I believe they are called development cases

Oops PP here. My child disliked the week and is thriving at a different highly selective school.

We both still think Chicago is a very good school whose reputation is marred by shady admissions practices. That said, the shady practices would not have stopped my child from applying had it felt like a good fit.

I agree that it is a great school and that its tactics are shady.

Has anyone discussed the new, shadow pre-ED round? Top couple kids at some privates are invited to an all-expenses paid week where they are wined and dined, then all are invited to apply very early decision and accepted before the normal ED round. A nice way to lock up top students who then, if rejected, can then ED somewhere else.

Some kids love Chicago. Other high stat apply there because they want someplace prestigious that is likely to admit them. Both can be true.

My kid attended the all-expenses paid week before this new pre-ED round. The program was weirdly hush hush - there was a website for it, but you had to have the URL, you couldn’t Google it. I find everything around Chicago admissions pretty gross and institutionally self serving in a way that is great for the institution but not great for the greater college admissions environment.

Anonymous wrote:UPenn, Harvard and MIT that is

I think Harvard, Penn and MIT are more than fine. The current issues will blow over by then.

They will all have plenty of applicants to choose from, I would not worry about them or u Chicago.

UPenn, Harvard and MIT that is

Anybody else expecting this school to look even better next year after UPenn and Yale and MIT get run through the wood chipper?

My son is doing business economics and Spanish . With quarter system, you have more opportunities to do double majors.
Business economics still is demanding but definitely easier than quantum or economics.

Anonymous wrote:
I have a DC who may end up at Chicago but is not keen on the regular Econ grind (scared off by stories from older students). Is Business economics a whole lot easier? Dc might actually find that appealing.

Yes, the biz-econ option program is considered a fair bit easier as they go a little lighter on the math. The economics dept is obviously very large at Chicago, and there quite a few subtleties to the major (BS versus BA, honors versus regular, etc.). In the normal track you are doing quite difficult math (calculus & LaGrangians) early in the required courses. The honors track is another layer on top of that.

Biz-Econ still uses a fair bit of math, and it is still economics at UChicago, but it is more geared towards a "commerce" kind of program rather then a pure econ ("we can do math that is just as hard as physics") approach. Even in that track, there will be a lot of kids who are whip-smart, but they are maybe are doing a varsity sport as well, are doing a second major in something very demanding, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Yawn. Just games. UChicago takes nearly their ENTIRE class ED. They are not transparent in the CDS about these numbers but people in the industry know and have shared publicly. That is how they have such a high yield rate. I’m sure their RD yield rate is way below those schools Chicago would like to think are their peers. If they took half as many as they do in the Early rounds (like the lower ivies that do ED, Duke, JHU, Northwestern…) they’d have an even lower yield than those schools. UChicago is a marketing machine because another part of their strategy to appear more selective is “recruit to reject”. They also utiiize ED3 (aka waitlist and “z” list” like no other). I don’t doubt that the students they admit have high academic credentials, but their tactics are shady and pretty pathetic especially for such a good school.

+1 they should try doing what Columbia and Duke do by only taking 40% of the class through ED and see what happens

Yawn. Just games. UChicago takes nearly their ENTIRE class ED. They are not transparent in the CDS about these numbers but people in the industry know and have shared publicly. That is how they have such a high yield rate. I’m sure their RD yield rate is way below those schools Chicago would like to think are their peers. If they took half as many as they do in the Early rounds (like the lower ivies that do ED, Duke, JHU, Northwestern…) they’d have an even lower yield than those schools. UChicago is a marketing machine because another part of their strategy to appear more selective is “recruit to reject”. They also utiiize ED3 (aka waitlist and “z” list” like no other). I don’t doubt that the students they admit have high academic credentials, but their tactics are shady and pretty pathetic especially for such a good school.

For what it is worth this was a few years ago:

CalTech
• EA: 7%
• RD: 7% 
• Transfer: 1.9%

Duke
• Early Action: 16%
• Regular Decision: 8% 
• Transfer: 7%

Uchicago
• ED/EA/ED II: 9%
• RD: 4%
• Transfer: 5%

JHU
• ED: 28%
• RD: 9% 
• Transfer: 10%

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago scoops up many unhooked high stats kids who can full pay. A few years ago they got a 4.0/1600 SAT kid who arguably was the smartest in the grade. They accept kids who can handle the work and thrive in an academic environment. What is it with this board who want to pull the kids down just because they have some wealth. Wealth does not equate academic aptitude. Yes, there is privilege but as any parent knows there are many kids who do not take advantage of their academic privilege. Only the hardworking, smarter kids get in.

Agreed. Wealth may work at HYP, where gettin in is easier a lot harder than getting out. But not Chicago.

UChicago has the Business Economics major for kids who cannot hack their regular majors. It might have some smart kids but it is no comparison to HYP. Our NYC private does sends a few to the school every year and most kids are above average but in no way brilliant or outstanding. Infact, top students rarely apply ED to UChicago.

I have a DC who may end up at Chicago but is not keen on the regular Econ grind (scared off by stories from older students). Is Business economics a whole lot easier? Dc might actually find that appealing.

U Chicago is a 2nd tier university that is using data to fake its way into 1st tier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago scoops up many unhooked high stats kids who can full pay. A few years ago they got a 4.0/1600 SAT kid who arguably was the smartest in the grade. They accept kids who can handle the work and thrive in an academic environment. What is it with this board who want to pull the kids down just because they have some wealth. Wealth does not equate academic aptitude. Yes, there is privilege but as any parent knows there are many kids who do not take advantage of their academic privilege. Only the hardworking, smarter kids get in.

Agreed. Wealth may work at HYP, where gettin in is easier a lot harder than getting out. But not Chicago.

UChicago has the Business Economics major for kids who cannot hack their regular majors. It might have some smart kids but it is no comparison to HYP. Our NYC private does sends a few to the school every year and most kids are above average but in no way brilliant or outstanding. Infact, top students rarely apply ED to UChicago.

SAT and GPA averages are equal to or higher than HYP. Only CalTech and MIT regularly beat UChicago on the numbers.

Are you the poster who said their 100 Nobel prizes don't count because Economics is quackery?

The three top students at our high school are going to MIT, UChicago and Yale. All ED / REA

UChicago has been test optional for a long time, so they can manipulate the average SAT scores stat. Once again UChcago is not in the same league as MIT. Nobody who gets into both would ever choose UChicago, the school avoids giving students a chance to make a choice between schools by having two ED rounds. MIT's and Yale's yields are accurate whereas UChicago's is manipulated. UChicago should publish its RD yield.

Off the top of my head students pursuing Law and Medicine would be much better off at uChicago over MIT.

We get it. You have a bone to pick.