<p>Hi there! Thanks for answering questions about the admissions process.</p>
<p>I was wondering what UChicago’s policy on deferrals is, if there is a hard-and-fast policy. Can students defer their acceptance for a year without having to apply again? Do we still accept the offer if we’re sure we want to go–just not this year?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>EDIT: I just realized this might be a little vague; I’m not talking about deferred students from the EA process, but accepted students (EA or RD) who would like to take a gap year. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Hi! I am a high school junior and just beginning to undergo the college admissions process. I’ve heard a lot about applying EA and regular. For U of C, is applying EA necessarily better (acceptance rate wise) than applying regular? Also, recently I met with my guidance counselor to schedule senior year courses. Is 4 years of language required for Chicago, or is it a disadvantage to only have 3 years of foreign language? Thanks for all that your are doing to help us high school students!!</p>
<p>I was able to view that my Application is Complete! thru Credentials in the uchicago account for a short period of about 3-4 days little over a wk ago, even though the Welcome Page says “not available.” Now the pointer is gone. Will it re-appear shortly or not until decision day?</p>
<p>You mentioned that our files are read when they’re complete. Does the officer(s) only read complete files or started as soon as they come in and made his/her evaluation at that point, such as flat denials or acceptances or maybe? Given many applicants would have some incomplete info prior to Feb, like mid-yr reports and rec, it’s hard to imagine that the office just sit on them until all materials arrive. The so-called “likely letters” released last week seem equilvalent to 'flat acceptances," since the recipients are already welcomed to “Admitted Students” page.</p>
<p>9 friends including me on Extended: 4 wrote Get Caught; 1 Game; 4 Optional. 3 applied EA, 1 got in with the optional. Yes, the smart ones made use of the option to fit them, why scratched yr head on the infamous.</p>
<p>U Chicago might have been a good place for my son, if a reach. My nephew goes there and says there are tons of kids like my son, who has Asperger Syndrome. However, when I called the disability office woman, she said that after he applied, they would “send his educ/psych information to an outside consultant” who would then “determine whether he qualifies for services.” Whoa. Definitely not interested in students with disabilities. Compare this to other schools (good schools) which have active, defined disability services, identified and successful AS kids and a healthy attitude toward different learning styles.</p>
<p>antonioray:
A.) Is the number of seats open for transfers directly related to the number of students who either transfer out themselves or leave?</p>
<p>I do not know anything about the situation this year (things may have changed). What I do remember is that UChicago used to accept about 50 transfer students plus a number that depended on how many students were transferring out. Actually, a minimum of 50 was extremely high compared to other top colleges. I cannot find information on UChicago’s website which surprises me. If I remember well, it was clearly mentioned two years ago. </p>
<p>Please note: It could have been 75 instead of 50 (my memory isn’t that good), but it wasn’t lower than 50.</p>
<p>What are some ways I can let UofC know that I’d be really interested in attending and would definitely matriculate if accepted? Is it true that many students accepted to Chicago often decline in favor of schools like Ivy leagues, so they might be looking for interest in the UofC?</p>
<p>do you have the admission statistics for the “student at large” program? and why can’t they stay for a measly 1 more quarter making it a full year? i hate odd numbers they make me feel queasy.</p>
<p>UChicago,
Does the Admissions staff have information either from the Common App system or from the College Board score reporting about the other schools applicants are applying to? Just curious if that is a factor in admissions decisions.</p>
<p>Thanks for participating in this discussion.</p>
<p>Hello UChicago,
Thanks for being with us. I have a quick question that might not be the brightest…I was wondering, since you are sending several pamphlets on information about your school. Do you send these pamphlets to anyone, or are these students that you are actually interested for your institution?
I am very interseted in going to your school.
Also what really interests you about a prospective student.
Thank you again and hope the questions don’t sound dumb.
I look forward to hearing from you!</p>
<p>pls thank the marketing dept. for all the interesting mailings we’ve gotten over the past few years. I particularly enjoyed the postcards (designed to look they were written by students). Your scavenger hunt must be a blast.</p>
<p>While the marketing info is overwhelming and attractive prior to the RD deadline, expect a totally different scene after you send in your app. I’ve recd NOTHING so far after my app, not a single email, letter, or word about whether my app has been recd, complete, being reviewed, or anything. Nothing about apps or admissions news has been posted on the admission website either. The contents of the UChicago account has remained the same since last year (there was an unannounced, short-lived Credentials Update that was disappeared after a few days).</p>
<p>A note to all:
Likely letters affect a very small percentage of our admitted students. It’s not worth stressing over if you did not receive one.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, of course we’ll notice a big, fat 800 sitting in the writing score slot. It’s like two sets of eyeballs (one sideways) staring you in the face. However, we don’t really take the writing portion into consideration.</p>
<p>We will see all of the scores students choose to send us, but as of now, we do not require students to send us all of their scores. We look at the highest math and highest critical reading scores from any number of tests.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Regarding the weight of 1-4 versus 5: it really depends on the essay. We ask these kinds of questions because they often break students out of a traditional “college essay” mode of thinking. In some ways, the Extended Essay is more of a “thinking sample” than a writing sample. We love it when people truly answer prompt 5 and pose their own creative question - in fact some of our past essay prompts have come directly from student-proposed questions on the application (with permission, of course). marcellad had a great response to this question.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We appreciate your conscientiousness and you can go ahead and reload the paragraph into the Update Your Application form.</p>
<p>To all of you who are applying to college in the fall: proofread! Even just a cursory overview to make sure punctuation and capitalization are in the right places can do a world of good. Are we going to penalize you for an extra period? Probably not. But a clean essay demonstrates that you have a grasp on the mechanics of writing in the English language. </p>
<p>
Please contact the Office of College Aid for clarification - (773) 702-8655 or <a href=“mailto:college-aid@uchicago.edu”>college-aid@uchicago.edu</a>.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A) No. We reserve a number of seats for transfer students in the incoming class.
B) No. We require SAT or ACT scores from transfer applicants, unless you live in a country where neither test is offered. Scores are good for 5 years. If you took one of those tests before 2006, you will need to re-take one of them for admission into the transfer class of fall 2011.</p>
<p>Another note - we only accept freshman or transfer students for study in the fall quarter. </p>
<p>
Late March/Early April</p>
<p>
If you’d like to defer enrollment for a year or two, you must accept your offer of admission and submit your enrollment deposit, then ask the Dean of Admissions IN WRITING (either email or paper letter) for permission to defer your enrollment. In your letter to the Dean, you must explain why you are deferring (e.g. Rotary Exchange, compulsory military service, etc.) You may NOT enroll in a degree-seeking program at another institution, but you are allowed to take classes.</p>
<p>
Yes. From our [website](<a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships.shtml]website[/url]:”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/costs/scholarships.shtml):</a>
National Merit Finalists are granted awards from one of three sources: the National Merit Corporation, a sponsoring corporation, or from the University of Chicago. If you are a finalist in this competition, simply report to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation that the University of Chicago is your first choice school. Awards can range from $500 to $6,000, and are available for one to four years. If your award is sponsored by the University of Chicago, it will be in the amount of $1,000 (for students with no financial need) or $2,000 (for students with financial need) and is renewable for four years.</p>
<p>
No, your chances of admission are not “necessarily” better if you apply EA. From our [blog](<a href=“https://blogs.uchicago.edu/collegeadmissions/2009/10/sage_words_from_someone_who_li.html]blog[/url]:”>https://blogs.uchicago.edu/collegeadmissions/2009/10/sage_words_from_someone_who_li.html):</a> We only want you to apply early action if you have the best application that you will be able to create ready by November 1. We know that there are many reasons you may not have applied EA. Maybe you wanted to apply EA, but you joined a play in the fall and rehearsal took up a lot of your time. Maybe your grades up until second semester last year weren’t stellar, but you know that they will be wonderful this semester. Maybe you’re still deciding where you actually want to apply. Whatever the reason is, it’s fine. It’s perfectly acceptable for you to apply during Regular Decision (January 2). That is why we have two deadlines. If we wanted everyone to apply EA, we would make Nov. 1 our only application deadline.</p>
<p>You are not necessarily at a disadvantage if you do not take 4 years of language. However, we do encourage you to take a rigorous course in place of a language if you choose not to take a language your senior year of high school. </p>
<p>
We notified students of their incomplete applications via email and gave them two weeks to complete their application. The credential checking site was open from February 9 to February 23, 2010. It will not reappear for freshman applicants. When your decision is available, we will let you know via email that you can check your decision in your Chicago Account. If you’d rather wait for a paper letter, you’re more than welcome to do so. It’s entirely up to you.</p>
<p>
Surprise, surprise - we have many, many complete applications by the deadline and we start off by reading those. We do wait for the other applications to become complete (aside from the Mid-Year Report). If we read an application before the mid-year report arrives, we will review it again before making a final decision.</p>
<p>This is a great time to emphasize the importance of asking for recommendations early. If you know that you are going to need letters of recommendation from teachers, do them a favor and ask them in advance. DO NOT wait until the day before the deadline to let them know. Let them know the different application deadlines, and if they do not want to submit the letters online, it is helpful to give them a pre-addressed and stamped envelope so they can send the letters directly to the institutions to which you are applying.</p>
Still accepted EA with a merit scholarship :)</p>