<p>I agree with Phuriki. I’m one of the guys that falls in the category of people that have some stronger credentials, and has a decent shot at getting into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. However, I didn’t treat Chicago as a safety- it was a school that I figured I’d have a good shot at getting into, but by no means was it a safety. College admissions (IMO) are such a crapshoot that the only safeties you can make are your state schools, and sometimes even not those. I’m very happy that Chicago accepted me, and also decided to throw 10k my way. I hadn’t really been considering Chicago as one of my top choices, but you can bet that those $10,000 are making me give some very strong consideration to Chicago.</p>
<p>And although I am a relatively stronger applicant, I thoroughly expect to get rejected and waitlisted by the vast majority of my schools. I’m qualified… but not THAT qualified.</p>