Our (private) HS had an athlete accepted to Chicago before Columbus Day last year. It’s beginning to look like that school will do anything to lock down high-stats students from full-pay families. They must get slaughtered on yield in RD.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reeling in those full pay parents early!

Exactly. And the parent posted it in ALL CAPS, as if it was breaking news.

These programs are a scam. They do not give any admissions advantage (rather smack of privilege/full pay).

But the schools can sure smell the type it will appeal to from a mile away.

Hence the breathless offer, which will expire if they don't rush to accept.

Not sure I agree. My DS participated in a competitive-entry program at Yale following his sophomore summer of high school. He, and a number of other students who participated in that program, ended up being admitted in the admissions cycles that followed. I don't think that these students got into Yale BECAUSE they were in the summer program, but in my view it does a disservice to suggest that those programs don't matter at all and may, in fact, work against a student because they smack of privilege. The Yale summer program made the "why Yale" essay a lot more specific and genuine. More importantly though, my son learned a lot in the program and it helped him figure out what he wanted to study in college.

Having said that, I'm not surprised UChicago has found a way to circumvent the generally-accepted process/application due dates in a way that gets it out ahead of its peers. The whole alternative application track also has an icky "pay to play" vibe.

lol at it's great when it grows my kid and friends, but it's bad when a similar thing helps another kid.

Anonymous wrote:Nothing wrong with full pay and expensive pre college programs if you have the money. Nothing wrong being rich and providing for your kids. Don’t be a hater.

Nothing wrong with hating the rich.

DS attended summer program at Georgetown. He was admitted to Georgetown, as were several of his summer cohort. Great way to make connections and potentially gain a faculty recommendation. Appreciate the annoyance over cost, but a summer program taught by full-time faculty can absolutely be worth it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reeling in those full pay parents early!

Exactly. And the parent posted it in ALL CAPS, as if it was breaking news.

These programs are a scam. They do not give any admissions advantage (rather smack of privilege/full pay).

But the schools can sure smell the type it will appeal to from a mile away.

Hence the breathless offer, which will expire if they don't rush to accept.

+1

they're summer programs are super pricey too.

UChicago is playing the same yield game as other top colleges. This move ups the ante. I have often wondered why colleges don't do for academics what they do for athletics in terms of locking down talent earlier in a students's high school career. Often times, a gifted athlete will be accepted to (scholarship to) such and such school as a sophomore or junior. Why not a gifted student?

Some comments surrounding financial privilege - is this a back door pay-to-play type of deal? Maybe, But the same types of financial aid (generous) that are available at UChicago to pay for college are available for the summer session program.

UChicago was able to evaluate the student for 3 weeks and the student was able to get to know UChicago beyond the tour and info session. Win Win.

Finally, there seems to be this undertone that just going to the summer session assures the student acceptance to the college. That is not what the program offers. That said, the ability to apply to UChicago (and possibly be accepted as early as September of senior year) and NOT use up an ED1 pick is quite valuable.

My son was a top student at a private top tier in NYC. He received straight As, then took two U Chicago classes for credit in the summer of his junior year with undergraduates there. He received a B+ in one and went pass/fail for the other. I think he had to really push hard to get his grades from miserable to an A on the final, and he is a terrific student but was not used to how demanding U Chicago would be. I think it was a good test for how he would do in college at U Chicago. It was really hard, especially with the acceleration from 9 weeks to 5 or 7 weeks for many courses in the summer session. My point is, U Chicago can see if the kid will cut it, and the kid will see if he is willing to do the U Chicago grind, so it is a win-win.

There are a few of these programs that are free or offer generous FA to those that cannot afford.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reeling in those full pay parents early!

Exactly. And the parent posted it in ALL CAPS, as if it was breaking news.

These programs are a scam. They do not give any admissions advantage (rather smack of privilege/full pay).

But the schools can sure smell the type it will appeal to from a mile away.

Hence the breathless offer, which will expire if they don't rush to accept.

Not sure I agree. My DS participated in a competitive-entry program at Yale following his sophomore summer of high school. He, and a number of other students who participated in that program, ended up being admitted in the admissions cycles that followed. I don't think that these students got into Yale BECAUSE they were in the summer program, but in my view it does a disservice to suggest that those programs don't matter at all and may, in fact, work against a student because they smack of privilege. The Yale summer program made the "why Yale" essay a lot more specific and genuine. More importantly though, my son learned a lot in the program and it helped him figure out what he wanted to study in college.

Having said that, I'm not surprised UChicago has found a way to circumvent the generally-accepted process/application due dates in a way that gets it out ahead of its peers. The whole alternative application track also has an icky "pay to play" vibe.

Nothing wrong with full pay and expensive pre college programs if you have the money. Nothing wrong being rich and providing for your kids. Don’t be a hater.

Anonymous wrote:Reeling in those full pay parents early!

Exactly. And the parent posted it in ALL CAPS, as if it was breaking news.

These programs are a scam. They do not give any admissions advantage (rather smack of privilege/full pay).

But the schools can sure smell the type it will appeal to from a mile away.

Hence the breathless offer, which will expire if they don't rush to accept.

Reeling in those full pay parents early!

Thank you for posting. My kid was looking for a summer precollege program but got a late start. I see it's past the deadline, but I wonder if they might still have room in session 2, which start next week. Anyone happen to know?

http://summer.uchicago.edu/admitted-students/ssen

Binding decision before ED (Nov.1) deadline. Interesting way to add another binding decision process and while promoting summer pre college program.