My daughter was deferred by Yale – her first choice school – and is debating whether to hold out for RD or do ED2 Chicago. She is torn. Chicago is her second choice school, and she is afraid of missing her chance at either if she goes into RD cycle. I’m not sure sure what to advise. What would you say?
It’s a hard choice, but I would defer to what she wants to do.
A relatively small proportion of Yale SCEA applicants were deferred, so she still has a chance.
Will she always wonder if she would have been accepted to Yale if she does get in to Chicago ED2, or would she never look back if accepted to Chicago? Without knowing anything about the strength of her app and the extremely important UChicago essays, I would expect UChicago ED2 has a higher admit rate than will Yale deferred applicants…but that might not be the case because the schools aren’t transparent with these historical numbers.
Good luck to her through the rest of this stressful time.
I believe she would not have been able to EA to UChicago because Yale is SCEA and UChicago is a private institution.
Right, duh, apologies OP…I will edit my post.
Tough call. If she loves Chicago near equally, I might roll the dice with ED given a presumed better likelihood.
If Yale is easily #1, and you ED Chicago - and get in - then Yale is gone.
Only she can best guess.
Truth is if she guesses one way and it doesn’t work out, it might not have anyway at either so she shouldn’t beat herself up.
Best of luck to her.
I do not think that there is any good way to answer this.
My first thought is that she needs to have applied to at least one and preferably two safeties that she feels good about.
My second thought agrees with @Mwfan1921. Assuming that both schools are affordable and assuming that she has also applied to two (or more) safeties, I would also defer to whatever she wants to do. To me it seems more likely than not that your daughter will end up somewhere other than Yale and Chicago, and this is okay. There are a lot of very good universities, and strong students are still strong students when they attend any of at least 200 universities and LACs in the US, or any of just as many schools elsewhere.
I do not think that there is a right or a wrong answer here. Either way Yale and Chicago are reaches (as is Brown, which is mentioned in your other thread).
I might also note that a friend of a daughter went to Chicago. He occasionally returned during breaks and came and visited us. He reports that Chicago is a lot of work. He was the person who taught me Chicago’s motto of “U Chicago is where fun goes to die”. He did however do well there, learn a great deal, and graduate on time. He also was one of my daughter’s smartest and most hardworking friends.
Thanks for your note. Both schools seem to theoretically offer the same financial aid. I have been nervous about Chicago, as it’s far away from us and reputedly where “fun goes to die,” but I’m trying to keep my feelings out of it and let her make a decision. I think Yale is her definite first choice, as it has more arts as well, but I am afraid to advise her to hold out when it’s so tough. I think Chicago takes in many applicants through ED. I know there are a lot of great places out there — it just feels like a stressful decision right now.
Very different set of a number 1 and number 2, at least by reputation. I’d ask her what is her level of preference for Yale vs Chicago. Let’s say out of a scale of 1-5 (1 being a slight preference), it is a 4. Then ask about the difference between Chicago and her number 1 match/safety , and say that is a 2. It might be worthwhile to hang on to the Yale RD hope. If the difference between Chicago and the number 1 match safety is very large and between Yale and Chicago is small, then maybe ED2 is the better option.
As mentioned by others, the factors are clear
-
How confident is she about the rest of her list, and safeties in particular? And how comfortable is she with attending the safeties?
-
What is last year’s admit rate from Yale’s wait-list, and how big is her preference between Yale, Chicago and the rest of her list
if Chicago is close to Yale and far above the rest, and she’s confident in her safeties, one would recommend Chicago ED2
If Chicago is far behind Yale, but stll ahead of all the remaining schools, and she’s confident about her safeties, would still recommend Chicago ED2
if she’s not confident about her safeties or doesn’t like them, Chicago ED2
The only instance for Chicago RD would be if Yale is far above Chicago AND Chicago is very close to #3/#4 etc AND she’s confident in her safeties
Isn’t it known how many Yale deferrals ultimately get accepted? Somewhere around 10 percent? So, ninety percent of those deferred won’t be admitted. Given that, I’d let her ED2 if there is another school she would be happy to commit to, whether it be Chicago or elsewhere.
My advice (after we struggled through this last year) is … let her decide.
My '23 applied ED 1 to Tufts and was deferred. Like Yale, Tufts defers only a small percentage of students. The original plan was to apply ED2 to second choice school. After much thought, she decided on her own … NO ED2.
Not going to lie…I was SUPER concerned about this decision, but respected it and stayed silent.
Come March, she ended up getting into almost all of her RD schools, including Tufts (the original ED1 school) and in the end, after several accepted student days, she ended up choosing a different T20 school.
As long as your D has RD apps into several other schools she’d be happy to attend, I say…no ED2 and let the chips fall.
Since Yale is her definite first choice school, hang in there with Yale RD. No ED 2.
I agree with the framework others laid out above, and also the overriding principle of letting her decide.
But I just wanted to note that I personally think one of the variables–how she would feel about her Plan C if neither Yale nor Chicago works out–is potentially a little in her control.
Like, personally, I think it can be helpful to keep reminding yourself that at the end of the day, Yale and Chicago are just colleges. Good colleges, and if comfortably affordable they can be fine choices for the right kid (and terrible choices for other kids, incidentally). But there are many other good colleges with similar charms.
In fact, I don’t know your daughter, but usually in my circles that particular combination is popular with kids looking for what I would call an academicky sort of college. Again, they are fine choices if that is the goal, but I think there are many others. And not in the generic sense, I mean lots of other colleges stand out as being particularly academicky.
For examples, lots of LACs are very academicky, arguably some a notch more than Yale, and even Chicago these days (side note, I think Chicago has slipped a notch less academicky than it used to be). These can be found all over the selectivity range–like, forum favorite St Olaf, for example, is a very academicky LAC.
And then same with universities. Some of course are very selective too, but some less so. I think someone deferred by Yale and competitive for ED 2 at Chicago is also likely to be very competitive at academicky options like William & Mary (OOS), Rochester, and so on.
Even likely/safety public universities can be very academicky in honors programs, or just the advanced years in strong departments.
So basically, my two cents is if she has a good list, she can’t lose, meaning she would be guaranteed to have the opportunity to have a great academicky experience, even if it didn’t end up being at Yale or Chicago. Yale and Chicago would be among the variations on winning, of course, but not the only ones.
Personally, to me that attitude often means you do not need to ED 2 if deferred, because I think with a well-chosen list, your ED 2 school is not in fact a unique opportunity. But to circle back, it also means you CAN do ED 2 if you want, because your deferred school is also not in fact a unique opportunity.
So, whatever feels right (and is financially sensible) is fine, but my point is by keeping perspective on the lack of uniqueness of these colleges, you can make that decision not out of fear but rather out of confidence you can’t lose, you can only win in different ways.
What kind of arts is your daughter interested in? UChicago has a good number of opportunities in performing arts, including the opportunity to take private lessons and have the University defray the costs through a scholarship program. There was an article in the New York Times last Fall about how competitive it is to get into any extracurricular at Yale, so depending on what interests her, it might be more challenging than it seems.
Perfect.
I’ve heard Yale, Chicago, Brown …but what’s that most important school - the assured, affordable admit that the student would love to attend? It is more important than these super reaches - which would simply be icing on the cake.
I really mean that, too. Not just in the generic sense, I mean a kid who has done the work to get to the point they are deferred by Yale is very clearly a highly desirable sort of college applicant, and a whole bunch of really good colleges are very much going to want that person to choose them. So THEY are the ones who should be worried about missing out, because in the end only one of them can get this kid.
But as long as such a kid has a good list, they truly have already won, because I am dead sure they are going to get at least one, and probably several, fantastic offers as a reward for their efforts.
In my opinion, ED only makes sense when there is a clear cut first choice school. In that regard, UChicago is not your daughter’s clear cut first choice. I would not apply ED2 and that way she will have applications in at Yale and UChicago (along with other schools), and see what happens.
Thank you all who responded. My daughter did ED2 Chicago, but feels continuously ambivalent. As there is no right answer, I’ve tried to stay out of it. (Yale is the first choice, Chicago a very close second.) However, I feel badly that the anxiety of the admissions cycle caused her to try so hard to “lock in” something that she might feel trapped by. She does feel good about the rest of her list, so if she is rejected by UChicago, she will be fine. More woorried about her feeling trapped by ED2.
Sounds to me like ED2 may be the wrong move - especially if afterward she feels like she needs to hear from the rest. Maybe she should change it.
It’s too much stress on - I have to be at a tippy top school.
If you’re not, life goes on.
In terms of general perspective, it seems that highly counseled high school students are often advised, particularly in recent years, to arrange their college applications statagically, as in the approach your daughter chose. This is from St. Paul’s School, for example: