Ugh.

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>So my parents aren't letting me apply to UChicago EA. Which is terrible, because it has been my first choice ever since I received mail from them. And I mean, no other college has interested me this much. </p>

<p>I'm still going to talk to them, and convince to let me apply early (I have a much better chance of getting in if I do). But the problem is money, and the fact that I live pretty far from Chicago. Still, I will convince them, but until then, I'm just going to to cry. </p>

<p>(sorry for the rather useless post, I just wanted to get that out there and let the EA-ers know how lucky they are :[)</p>

2

<p>Your parents won't let you apply EA? Why not? I could understand if it were a restrictive admissions process, but UChicago does not have such a policy. Applying EA is the exact same as applying RD except you just have a better chance of admission if you apply EA. Is it that your parents just don't want you to get in or what? Either way, sounds pretty silly to me.</p>

3

<p>"Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man's world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man's world."</p>

<p>Yeah, I had to bust out the ABBA songs. </p>

<p>They don't think I'll get a good financial aid/scholarship package if I apply EA.</p>

4

<p>You have a few options:</p>

<p>1) Suck it up and apply RD instead of EA. Though the percentage of EA admitted might be higher, also consider that the pool is probably stronger or a better match for Chicago overall, and thus they are chosen at a slightly higher rate. I strongly, strongly believe that if you can get in EA, you can get in RD, and that there is no special EA bump simply BECAUSE an applicant is in the EA pool.</p>

<p>The real advantage of EA is that you have a second chance of admittance if you are deferred from the first round. From what I've seen, Chicago may defer you if they don't feel they have enough information to make a good decision about you. They strongly recommend deferred applicants to send in more information, and after applicants send in more essays, recs, portfolios, etc., they tend to admit students. The secondary advantage is preference in dorms.</p>

<p>2) Talk to your parents again, and apply to rolling schools where you think you might get in and get merit money at the same time (U Pitt, University of Hartford, University of Vermont are all schools that I know that not only give out decisions quickly but tend to attach sizable merit packages to them. Michigan is a great school with rolling admissions, but, unfortunately, private school prices). That might soften the blow of Chicago EA.</p>

<p>3) Send in the EA application surreptitiously, with an I.O.U. note to Ted O'Neill concerning the application fee. Make sure you intercept the mail before the big envelope comes. Hope your parents won't murder you if they find out you applied anyway.</p>

<p>4) E-mail your admissions officer a beautifully crafted e-mail explaining your interest in the school, your desire to apply Early Action, your parents' restraints, and your concerns about admission. Communication with the office might put you at ease a bit-- and it also puts you on the road map in terms of "hey, I remember talking to that kid, he told me over the summer that he really wanted to come here!"</p>

<p><a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=190%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=190&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>Make clear to your parents that:</p>

<p>(1) An EA application to Chicago does not commit you to go there if accepted. So you are still free to accept a better financial offer elsewhere. </p>

<p>(2) An EA application to Chicago does not keep you from applying EA or ED to any other school (unless that school's rules forbid it, which I think is limited to Yale, Stanford, and Brown). So if there is an advantage in applying early to another school, you can still take it.</p>

<p>(3) What an EA application does tell the admissions committee is that you are definitely interested in Chicago. That is not such a bad statement to make if you are looking for merit aid.</p>