If there is one thing the University of Chicago loves, it’s applicants who apply in one of their Early rounds! That’s right. UChicago is unique among elite colleges because it draws most of its students from the pool of applicants who apply through one of four Early rounds: Summer Student Early Notification (a.k.a. Early Decision 0), Early Action, Early Decision I, and Early Decision II. And can we blame them? If it were your job to admit students to a highly selective school, wouldn’t you want to take in as many students as possible from the pool of students who have committed themselves early on and have no doubts about where they’re meant to go to college?

Early-round applicants to places like UChicago arrive on their campuses with a game plan. In fact, they likely got in because of their thorough knowledge of the unique academics, traditions, history, culture, and activities that set their school apart. As any UChicago student will tell you, this private research university is not at a loss for quirky facets of the student experience that make it unique! So, is it any surprise that UChicago has a preference for Early applicants? Or, for that matter, that all of Ivy Coach’s package clients apply Early Decision to UChicago? If you’ll let us toot our own horn, might we suggest that this is one of the many factors contributing to our 75% acceptance rate to UChicago over the last five years?

With that being said, we do not yet know how the Early applicants to the Class of 2029 fared during this admissions cycle. In fact, UChicago has kept all of its admissions data close to the vest in recent years, making it rather difficult to say anything definitive about admissions trends at this highly regarded institution. Even the federally-mandated Common Data Set lacks all the juicy details that we would typically dissect for the pleasure of our loyal readers. But that won’t stop Ivy Coach from trying!

Breaking Down UChicago’s Various Early Admission Rounds

At first, UChicago merely had a non-binding Early Action round to satisfy the interests of its most loyal applicants. But starting with the Class of 2021, they changed the game with two additional binding Early rounds: ED I and ED II. Early Action and Early Decision I are both due on November 1st of each year, and applicants are notified by mid-December. Early Decision II applicants submit their applications along with the Regular Decision crowd on January 6th, but they receive these decisions roughly a month before RD applicants (mid-February vs. mid-March).

But for the school that typically boasts the highest yield of all elite universities (because they accept so many of their students under binding commitments), UChicago didn’t rest on its laurels. In July 2024, for the Class of 2029, UChicago took the Early craze even further by instituting yet another Early round known as Summer Student Early Notification, which we at Ivy Coach affectionately call ED0. This latest round precedes the university’s ED I and ED II rounds and is reserved for students who have completed a summer program at the institution.

As UChicago wrote in its press release about ED0 at the time, “Students who have completed a UChicago residential or online UChicago Pre-College Summer Session program are eligible to apply to UChicago through our binding UChicago Summer Student Early Notification option under the Early Decision I plan. This early notification option is available to eligible students among our four standard application plan options for first-year applicants, including Early Decision I, Early Action, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision. Students are eligible if they are in their final year of high school and have participated in a UChicago Summer Session program during any of their high school summers. Eligible students may apply using this option from September 1 to October 15, and will receive an admissions decision three weeks (or prior to November 1) after completing their full application during this time frame.”

These various rounds are simply a way for UChicago to draw in as many enthusiastic, committed students as possible onto campus. They might claim they don’t track Demonstrated Interest (as so many schools deceptively say!), but this is nothing but baloney! Like any elite school worth its reputation, UChicago absolutely cares whether you’ve visited campus, attended an information session, or, in this case, applied Early — the ultimate form of Demonstrated Interest. They claim they don’t care about it, but this is to not discourage other applicants from applying, thus driving up the acceptance rate. It’s all a numbers game!

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with University of Chicago Deferrals

Ivy Coach’s Hannah Skaran, a former UChicago admissions officer, will help those of you who come to us post-deferral pivot to a new, competitive strategy. But time is of the essence — contact us now to optimize your child’s case for admission as soon as possible.

If you’ve been deferred to UChicago’s Class of 2029, there’s still time to turn your case around. We at Ivy Coach regularly help deferred students reorient their deferred applications around a competitive singular hook to secure admission to their top choice schools. So, fill out our complimentary complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch with an outline of our services, including a PostMortem for deferred or denied candidates and a PostMortem followed by assistance crafting a powerful Letter of Continued Interest for deferred candidates.