Hey,
I started this thread for students who were deferred from EA/ED. Has anyone been rejected or all were deferred? From what I’ve heard, they have told that this year there were less of deferrals and more of rejections. Is there any truth in this fact?
I know of a total of six students deferred.
@fbsdreams Not too big a number. Or is it similar to previous years?
Apologies, but I’m new here and have no idea. I’m sure there were many applicants deferred from EA. Matter of fact all applicants my son knew were deferred.
I feel that the EA deferral rate was quite high: 75% or higher. Those who did not convert to ED2 after deferral will most probably be waitlisted and then denied. Overall by the end of the cycle, I think around 10% of the EA pool will probably be admitted, either straight away or during RD, not counting the folks who converted to ED2
8 kids from my school applied early. 2 ED and 6 EA. All EAs were deferred, one ED was accepted and one was rejected.
I called them up and they said that as compared to previous years, fewer students were deferred this year. I think they lied because a large number of students seem to be deferred from the EA.
I think that CC posters are probably an unrepresentative sample of the student population applying to UChicago ED/EA in the first place, and of course many, many who were not accepted or deferred simply didn’t post their results. Thus, it seemed that “everyone” who applied EA was deferred. It sure seemed that way to us! Of the five or so from my daughter’s high school, all applied EA and all were deferred. My daughter has since been accepted EDII but the remaining kids are all hoping for an RD admit. All are excellent students who would quite well at UChicago. My daughter happens to be double legacy and NMF and obviously those factors helped, but switching to EDII probably helped the most (else she would have been accepted EA, n’est-ce pas? 
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@agarwalmridul09 it’s reasonable to think that they actually did defer fewer (and ding more) than in previous years because this year was supposedly a record year for early applications.
@JBStillFlying First of all congratulations to you and your daughter! Can you tell your daughter’s scores and grades?
3.9 uw, 34 ACT is what she submitted (she had some subject scores and her SAT that weren’t submitted and those were OK: 760 USHistory, 740 Math II, 1500 rSAT).
Her stats were certainly competitive, although someone mentioned to me on a related thread a few months ago that an unhooked at 34 is on the low side. Not sure that’s accurate but haven’t looked into it one way or another. She may have been “hooked” slightly due to the double legacy and/or NMF but those kids have gotten waitlisted before. Would not have expected her to be dinged outright but a waitlist on this last round was definitely not out of the realm of outcomes, IMHO. A lot comes down to the essay which can be so very subjective.
She also interviewed at the academic departments of the fields she was interested in, rather than at Admissions directly, which might have helped. From her perspective, she was choosing a school for the intellectual opportunities so it was important to talk to the academic folks and she did mention these interviews in her essays. Whether her name was passed on by those guys to admissions, or whether it was merely 100% fact-gathering on her part that helped inform her essays to make them better, is anyone’s guess.
All in all, the EDII is what pushed her over the edge (as she was accepted this time around). A good take-away for future applicants!
Since the middle 50% for an ACT is 32-35, 34 is solidly in the accepted range, 30-32 is where you really need a hook. Essays are also a major factor but since they are subjective so we tend to ignore them and concentrate on the numbers…IOW 4.0 GPA, 32-35 ACT puts you in the game, EC’s to show interest outside of academics, and of course, essays can/will put you over the top.
My school Naviance says that there were people who were deferred who had a 2350-2370 SAT this year EA. ED2 def helped me a lot since my class rank and 34 single sitting ACT was definitely lower than the EA applicants at my school, and it was weird for me to get accepted over them since I had less ECs as well. I think ED2 was a deal breaker for the students at my school since there were 2 people who got in (8 deferred EA) and we were both ED applicants.
Daughter was deferred with 35 ACT, NMF, 11 APs 3.98 UW GPA, too many ECs to recite. Her guidance counselor said from the outset that she would be a great match for Chicago and after visiting the campus she agreed. Admissions officer indicated to her guidance counselor that her admissions chances would be greatly enhanced if she converted her application to EDII. Sadly enough we did not have the financial latitude to sign a binding agreement to a $72,000 tuition bill and then keep our fingers crossed that the grant in the net price calculator would come to fruition. I hope that there are still “no boundaries” at Chicago and those without the financial resources to sign an ED agreement are still candidates.
@RelocatedYankee I had a nice talk with FA before our daughter (deferred EA) switched to EDII. They were actually very helpful and gave me confidence that we had a decent range for where our expected contribution would come out. Still, I was very nervous signing that agreement! Fortunately, FA was true to expectation which was a HUGE relief! Our daughter is third to college in three years and that obviously helped (!) but my husband was very surprised at the amount of grant money. We believe it was more generous than had she been accepted ED elsewhere.
She was really hoping to get merit aid but getting deferred EA was kind of an obvious signal to us that this wasn’t going to happen at UChicago! She might well have gotten some merit aid at one of her RD choices (all of them elite schools). This whole experience has been very much like Let’s Make A Deal and I feel like we took the cash rather than choose what’s behind Door #1.
@JBStillFlying You are very fortunate.our conversation with FA was not nearly as productive but our situation differed in that our Chicago applicant was daughter 1. Daughter 2 is in the HS class of 2018 and were most interested (aka terrified) about the three years that the kids are simultaneously in college. Chicago was not willing to commit to the portion of our collective need that they would fund, though I suspect they would ultimately be generous. So…we are still waiting to see what is behind door #1.
I agree with @RelocatedYankee that EA/RD hurts many applicants who need to apply for aid. Many of the EA deferred students at my school definitely applied for FA, but I didn’t qualify for need-based aid at any school and got to consider UChicago as my first choice. Since I’m not the top of my class, I’m certain that I wouldn’t have got into Chicago without the push of ED2.
Deferred EA and did not change to EDll due to financial considerations. As time passes my enthusiasm for UChicago which was my number one choice has decreased and I finally realize that I could be happy at a number of schools and thankfully I have a lot of options. I could not be in a better situation. Would I be thrilled to get an acceptance from UChicago for sure! Will I be devastated if I am not accepted, nope!
@RelocatedYankee It is a difficult scenario, but If you were uncomfortable for any reason with the FA package, you could rescind ED agreement. You would have a demonstrable need in year two forward and UChicago would provide an updated package at that time.
We were also extremely pleased with the grant money as many others have mentioned. It was more generous than the calculator. I’ve never read of an instance where Chicago locked someone in that didn’t agree with the package.
I wonder if it’s too late to commit at this point with an email to your AC.