S deferred EA then rejected. Didn’t have high hopes but it felt like 2 rejections instead of 1.
1550 4.64w 4.0uw
3 sport athlete
Top 2% in class
Small volunteering and other ecs.
Great essays
DH went there so direct legacy.
Also from less commonly seen state.
The middle of America
My daughter was born in Columbus
18 years ago
We lived there for 16
Always a Buckeye
She was deferred EA then accepted. Super happy. Yeah, go buckeyes!
For future applicants, I believe having the withdraw link on the morning of decision day was an indication of being waitlisted and absence of the withdraw link indicated a more definitive decision. In my kid’s case, clicking the withdraw link lead to an “Application Waitlist Withdrawal Form” even before decisions were released. It’s possible that this will change for next year.
Best wishes to all
Son got rejected after being deferred EA. Today got rejected from Caltech as well after being deferred. 2 rejections in a row hurt, but these were not his top choices.
Certainly they do.
I remember yours has pretty great selection that he’s admitted/likely into. They will do well if they fit into the colleges they enjoy to be at. Good luck to your son for his achievements!!!
My child was admitted. Details from email received.
Congratulations, that’s awesome 
The admit rate for RD is actually much lower because they fill majority of their class from ED1 and ED2.
Yes - regular decision is most likely lower. The 5% is based on the total admits and total applications. UChicago has an ED1 & ED2 which are restrictive and binding. I don’t know how many students / % of class that is admitted from these two pools but I’m guessing it’s a significant number given the school’s yield is high. I believe last year’s yield was about 80%.
This is where Chicago gets a little sly, I believe. Seems like last year their waitlist moved a little, but two things were apparently happening…One, they rooted out who likely would attend. LOCI, plus a call from regional AO. You didn’t HAVE to tell them it was your #1, but they needed to be suitably convinced it would be your likely option. Two, the small sample size of CC and reddit showed that everyone who reported they were accepted was full pay. People speculated that it was a 4th round of acceptance, actually- rooting out need blind.
We’ll see if this year mirrors. Our D had fun with Chicago. Enjoyed the essays, was happy she was waitlisted. It would likely be a top 5 choice for her- and currently would probably be her #1 if she had been accepted- but has zero expectations her waitlist is anything more than a soft rejection. Unless the above is true for this round…
Completely agree. Last year they closed the waitlist around decision date (May 7) and actually offered a few people deferred admission to this year’s 2026 class.
they shared this in the parent email for acceptance.
i doubt this is relevant anymore, but maybe for kids reading next year, I was admitted RD. 1510 SAT, 3.97GPA, so a bit below admitted average. But I am planning on completing 13 AP exams by the end of high school, and have a lot of extracurriculars (including 11 years of Girl Scouts). But I am not a minority student, and am from California.
Congratulations on your acceptance
My daughter had identical scores, although only 8 APs. Also accepted RD
Really strong responses to the questions I think and demonstrated interest, including visit to campus and mentioning the name of the admission officer hosting the visit and paraphrasing some elements of his talk in why Chicago
We are in California
Congrats to both of you. It does seem RD (at least through here and on Reddit) has a “type”. Extremely strong candidates, with 99% grades and test scores but maybe a TICK under the tippy top.
Could be that the studies that show these types of students tend to be the most successful in life (of which I’ve read several), could be that this is a sneaky way to admit super-talented students while increasing yield (thinking maybe these kids JUST miss out on Ivy day or similar and will have Chicago as the clear #1 academic choice). But in any event, it works!
I’m so happy for you guys. From your stats and info, very well deserved.
I think that is about right. My daughter did not make it to Yale as a REA
This is not a logical conclusion. There are many at the top ivies (Harvard, Yale, Princeton) that also have scores just under the tippy top. There is always a range of students in a given top university. The average SAT score in UChicago is higher than Harvard’s, for example.
Of course there is always a range…and the suggestion/hypothesis is simply that the full range appears to be used more regularly in filling out the very large portion of the class filled in ED. For RD, the CW is that there is an expectation that applicant quality increases a bit when REA denials apply, but there is also a reasonable hypothesis that Chicago, in particular, likes to use its RD admits by fishing for very strong candidates who are also still likely to yield…i.e., candidates who might be just a tick below the likely Ivy RD pools. There is data to back up these sorts of hypotheses, too…For example, Harvard-Westlake publishes three years of data on its students and where they were admitted/matriculate, and the admission rate for UChicago applicants is actually highest in the third strongest GPA pool…noticeably higher admission rates than either the top or second tier GPA pools at HW, and the numbers are large enough to be meaningful…for some, seeing data like that suggests that Chicago clearly must have a “type” they are willing to admit that is below the tippy top…and, coupled with the clear emphasis they place on yield, it leads to reasonable speculation about how they really use the limited number of RD spots to fill out the rest of their class.
Yes. It looks like Chicago found a secret sauce and has been hammering away at it for years. Take the absolute best and highest stat candidates in ED, then fill the class out with exceptional students who are very likely to yield. With no D1 sports to impact incoming academic stats, it’s not difficult to pull this off every cycle.
Our HS averages 1-2 kids per year. Rarely the number 1-4 in class standing, but always “yeah, that kid’s really bright” type. Our HS yield is also very high- over 65%, which is considerable considering many of these kids are also getting accepted into several peer schools.
There’s a singular, very specific reason the new Vanderbilt Chancellor was hand-picked from Chicago. Rankings are very important to the board.