<p>I was deferred. I have a theory as to why. Uchicago has always been concerned with USnews rankings. The higher the accepted student yield rates, the higher the college ranking. Many people that apply EA intend to apply to other more selective schools such as Harvard, Yale, etc. By wait listing, they get to keep their yield rates should these students get into other schools and when they reconsider, they will only be looking at those that have no where else to turn to. I believe that wait listed students will also tend to have good essays that more selective Ivys would like. </p>
<p>Do not lose hope if you are deferred, it likely means that Uchicago thinks that you have high chances of getting into better colleges.</p>
<p>Smart move by Uchicago…abet one that will put stress on thousands of applicants for whom UChicago was indeed their top choice.</p>
<p>are there ANY rejections??? I don’t mind being deferred, but it seems like that’s UChicago’s way of saying “ok they will be in the rd pool so acceptance rate will be low and we’ll look great!”</p>
<p>This is a twofold victory for them. Yield rate is kept and with the 2-3% acceptance rate in RD round, they can reject more…which also corresponds to higher rankings.</p>
<p>Take my points with a grain of salt if you wish…but I believe these are logical explanations.</p>
<p>I am hesitant to accuse UChicago of such things, but it is difficult to think otherwise when there have been…no rejections… I know CC is on average, a more academically talented community than the general crowd of college applicants, but there should be more than 1 rejection post on this forum, IMO.</p>
<p>@wrenwu, we kept the UChicago EA open because we were waiting for FA from Cornell to come thru for affordability. This is fairly standard, as many students do this. She withdrew her uchicago application immediately after the deferral. </p>
<p>Best of luck to all who are going into the RD round. Happy holidays.</p>
<p>You too @MasterThinker? How were you notified you were deferred? Didn’t you withdraw you application when you were accepted ED Northwestern? Was your portal still open?</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon I have done much research on UChicago and have found that one of the university’s main goals is to boost their rankings as much as possible and gain recognition. To do so, they must 1)actually enhance academic capabilities (this is hard to do and takes large investments and long times) 2) Avoid losing admitted students to other schools and 3) reject as many applicants as possible. 2 and 3 are the most sure fire ways to boost rankings without much effort. While deferring most applicants is beneficial to the university, it will also give many false hopes of an acceptance in the much more competitive RD round and cause many to waste their time on a very low accept rate. While I also do not wish to accuse the university of using unwanted students to serve their own purposes, I believe this is the most logical explanation.</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon I agree. While UChicago isn’t an Ivy league school, its selectivity certainly comes close. That said, compared to schools with higher acceptance rates, UChicago seems to be deferring like nobody’s business. It might not be a good assumption to make, but I think we’ve all seen chance threads, super selective school or not, with way more rejections than we’ve seen today.</p>
<p>@wrenwu I kept portal open because Northwestern sends FA later in the month. This is standard procedure if requesting for FA as it may not be enough.</p>
<p>I am not sure at this point if I wanted to continue to pursue UChicago. I don’t know if they deferred me because they honestly were interested me and want to review my application later, or if they confused “deferral” with “rejection” and I have absolutely no chance. They’re deferring students all over the range stat-wise… and I don’t think it’s because of a “very holistic admissions process”!</p>
<p>@Ctesiphon Don’t worry! Apply to many other colleges in the RD round including Ivy leagues and safeties. I would keep the Uchicago option open but be ready for outright rejection. If they reject you during EA with 13-14% acceptance rate, imagine a 2-3% acceptance during RD round. </p>
<p>I don’t know if this is an accurate barometer or not, but when you search twitter for “uchicago rejected” no tweets saying they got rejected pop up. I, too, got deferred, can I join the club???</p>
<p>I only saw one rejection so far on CC. But, again, this isn’t a good representation of the percentages because we only have knowledge of CC’ers. </p>
<p>Also notice that all deferred letters read the same. Uchicago obviously have not taken the time to customize more individualized letters that other schools do when wait listing.</p>
<p>Thank you for your interest in the University of Chicago. The Admissions Committee has reviewed your
application, and while we are unable to offer you a place in the class at this time, we would like to review
your file again in the spring.
The Committee will reconsider your application and any new information you send in the Regular Decision
pool. Please arrange for your mid-year report and an updated transcript to be sent to our office as soon as
they are available.
If you would like to update us on your recent accomplishments, we would be glad to review additional
materials. We prefer that you submit these materials through the Portfolio in your UChicago Account.
Materials must be received by January 31, 2015. Decisions will be sent by the end of March, and if admitted,
you will have until May 1 to reply.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at <a href=“mailto:collegeadmissions@uchicago.edu”>collegeadmissions@uchicago.edu</a> or by telephone at
773.702.8650. We hope that the University of Chicago remains high on your list and wish you the best as
you continue your college search.
Sincerely,
James G. Nondorf
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid</p>
<p>Sadly, in the case of Uchicago, a deferral may be synonymous to a rejection.</p>
<p>@wrenwu Northwestern do not give us student portals so only letter is sent through email. FA packages and further instructions will be snail mailed. </p>
<p>@MasterThinker I get what you’re saying about the more competitive RD round, but ~10% of all EA deferrals are admitted in RD. It seems that they have a slightly different selectivity for deferrals than regular RD candidates. </p>
<p>@PGLaw272 Thanks for informing me, I was not aware of that. However, 10% is still a sufficiently low rate and applicants must continue to show interest. </p>
<p>Congrats to those who got in…you will be attending one of the best schools in the nation. If you were deferred, keep your options open and apply to many other schools.</p>