<p>The applicant pool imo is generally more qualified for Chicago than other schools for the exact reasons butcherer mentioned. Only really academic kids, or those who know just how good a school Chicago is, will apply. The mediocre students that are looking for a reach (who will just add to the reject pile of a top school) will more often than not pick Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Duke over Chicago. So maybe the Chicago pool isn’t more qualified, but has less underqualified people if that makes sense? </p>
<p>This is all just conjecture btw. But just a small anecdote, there was one Chicago EA applicant that was deferred EA but accepted to MIT EA. Look at the deferred and rejected students in the 2013 EA Results threads, these kids aren’t slackers.</p>