<p>Could showing a lot of interest and conveying that Chicago is your number 1 (through interviews, to admissions counselor, and in your essays) help a lot for RD? And if so, by how much? Could it help for RD, because unlike EA, there are so many applicants who apply to chicago just to “apply” and not have it be their first choice?</p>
<p>I think that interest is a small factor in a person’s application. Like if you’re competing against a person with similar stats and essay for a spot in the class, you’ll probably be chosen over someone with little to no interest, but it won’t give you a spot if you’re against someone with a more remarkable application.</p>
<p>Chicago’s longstanding official position is that it doesn’t track interest, and that showing interest doesn’t matter at any stage. For example – and personally I find this hard to believe – people familiar with Chicago admissions have told me that kids’ responses to the postcards Chicago sends out don’t get into their files. If they don’t keep a record of that kind of engagement, then they aren’t going to use interest as a factor at all. And, in general, in the past Chicago hasn’t done much to boost its yield (the percentage of students who accept an offer of admission), which is what colleges that use interest as a factor are trying to do. (That’s something that may or may not be getting tweaked with the new management in the Admissions Department.)</p>
<p>There are three basic reasons for not paying attention to interest. </p>
<p>First, the bulk of people’s relationship with the university comes after they are admitted, not before, and there’s really no good reason to privilege a pre-existing relationship. It’s a lot more important that a student love the university after he or she has been there for four years than that he or she love it after a weekend, or based on reading the viewbook. And, in any event, actually completing a Chicago application and submitting it shows a fair degree of interest. It’s not as painless as adding another school name to the Common App and putting the fee on Dad’s credit card.</p>
<p>Second, lots of what colleges that track interest look at costs money – like visiting campus. It’s easier for affluent kids to “show interest” that for poor kids, and affluent kids really don’t need another thumb on the scales in their favor. It also rewards sophisticated kids – the ones who know way ahead of time where they want to apply, and that just putting in an application may not be enough. Surprise, surprise!, there’s a lot of overlap between affluent kids and sophisticated kids, but even poor sophisticated kids get plenty of boosts already. </p>
<p>Third, they are committed to getting what they think are the best students available. No one ever accuses Chicago of “Tufts Syndrome” – turning away students who will probably wind up going to Harvard or Yale in favor of students more likely to enroll. Chicago accepts the students with the best applications, and then tries to get them to come. And I think that often works. HYPS admissions have gotten so unpredictable, there are plenty of people who look like they have a great chance at one or all of those schools but don’t get into the ones they apply to, and if Chicago accepts them there’s a good chance they will show up in Hyde Park. (Chicago also wins some – not a lot – head-to-head battles with those schools.)</p>
<p>according to CollegeDataStats, the level of applicants’ interest for UChicago is marked as “considered” after “important” and “very important”</p>