduates will be more successful in applying to graduate school across the board. However, the results won’t known for several years, since those students haven’t applied to graduate school yet.</p>
<p>Hi Grace,</p>
<p>I was originally thinking of applying to University of Chicago early action, but my parents were telling me not to apply due to our financial situation. However, only recently was I able to convince them to let me apply to University of Chicago. So now I need to give my transcript release form to my guidance counselor a bit later than their deadline; so will UChicago consider me for admissions if my transcript arrives a bit later than January 1, 2012 (but everything else arrives by January 1, 2012)?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your help,
free2rhyme</p>
<p>free2rhyme, yes, we will consider you for Regular Decision so long as your Common Application and Supplement are submitted before our deadline, which is actually January 3, 2012. It is OK if other materials arrive after the deadline.</p>
<p>Truth123 - that’s a great point. U of C’s placement may very well improve in the future, especially as the school becomes increasingly more selective. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that any projections about how Chicago will place in the future are quite speculative. Put another away, the impressive data I posted for Yale for the Fall 2010 cycle has most likely been consistent with Yale’s previous performances in law school placement. Chicago’s placement could very well improve in the upcoming years, and I certainly hope it does. At the same time, rolling the dice and projecting just how strong Chicago will be is a bit riskier than, say, going with known commodities that have experienced consistent success in placement for decades. </p>
<p>At the very least, a student considering Chicago should view all of the hard data he/she can see. Given the lack of transparency on this issue, it’s all rumor at this point, so applicants should request to see the data before making a decision. </p>
<p>As an alum, I very much hope Chicago improves in the future, and I am confident it will. The question, though, is how much will Chicago improve in a few years? By 2015 or 2016, will Chicago’s placement rates be comparable to Yale or Brown or some of its other peers? That’s very much an open question, and an applicant needs to see the data first before making a decision.</p>
<p>Without doubt, there are many fantastic schools out there, as the UChicago rep has stated. At the same time, there are meaningful differences between the top schools, and high-achieving applicants should be aware of these differences. </p>
<p>Selecting a college (or selecting between top colleges) is an important decision. Any applicant should look to make as informed a decision as possible.</p>
<p>Hey Grace! Another question - I was looking at the EA decision results for last year and saw that most of the “accepted” posters had had an interview. Since I live 20 hours away from Chicago, there was no way I could get over there to have an interview this fall. Will this be taken into consideration, or is it assumed that if I didn’t go for an interview, I just didn’t care enough? (Which is certainly not the case…)</p>
<p>Once again, thank you for being so kind and patient to us in all of our frenzied anxiety. Happy holidays!</p>
<p>Eszebel, remember that the sample of people who post on CC is not necessarily random-- you all represent a very small (and highly involved!) group of our total admitted student population 
We do not require interviews, and many of our admitted students do not have one-- we are not able to accommodate all students who request an alumni interview with one, and realize that traveling for an on-campus interview is not a possibility for most students. Don’t worry!</p>
<p>hey I just have a question for you,</p>
<p>I know you guys offer a couple of merit scholarships but what I was wondering is if we applied Early Action do we find out about our merit scholarships with our online decision notice</p>
<p>samster712, our merit scholarship committee meets once monthly during the admissions cycle. Some EA admitted students will receive an offer of merit with their initial decision notice, while others may hear in the coming months, up until April.</p>
<p>Hi Grace! First of all, I wanted to thank you again for answering all of our questions, I’m sure that you’re quite busy! My question is about essay length, and I’m SUPER sorry if it’s been asked before, I skimmed about 20 pages of the thread, but 44 pages is fairly intimidating. But, if my extended essay is a little over 500 words (okay… maybe more than a little. It’s ~750 right now), should that be seen as a significant concern? I’ve heard stories of people submitting up to 1,000 word ones, and that’s freaked me out a bit.</p>
<p>Secondly, for the first two essays (Why UChicago and the optional one), would a length of about a page double spaced be appropriate? Again, I’m so sorry if you’ve answered this question and I just skipped over it. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi Grace,
I just want to thank you for working so hard to answer all our various questions. You have been extremely helpful, and I loved reading through you posts. They really bought out the best of UChicago. I can’t wait until tomorrow. Again, thanks and have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.</p>
<p>We should rename December 19th as “Grace Appreciation Day”!
/throws streamers</p>
<p>2000206, we prefer essays to be around 500 words, or one to two pages (single or double spaced). It’s fine to go a little bit over-- we won’t stop reading at 501 words, to be sure-- but we do appreciate students who have edited thoroughly and made an effort to be somewhere near that suggested limit.</p>
<p>And, all, thanks! Glad to know you all appreciate me being here, and best of luck for your admission results tomorrow (excuse me, Grace Appreciation Day )</p>
<p>I always wondered, if I somehow get in (and I’m not dreaming) does anything special happen (I mean besides getting accepted into heaven ahhh) on the website? Like some schools, when they accept you, show fireworks and videos that open and blare music. Someone apparently told me that a huge birthday cake appears…can you tell us, or would you rather us hopefully find a surprise :D?</p>
<p>Hey grace,</p>
<p>just to calm my nerves…
once I log into my uchicago account, will it just say either “rejected,” deferred," or “accepted”? Or will I have to read a letter? How will the decisions be seen once we log into our accounts?</p>
<p>quizbowl and nondairycreamer, you will be able to click a link prompting you to view your decision once you log in to your account. And whatever happens once you do so is for you to find out tomorrow… :)</p>
<p>Grace, thank you so much for everything you have done for us! Hopefully this isn’t the end of the road for me talking to you, but regardless, you have been a pleasure to talk to!</p>
<p>Hi Grace,</p>
<p>What if I accidently sent the unfinished version of my supplement essay to you guys? Is it possible to send in my finished supplement essay through my uchicago account? I know it will be too late for EA, but for RD?</p>
<p>input, yes, if you accidentally sent in an incomplete version, you may e-mail the completed version as an attachment to your regional counselor (with the body of the e-mail detailing why the document is being sent, briefly) for consideration in RD.</p>
<p>staryulover-- thanks much! I hung around here a lot when I was a prospective student, and just want to make sure you all have timely responses to important questions-- helps keep people from getting frustrated, AND helps keep the information on CC accurate and informative.</p>
<p>Hey Grace,</p>
<p>So I applied EA back in November, checked the common app website which said everything had been sent to you guys: application, teacher recs, transcript etc. Later I set up my Uchicago account and let it sit for a while…now (with admissions decisions coming up) I checked it again and what the screen I’m seeing doesn’t seem to be like anybody elses here. I don’t have an “application checklist” and there doesn’t seem to be anyway for me to verify that my app actually arrived. All it says is that my app was submitted under “recent activity” I was under the impression we would get an email if materials were missing and I never received an email like that. Am I doing something wrong/should I be worried? Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi Grace,</p>
<p>Now that decisions are going to be released, I am wondering how many EA applicants were accepted this year. Is that information available? If so, what’s the number?</p>