@dcplanner @paxfobiscum Which numbers? Some said the University reported 31,000 apps, some said they reported 32,000. Somebody said the University told them the total admit rate was 7%. Or is it 7.6%? 7.6 is closer to 8 than to 7. Those two small changes can swing the yield a few percentage points and affect how many are taken off the wait list. Did the University divulge what percent were deferred vs outright rejected for EA. That number is important as well. Did the University say about 11,850 were EA. That’s a strange way to say it. I would have thought that would have rounded it. Again did they actually say about 2.4% were admitted from the deferred pool. Again seems a strange way to say it. They could have just said 2%. Or were these numbers gathered from other sources or deduced?
I was there too and I don’t think Dean Nondorf got down to the tenths. Remember he was speaking to a room full of people who had already been accepted so nobody wasthat concerned about 7 vs 7.5. I think they release detailed admission stats later on when the class is finalized.
@VLP, good luck getting precise numbers from Chicago. For whatever reason, in the Nondorf era, the school has been slow to release data (and has been stingy with the data it puts out). Additionally, class size has been in a state of flux. The Class of 2019 had over 1,500 enrollees–amazing that Chicago is now going to push 6K undergrads. As @Eddi137’s data in Post 319 indicate, the 2019 number was strongly fueled by the wait list–reported admits between spring and fall went up by over 150. It’s not clear how North Campus construction progress/plans to shutter older dorms will affect bed space for the incoming class. @paxfobiscum’s analysis seems very reasonable to me–my sense is that the crafty Mr. Nondorf will do what it takes to report a continued positive trend in downward admissions rate and an upward trend in yield. One (sort of sneaky) way to do that is to have a big waitlist. The schools Chicago aspires to have as peers (HYPS) usually take very few of the WL. So, one rung down the preference ladder, a Chicago offer to a WL candidate is likely to be accepted. Supplemented by high-yielding WL admits, the College can raise yield, while lowering overall admissions rate (by denying the WL remaining candidates). All depends on how many spring admits take their offers, how many beds they have, and what the leadership’s vision is for how big the College should be. Unless there’s a leak from the inside, I would be astonished if the university made any of that public.
@ssn137 I get all that. I am just asking what exactly the University announced and what was deduced by
@paxfobiscum since his post had a lot of numbers and I am sure not all were officially announced by the University.
From what I understand, here is what the University announced
7% Overall admission
3% RD Admission
There is some confusion on whether Nondorf announced 31,000 or 32,000 Apps. Can anybody clarify?
There is also some confusion whether Nondorf or others in admission announced the 10% EA admit rate and the number of apps for EA. Again can somebody clarify
Dean Nondorf announced 4% RD admission rate at the admitted student event.
I’m curious why you appear to care so much about the nitty gritty. Your child has been admitted. What difference would it make if it was 31K vs 32K? Whether the admit rate was 7.6% or 7%?
I don’t appear to care. I actually care. I am a detail oriented person. Have always been. In my line of work, you can’t say 31,000 or 32,000, what’s the difference 
Yes, I gathered that. I was trying to be diplomatic.
I would be surprised if anyone else on this forum shared your passion for detail as it pertains to what happened with 30k+ applications at each step of the admission process. Good luck in your search for the truth.
@ihs76 Lol, yes. I know life is not very detail oriented :))
@VeryLuckyParent What I deduced from the university’s information is that UChicago isn’t as competitive as Columbia or Stanford.
@ihs76 I’d love to get Dean Nondorf and former dean Ted O’Neill into a room. Ted O’Neill has said that the growing number of applications simply equates to a growing number of rejected candidates. He questioned why the race to see who could reject the most candidates.
Darn… That just broke my heart. Nondorf, how could you do this to me? :(( Next year please make sure you kick out some perfectly good students. We must catch up!! 
I think Nondorf’s answer would/should be that, as a result of its outreach programs (including “No Barriers”), U of C has been able to diversify its student body wrt race, class, geography, and nationality while maintaining its high academic standards. They aren’t looking for more kids to reject – they’re looking for a wider variety of kids to admit. Kids who share the qualities that have always been valued at U of C but, for a variety of reasons, didn’t know about the school or considered it out of reach. I do think that’s different than encouraging kids who don’t have a prayer of admission to apply to “boost” your numbers. I suspect (though I’d love to see data) that there’s a lot more academic self-selection wrt Chicago applicants (though still nowhere near MIT’s) than there is for HYPS. The “it’s a lottery” mantra has encouraged everybody to buy a ticket. And, in exchange, parents get a few months of bragging rights. Chicago doesn’t have the same cachet.
Of course ridiculously high costs (not unique to Chicago but maybe more of an issue given endowment/age/location), mean that there will be lots of very privileged kids on campus and a lot of kids an economic rung or two below that are squeezed out because they aren’t eligible for financial aid but can’t afford the school without it.
@VeryLuckyParent Look at it this way, you did “better” than my alma mater (Brown). Funny how we now rate ourselves and take pride in how many young aspiring students our colleges reject!
I think Chicago likely sees fewer “no chance” applications, for several reasons. There’s the marketing - it portrays your average Chicago student as a happy nerd, which is probably true, and also has the side effect of limiting overlap between Northwestern (to take one example of a very un-UChicago school) and the U of C’s applicants. There’s the difference in prestige for the man on the street - I suspect far more applications are justified with “But it’s (H/Y/P/S)!” than “But it’s UChicago!” Both hold down applications from students who’d be poor fits.
Both these take a back seat to the essays. I showed a group of friends Chicago’s prompts, and reactions ranged from “love it” to “oh my god, no.” There was a clear link between “UChicago-ness” and a positive reaction to the essays. With two required prompts and a third one that’s optional but which most accepted students will answer, Chicago isn’t the easiest school to apply to on a whim (Georgetown requires 4-5 essays IIRC - you really need to love the school to apply).
@widgetmidget Just to be clear, I was being facetious :)) Having just been through this process, I am acutely aware of how this admission environment hurts kids
Aggressive marketing can be interpreted as drumming up applicants or it can be interpreted (legitimately) as casting a larger, finer net. I’m sure in reality it’s both. I know this, if they hadn’t advertised our house, my son, who is now a 3rd year, wouldn’t have gone to UChicago.
Even beyond name recognition, branding, and the Uncommon Essay, I think U of C’s rep is scary and that deters applicants. Wrt HYPS, the perception is “you can’t go wrong with _____.” And it’s a fair perception – these are all schools that offer something for everyone and that make it virtually impossible to fail once you’ve been admitted. By contrast, we encountered an attitude (among those who knew and respected U of C) something more like “friends don’t let friends send their kids to Chicago for college.” It’s not just the “where fun comes to die” thing or fear of living in an integrated urban neighborhood – it’s also the perception that the work is extraordinarily difficult, the pace is unrelenting, and the expectation is that students should excel in all academic fields. For people who remember college as the best time of their lives and who see its academic value as helping you figure out what kind of career you’re interested in and providing you with a credential that allows you to move on to the next level of training (typically professional school), Chicago seems gratuitously painful and maybe even a foolish risk to take.
Agree with @exacademic on the first part. UChicago was right at the top of the list of schools that I was afraid my oldest would be interested in. But now that he’s made his decision, done the research, visited, and done the overnight, I couldn’t be happier. He looks at it like doing Navy Seal training and can’t wait for the challenge. He knows it’s going to be a grind but he’s also sure he’s going to learn an awful lot and come out of the process a much stronger person. My sense is that it is a little less grade deflationary and a little less gratuitously painful than it has been in the past.
LOL, I kept thinking “The few. The proud. The Marines.” And/or “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…” Definitely part of the appeal for (at least some of) the kids who are drawn to U of C; I think my daughter’s like your son in that respect.
I was so ready to live vicariously through him as he swam along the lazy rivers in the dorms, drank lots of beer, met lots of girls, maybe hit the rock wall once in a while, and generally had a great time for four years. Kind of proud that he’s opting for the “Life of the Grind” instead.
As I wrote in my disclaimer, the numbers I posted were gathered from various sources, analyzed and deduced based on what I gathered. They are NOT PRECISE nor were they meant to be precise. They are ball park figures for those that want to understand the ball park stats. The percentages are not precise to the basis point.
But for those who were there during the orientation I attended, they all seem to understand and agree with my figures and the deductions. Ultimately, we listened and cared about the stats for one second only because the remainder of the time we were there was spent touring the campus, meeting the people and appreciating how lucky we all were in getting our children accepted in this school.
I am personally quite happy that my daughter did not get accepted in my Ivy League Alma Mater, as I am seriously not impressed with the quality of education my school offers compared to that of UChicago.