Who gets accepted to UChicago?

@JustEthan Regarding the admissions ratings process, there are three main rating variables.

1-5 : Academics
A-E : Personality - Extra Curricular, Essay responses, etc.
XYZ : UChicago fit - engagement

These may/may not be used to make the first cut where additional criteria such as Hooks, URM, Legacy, etc. are factored in.

One could only guess whether this is done across each round.

With the sheer number of applicants and limited spots, at the end of the day it’s a numbers game when trying to compare across peer institutions.

I believe @fbsdreams hits it best. That is the holistic rubric. I think you could include commitment to UChicago is a factor on a different axis. For example if you show firm commitment by applying ED1 and to lesser extent ED2 it can move you up the list of you don’t max out the above categories. In RD you better max out the catagories for a fair shot.

@JustEthan:

I am going to try to go back and give you a more understandable answer, but it’s not going to help you much.

As of 10-15 years ago, it would have been relatively easy to tell you what the University of Chicago was looking for in an applicant. There were really only two questions, closely related: Does the applicant have the intellectual capacity and writing ability to perform well at the University of Chicago? Does the applicant have an intellectual attitude that is compatible with the University’s principles regarding undergraduate education, i.e., an intense love of learning for learning’s sake, and broad interests but a desire to go deep where one’s attention is engaged, and a willingness to follow intellect and logic where they lead, regardless of social pressure and preconceptions? Back then, Chicago was getting about 9,000 applications per year, and accepting a little more than a third of them. Because it was known to be very hardworking and intellectually demanding, and not especially a fun place, it didn’t get a lot of casual applications from people who weren’t committed to hard work and an intellectual focus, so admission was more competitive than the percentages suggest. But the admissions department was able and willing to overlook “flaws” in an applicant’s resume if recommendations and essays clearly showed that the applicant was a Chicago kind of student.

About 95% of the existing alumni came through that system, and they have a tendency to think it was pretty good. It definitely gave the University a special character at the undergraduate level: hardworking, hyperintellectual, sardonic, self-deprecating. Since people’s social skills or non-intellectual talents didn’t play much into admissions, there were more socially awkward people, and fewer accomplished athletes, artists, musicians, etc. than you might find at many of the other colleges where very smart students congregated, like the Ivies or Stanford. Compared to its peer colleges, life for undergraduates at Chicago was much more focused on the classroom and courses than on extracurricular activities and networking for career advancement. Many people in the Chicago community have a lot of pride about those qualities; no one thinks they were entirely a bad thing.

There were some longstanding problems with this model, however, that the University began to address 30-40 years ago, but as to which the speed of change has accelerated rapidly in the past 10-15 years. I won’t go into the problems, but the upshot is that three really important trends have changed Chicago admissions a lot:

First, the University has done a lot of things to attract more applications, and the volume of applications it receives has increased 3-4x in little more than a decade. The increased volume of applications probably includes some people who really have no business applying to Chicago, but by and large Chicago still has a reputation for being hard and hyperintellectual, so it doesn’t get a lot of applications from people who mainly want to party in college.

Second, although the University has expanded its entering class size about 40% in the past 15 years, it is sending out only about half the number of admissions offers it did then, in part because more students it accepts are choosing to go there, and in the last two years because it has admitted well over half its class on an Early Decision basis where the applicant commits to enroll if he or she is accepted.

Third, while never entirely abandoning the idea that a Chicago student is somewhat distinct from the average student at Harvard, Penn, Stanford, or Duke, etc., Chicago has deliberately broadened the types of students it tries to attract and it tries to admit. It has upgraded its varsity sports programs and its traditional major ECs like theater, music, and journalism. It is trying to admit a more economically/culturally/racially/geographically diverse student body. It is trying to admit some “leaders.” It has introduced a limited engineering-type major (where it had no engineering at all in the past), and it is planning to introduce an explicit business-oriented major.

What all this means is that admissions has gone from being highly predictable to being completely unpredictable. It used to be, not so long ago, that if you were a good student with good test scores, good writing ability, and a track record of challenging yourself academically, and your essays and recommendations showed you were a Chicago-type student, you were in, and you had a decent chance of admission even if some of those other qualities (besides being a Chicago-type) weren’t quite at 100%. Now, you can have all of those qualities and still get rejected, and a few of the people accepted may not clearly be Chicago types. What’s more, there’s a radical difference between the results for people who apply ED vs. people applying EA or RD. Chicago hasn’t disclosed its numbers publicly, but a good guess is that it has been admitting 15-20% of ED applicants, and something like 2-3% of other applicants.

Excellent analysis as usual JHS.

As a newbie to this board (take what I write with a grain of salt), based on all I’ve read these past few months, my child’s experience this year, friends‘ experiences this and previous years, and my 20+ year experience doing alumni interviews for an HYPSM, I think for applicants without hooks, in addition to high stats and good ECs, UChicago places significant importance on the uncommon essay. UChicago receives thousands of incredibly qualified applications, but as with all these competitive universities, they need to differentiate among these academic superstars, and one obvious way is the uncommon essay.

My child was accepted EA. She has no favorite university, just a few which are excellent for her intended major and where she believes she would be happy. She did not need to pledge her allegiance to UChicago to get accepted. Her Why UChicago essay was, in my opinion, mediocre, and her common app essay was, in my opinion, boring. She has never visited the university and didn’t even have an interview. But she had diligently read all the marketing material she received and fell in love with the school. She was excited about the uncommon essay and in a flash of inspiration, wrote a truly brilliant essay, the kind which reflects the thoughtful, intelligent, creative and witty thinking of which she is capable. Without really knowing of course, I believe this is certainly one thing that set her application apart from all the other apps with high stats and good ECs. Having read many of the UChicago uncommon essays published all over the internet, there is a certain intelligence, wit and creativity that they seem to have in common.

A friend‘s child who has high stats but was rejected in a previous year, wrote a nice uncommon essay but nothing that demonstrated any kind of witty or intelligent or creative thinking. Yes, this is only anecdotal, but thought I would still throw it out there. Maybe others have similar or completely different experiences.

Tl;dr - I think the uncommon essay plays a significant role in distinguishing which high stat applicants have the level of intellectual curiosity and creativity that UChicago is looking for.

We had a talk with our admissions counselor, and I got the impression that U Chicago ideally looks for an intellectual/social “fit” in a candidate that supersedes pure stats, which means a kid with lesser stats but a specific personality might be admitted over that otherwise objectively “superior” student.

Translated, essays and recommendations probably carry more weight than usual with U Chicago. It is tough on forums like CC to understand and explain this in examples, because the normal “What are my chances?” thread is necessarily limited to focusing far more on GPA, test scores, and the list of ECs. With U Chicago, the issue probably is not whether your teachers/counselor gave you an outstanding recommendation or not, but exactly how they described you in characterizing your qualities. Two people can be equally brilliant, creative, and hard-working, but one might be a perfect fit for Brown and the other for MIT, so likewise U Chicago may have a distinct view on its perfect “fit” in the students it admits.

@JHS provides the full-Thomist synthesis of the best that has been thought and said on this subject here on the board. I can find nothing to quarrel with in his account! @schlegelkopf 's testimony also seems to hit the nail on the hammerhead: If you’re a kid who wants a Chicago education, best not to overthink strategy but go with your heart and trust your head to find the right words.

Another anecdote supporting what @schlegelkopf wrote.

Among all her college essays, the UChicago uncommon essay was the easiest for her to write, and by far her best essay. She said the essay spoke to her, and she wrote it in 20-30 minutes total.

It was this “fit” that made UChicago her first choice, and she has truly enjoyed her first year so far.

hebegebe - Similar experience with the essays. The prompts drew out more essence and imagination than any of the other schools combined and was also the easiest to write. And he does not on the surface appear the assumptive UChicago type kid. It’s been exciting to watch as the University has given him wings. In my opinion the design of the application does a great job of zoning in on all the type of kids that will thrive on the challenge and work demands there.

That is a common theme for those admitted to UChicago, the essays seem to be a little more important than at other colleges.

@JHS thanks for the detailed breakdown. UChicago is and has been my top school since I found out about it. The way their students are just seems like I would be srounded with people like me. I don’t know if I showed that clearly but I did my best (my common app essay was even written with UChicago in mind). Well all I can do now is wait.

@schlegelkopf Though I’m not sure you’ll know can I ask if the free essay or the UChicago essay is more important. My Why Uchicago was probably my best essay of all but the other was not bad either. Just thought I’d ask.

UofC doesn’t like to accept anyone that will not matriculate.

The crazier thing is that they want you to show interest in the school but you cannot sign in for campus tours.

???

@BrianBoiler

I sometimes think of it as HYPSMCCCP

(Caltech, Chicago, Columbia, Penn)

@MaterS Strange, last year we signed in for the tour.

We absolutely registered and signed in for our tour. Summer 2016.

“I sometimes think of it as HYPSMCCCP”

I’m thinking we try to see if we can get CHYMPS or PSYCH (who needs MIT anyways?) in the lexicon…

Re: essays, I will say this.

In my experience, lots of people wrote their essays in a rush. In my case, I promised my guidance counselor a draft Uncommon Essay for a 5 pm meeting, and forgot all about it until I found myself on a bus back to school around 4:30. A common theme in my high school years.

My personal theory is that last-minute panic makes essays better, because overanalyzing what admissions might want to hear takes time.

More anecdotes,

Aside from crossing UChicago’s high stats threshold, enjoying and excelling in a range of subjects across the board, and similar to what @schlegelkopf said, S had no hooks, did not plead allegiance to UChicago, did not have an interview and did not visit the campus.

While his common app essay was sufficient, and his UChicago essays were not necessarily written in a literary style and did not attempt to be overly-witty, the UChicago essays did showcase his curiosity, thought process, and the ability to articulate them. Looking back now though, the essays also seem to inadvertently reflect what the UChicago brand is.

As far as ‘fit,’ UChicago is perfect for him, and I liked how @uchicagomom put it, we know it will give him ‘wings’ to soar, but, I think S would fit into a few other schools too. He’s well-adjusted and adaptable, has street-smarts, not the ‘nerdy’ or ‘quirky’ type, and likes to have fun; so maybe it was a combo of merit, intellect, articulation skills, and a smattering of the UChicago brand, and he’s ecstatic about attending.

CHYMPS or PSYCH lol!

We think of it as chips: CHYPC – Chicago, then throwing in Columbia at the end only because hubby went there (and who needs west coast or stem schools anyway ;).)