@nangkhieu. We can swap essays if you want. I also am kind of desperate for feedback on my essays. PM me.
@ssplat yeah sure I will pm you.
@CCSenioritis I got a very chill interviewer that was really lax about everything and asked me questions like what my goals were in life and how I thought UChicago would help me in the future. I don’t think they are supposed to ask you specific questions to put you on the spot so thats a good thing 
I was a deferred applicant and just sent my admissions counselor a letter of demonstrated interest on Friday. Do they respond back? Also @CCSenioritis my person asked me what I would do if I had one day where I could do whatever I wanted, no commitments and money isn’t a problem. I told her I wanted to visit Antarctica because of this weird childhood fantasy I had to visit every continent before I turned 30. They seem to like it when your answers are quirky.
I was deferred EA from UChicago and am thinking about sending an email of continued interest. Does UChicago reply to these kind of emails? Are they even considered as part of the review process?
@savvyitup. I sent a letter to my admissions counselor the day I got deferred and she answered a few days later.
Does UChicago reply? Yes. Are they considered? I think Chicago assumes most EA applicants - who’ve forgone HYPS SCEA and various REA programs - are interested in the university, and successful EDI applicants are gone from the deferred student pool. This is reflected in UChicago’s healthy 60%+ yield rate, even without ED. Demonstrated interest probably doesn’t have as much of an impact as it would at less selective schools.
The various examples of LOCIs that made the difference are likely the exception, and not the rule.
I sent my test scores on January 2, but my portal still says that the test scores weren’t received. It’s been over 2 weeks, so I assumed they would receive it by now. Did anyone else have to wait this long for their test scores to be received or is it usually within the span of 2 weeks?
@ThatGirlCoder Does CollegeBoard say that your scores were sent? If so, I’d wait another couple days. If nothing happens, then send UChicago an email or call them. The same thing happened to me with Cornell but I just waited for a few more days and Cornell acknowledged that they’d received my scores. Just wait for a few days.
@McKilla99 So CollegeBoard does say they were sent and I have the receipt to confirm. I ended up calling the school and the lady told me to email my counselor, which I did. This was about 6 days ago, and she still hasn’t responded 
What were interview experiences like for everyone? Mine was pretty low key except for the question “what makes you uncomfortable?” That threw me off and was incredibly difficult to answer.
I have my interview tomorrow :S! Ah…
One question, do the essays matter more than everything else?
@McKilla99 there is no fixed answer for that, even though I doubt that they are the MOST important thing. However, essays do seem to be more important to Chicago than they are to other schools
@McKilla99 They are pretty darn important. I think the only thing that matters more are grades. They value essays so much because they believe essays give more insight to the person than things like ec’s or often test scores (that’s not to say they won’t care about those things. In fact their average test scores are around the same as the Ivy League schools), but you can get away with slightly below average test scores if your essays are amazing.
Will the essays make up for poor grades, test scores, recommendations, extracurriculars, etc? No. Do they matter more than at most peer institutions? Yes.
UChicago does place a premium on good essays. All other things being equal (which they never are) a student with strong grades, test scores, recommendations, and extracurriculars but stellar essays has a better shot than someone with strong but not exceptional essays whose main strength lies in a different area. But, as at every school, you need to clear the academic hurdles before they take more than a quick glance at your essays.
A student with weak grades/scores/recommendations/extracurriculars will rarely be saved by an essay. A student strong in most areas can be sunk by poor essays. Both for the same reason: the university has its pick of qualified candidates and can afford to be choosy.
Thanks, I was just asking because I saw that, according to collegedata, essays are relatively more important than other stuff. Btw, what topic did you guys choose for your essay? I chose the one where you create your own theory about how everything will end.
@McKilla99 I did my own spin on “Destroy a question with your answer” and talked about how asking the question why a certain answer to asking Why Does The World Exist? defeats the purpose of the question. I guess they liked it.
@jarrett211 Must be fun for admissions officers to read our essays :’)
When do decisions come out