<p>Just out of curiosity, who on this board would still apply to Chicago early even if it were an ED school?
I'll start: I probably wouldn't.</p>
<p>I believe in the past (say, around a decade ago) schools such as Harvard switched from more open policies (e.g. unrestricted EA - like what UChicago has now) to more restrictive policies (e.g. SCEA). The change to a more restrictive system led to around 50% drops in applications. </p>
<p>If UChicago changed from the most open (unrestricted EA) to the most restricted (ED) early policiy, I imagine that apps would drop by around 70-75%, which would correspond to the types of drops other schools saw when they drastically altered their policies.</p>
<p>So, instead of 10,316 early apps, UChicago would probably get in the ballpark of ~2500-3000 early decision apps - comparable to Brown, Columbia, Northwestern, etc. </p>
<p>Put another way, it seems a safe estimate to suppose that ~25-30% of the current early action applicants would apply to UChicago ED.</p>
<p>ugh I wish they had ED.</p>
<p>I kind of did. Haha. I applied through Questbridge, and had I been matched, it would’ve been binding. :3</p>
<p>I wouldn’t. While UChicago is my first choice, I’d have to know how much aid they’d give me before I’d commit to them, just like I would do with any other school.
Money is a big factor for my family. While we’re considered to be financially well off (190k income), my parents made the very wise decision of buying a terribly expensive house, so most of their income goes to paying the mortgage. ==> no college money for me 
That’s why I couldn’t risk applying ED to anywhere.</p>
<p>I think you can get out of ED if you decide the financial aid isn’t enough. My friends who got into Columbia early were thinking about not going because of money. But I’m not sure how the policy works exactly… :/</p>
<p>Definitely wished they had ED… so there wouldn’t be this intense competition.</p>
<p>I would’ve. You can drop ED if you don’t get financial aid. My parents make ~60k now so I don’t think fin aid would be a problem. And I’m so magnificently in love with the school</p>
<p>i wouldn’t have. i still havent visited the school so im not 100% about it yet…</p>
<p>I would have still applied. UChicago is the bomb.</p>
<p>You guys make it sound awfully easy to drop ED. I’ve always thought it was rather hard to do so, as you had to prove, with evidence, that you really couldn’t afford it.</p>
<p>My family can afford it, but we can’t really. It’s that I’d rather not have my parents spending all of their retirement money on my undergrad tuition.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have.</p>
<p>I would have. There is no other place I want to go to. <3</p>