UChicago Summer Session

Applying to College
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1

Just wondering if anyone has had experience with the summer session at the University of Chicago. How rigorous is it and what is the workload like? How is the teaching (both on campus and remote)? Has anyone applied SSEN after the program and how was that process? Thank you!

2

Would love to know this too! S26 was just accepted and will be attending one of the bio classes. Expect it to be quite rigorous considering that it’s a full quarter class crammed into 3 weeks. My kid loved the school when we visited so definitely considering SSEN if he still feels this way by next fall.

3

One of our children attended UChicago summer language institute. Highly rigorous, made more than a year’s progress in the session (confirmed by OPI testing results).

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Not sure if it is worth the $$$. Probably getting a paid job or volunteering during summer will help more. My DD was accepted too and we may end up not doing it.

5

My daughter did it a couple summers ago (the summer between her junior & senior year.) She had a merit scholarship so we didn’t pay full price, but it was still expensive. She did in person and had a great experience and made some really good friends that she kep tin touch with. The class was moderately rigorous in that she worked at it, but wasn’t overly stressed, still had time to hang out and do fun things, and got an A. For her it was a good experience and as someone who hadn’t ever spent much time away from home, it gave her confidence that she could go off to college and be successful. Interestingly though, although my daughter had a great experience, she went into the program thinking UChicago would be a top choice, and left it deciding not even to apply. I would say it was still a successful experience in that it helped form what she was looking for in her college experience. One of the good friends she met in the program applied ED and got in.

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Would you mind sharing what caused her not to apply after the summer session?

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She just realized it wasn’t the right fit. The RA’s there over the summer were very frank about what the school culture was like and she decided that although she wanted a challenging academic environment, she wanted something a little “more fun,” for lack of a better way of describing it. She really ended up zeroing her search in on campus culture and wanted a D1 school with more school spirit and more of a traditional college experience. She also decided she wanted something a little less urban. UChicago is a great school for the right person, it just wasn’t right for her.

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8

I really appreciate the helpful and honest feedback. Thank you so much!

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Anyone know when admissions for the 1 week programs will be released?

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My child did a summer program last year and really loved it. Fantastic residential experience and helped him know whether the school was a right fit. Yesterday I attended a college info session with UChicago and the AO said that SSEN opens in August and involves applying EA with an additional document that adds the “binding” element to it. Jim Nondorf did a Zoom session explaining it and I wonder if it’s recorded somewhere–I’ll look. The AO said to make sure your counselor knows this is an option you are considering well in advance since the deadline is so much earlier than other colleges. My oldest child graduated from UChicago last year and it was everything and more than she had hoped for.

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This is an important step to make sure to do. Another thing to clear with the counselor is making sure they will ‘allow’ the student to apply ED1, should they not be accepted in their early/ED0 app at Chicago.