I’ve heard that ED doesn’t help too much at U Chicago but I was wondering, due to my low GPA, if showing interest would improve my chances.
I feel like I am in a bit of a weird situation
For Freshman year, I had a 2.2 GPA with no honors at a top 10 private school. Since then, I switched to a different school which is also considered to be reasonably rigorous and have a 3.9 unweighted 4.2 weighted for the past 6 semesters with an upwards trend in each semester (I have taken summer classes with intensive course loads to improve my GPA. My current GPA is probably around a 3.7 weighted and a 3.55 unweighted overall. My median semester grade point average is a 3.9 and a 4.1 weighted
my ACT composite (first try) is a 35
Math II: 770, Lit: 740 , Chem 780, US History 800, World History 800
In terms of extracurriculars, I currently have/will have/had
member and then president of economics/investment club which won a competition around a month or so after I initially joined as a member.
main researcher and contributor for a regional newspaper
researcher for local economics non-profit
founder and editor and chief of my school’s newspaper
member of the board of local non-profit
tutor at school
Best student in Social Science and Latin
Teaching Assistant for econ class at my school
Most of this year’s incoming class (one parent told me she heard 60%) was admitted ED. Whether it helps you or not depends on how many quality applicants apply EDI/EDII. My guess is that they shoot for a general number but everything depends on which applicants apply under which plan every year. Therefore, you probably shouldn’t apply under a binding plan in order to “help” your chances - you should really reserve that option for your top choice school - the school that you will 100% attend if offered admission. You should DEFINITELY not use ED to “show interest” because if admitted your commitment is not really negotiable except under unusual circumstances. Think carefully, talk to Fin. Aid. if that’s a consideration, and decide wisely whether this is, indeed, the school for you. Then apply accordingly.
As to your freshman grades, generally schools tend to assign more weight to the later years (sophomore and junior) than they do freshman. That’s no guarantee that your grades will be discounted at UChicago; however the trend is obviously in the right direction now which will help your case. You’ll need to explain that unusual year, of course. Most schools don’t look at weighted GPA just due to the variability of weighting schemes out there.
ED helps. For how much and is the bump big enough, no one knows exactly since it is so new. But it helps - this is true for all schools that use ED and even EA. Early applications fare better than RD applications (not yet accounting for differences in applicant pool)
I disagree a little bit with the above poster. You can apply ED to any school even if it is not your top choice, if it is a close second, you would be happy to attend, you are okay with not being able to compare financial offers, and most of all you will not regret not being able to apply to your real top choice. That is a question that only you can answer. In return, it will allow you to easily show interest, get a “bump”, and possibly get in early at an awesome school.
^^ the complication with UChicago is that they have now signalled how many ED candidates they want to admit. Last year a whole bunch of EA’s and RD’s didn’t have that information. There will be a move to more EDI and EDII applications and, assuming quality is the same, that will depress the admit rate of those pools. Thinking in particular about the pool of EA deferreds who switched because they realized the strong preference for ED. This year, a whole lot of those types will now be applying EDI which leaves EA for a smaller set of super-qualified or hooked candidates. Same with EDII and RD. If quality of the ED pool is a bit lower than last year, that will (also) depress the ED rate if they opt to accept fewer ED’s than they did last year. Lots of uncertainty. That’s why it’s probably not a good idea to apply ED unless you really want to go there and mean to commit if accepted.
If it’s a close second, then applying EDII can be a good strategy (depending on what the first choice is and what the outcome is, etc). If the first choice wouldn’t be a binding commitment, then you probably don’t want to apply EDI and give away your bargaining power. Unless I’m missing something.