If you are looking for a change of college and are pondering a switch to the University of Chicago, you know what you are missing and what you want instead. UChicago is specific. It’s a hard school that expects a lot of students and offers a lot to match. Plus, they love transfers.
In , “Transfer students play a meaningful role in the life of the College,” as transfer student’s experiences “contribute to the diversity of our student body and provide valuable perspective. And they offer two options for applying: Transfer Early Decision and Transfer Rolling Decision. We highly recommend the Transfer Early Decision route if you are passionate about the University of Chicago as there is little UChicago likes more than passion for their program from an applicant.
The transfer acceptance rate is strong at UChicago compared to other comparable universities. For the fall of 2024, the university received 2,884 applications for transfer and accepted of applicants. Most accepted transfer applicants, over 86%, choose to attend.
Transfer requirements
The transfer application for UChicago has all the normal requirements of a top-tier university, with some quirks. Of course, you need to send your transcripts (college and high school), strong recommendations, and a statement of good standing with your college. You can also choose whether to send your ACT or SAT scores, following the universities .
This No Harm policy means that they insist that that odds of an applicant being accepted will not be diminished based on whether they submit scores. However, strong scores underline an impressive application. Transfer-specific testing stats aren’t available, but we know that 76% of accepted first-years submitted scores. So, if you have them, send them.
And then there are the essays which, if you know UChicago, are a vibe and a half.
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The University of Chicago is known as an exceptional university with exceptionally frustrating supplemental essay prompts. They ask a lot of applicants: a lot of patience, a lot of creativity, and a lot of words. So, let’s break them down.
THE TRANSFER ESSAYS
Academic Interests
First, you are instructed to select up to three academic interests from drop down menus. You are required to include one, but we encourage you to select two. Not three, two. Yes, they let you do three, but that can feel a bit broad or even scattered. Picking one feels a bit too focused, especially as transfer admissions is highly tied to space being available in the major(s) you are interested in. By selecting two areas of interest that make sense with your application, you offer them two (often related) visions of your future at the University of Chicago. That’s useful in pressing towards an acceptance.
Essay One
The first essay that UChicago requires as part of the transfer application is the traditional Common App college essay — with all the standard first-year prompts. We only ever recommend that our students select the seventh, or last, option: “Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.”
Now this essay is technically optional, but you absolutely need to write it if you want to get in. You cannot, however, use the essay you used to apply to college the first time. This time, you’re applying for transfer and that is distinctly different than applying as a first year. You need to make it extremely clear that you have a vision for your direction in life, particularly where it relates to your academic interests.
So, as you begin brainstorming for this interview remember that your academic-oriented passion needs to be at the center of it. That doesn’t mean that this should be an academic essay, though. Instead, focus on a specific piece of your passion, a particular experience, or a meaningful moment. Invest words in creating vivid imagery through detail. It is far more powerful to tell a narrower narrative in captivating detail than to try to hit on a dozen points in 650 words.
Essay Two: University of Chicago Extended Essay
This is what the University of Chicago is known for. Namely, crazy essay prompts. For the second essay of the transfer application, they offer the same prompts potential first-years tackled. You pick one of seven options, and upload a response that is one or two pages in length. Remember to include the prompt at the top of the page, and now let’s break these monsters down.
1. In an ideal world where inter-species telepathic communication exists, which species would you choose to have a conversation with, and what would you want to learn from them? Would you ask beavers for architectural advice? Octopuses about cognition? Pigeons about navigation? Ants about governance? Make your case—both for the species and the question. – Inspired by Yvan Sugira, Class of 2029
This is a super fun prompt. It is silly, it is fun, and it offers you an opportunity to show a bunch of different sides of yourself, from intellectual to playful. What you shouldn’t do if you pick this prompt, though, is to simply run with your first idea. Often students have an objectively awesome idea for how to respond to this prompt, but that idea may not be tightly connected to their prospective area of study. It could be a great idea, but your response has to be the right approach for you — not simply a fun approach. So, if you are going to pick this prompt your response needs to connect closely to your prospective major and be linked in some way as well to what you are most passionate about in the field.
2. If you could uninvent one thing, what would it be — and what would unravel as a result? – Inspired by Eitan Fischer, Class of 2027
This prompt is wild. It is super fun, too, but you have to play it right if you are going to select it. And by right, we mean carefully. The most important part of this prompt isn’t the beginning — it is all in the end. The “what would unravel as a result?” bit is what this prompt is all about. If you aren’t ready to enthusiastically go down that rabbit hole, parsing out repercussions and possibilities, then this is not the prompt for you.
3. "Left" can mean remaining or departed. "Dust" can mean to add fine particles or to remove them. "Fast" can mean moving quickly or fixed firmly in place. These contronyms—words that are their own antonyms—somehow hold opposing meanings in perfect tension. Explore a contronym: a role, identity, or experience in your life that has contained its own opposite. – Inspired by Kristin Yi, Class of 2029
The University of Chicago loves a long set up to a prompt. Sometimes it is helpful, providing direction and context. Other times it is distracting, potentially dragging you in a direction that isn’t actually where they want you to go. That is our concern with this prompt. The core premise is great, but the first three sentences get the brain going the wrong way. They don’t want you to pick a contronym and explore it within the context of your life. Instead, they want you to identify a contronym within your own life to explore. If this is immediately enticing to you, run with it. If not, pick another prompt. You have plenty of options to pick from, so there is no reason to pick a prompt that doesn’t make you excited.
4. The penny is on its way out—too small to matter, too costly to keep. But not everything small should disappear. What’s one object the world is phasing out that you think we can’t afford to lose, and why? – Ella Somaiya, Class of 2028
This is another great prompt, but remember to sit on the word “object.” They specifically don’t want you to write about an idea, characteristic, or belief. They want to read a response that focuses on something physical: an object. Ideally, whatever you pick is something that is personal for you. It should connect directly to your academic interest, your past experiences, your future dreams, or all three. Once you’ve picked something, tell that story. Remember the why, as well. It’s not just an add-on, it’s integral to a strong response.
5. From Michelin Tires creating the Michelin Guide, to the audio equipment company Audio-Technica becoming one of the world’s largest manufacturers of sushi robots, brand identity can turn out to be a lot more flexible than we think. Choose an existing brand, company, or institution and propose an unexpected but strangely logical new product or service for them to launch. Why is this unlikely extension exactly what the world (or the brand) needs right now? – Inspired by Julia Nieberg, Class of 2029
Do not pick this prompt if you can’t approach it through a lens that connects to your interests. The UChicago prompts are fun, and that is awesome, but sometimes a student can get so excited about how fun a prompt is that they lose track of the point of the application. The purpose of this essay isn’t simply to be clever, but to be clever and present yourself in a way that illuminates for the application readers who you are as a student, as s thinker, and as a community member. If you can do that, this could be the perfect prompt for you.
6. Statistically speaking, ice cream doesn’t cause shark attacks, pet spending doesn’t drive the number of lawyers in California, and margarine consumption isn’t responsible for Maine’s divorce rate—at least, not according to conventional wisdom. But what if the statisticians got it wrong? Choose your favorite spurious correlation and make the case for why it might actually reveal a deeper, causative truth. – Inspired by Adam DiMascio, Class of 2025
We don’t like this one. It’s like layering a conspiracy theory on top of an SNL skit and then also trying to make it a job interview. Basically, it’s bad. The prompt itself is clever. Kudos to Adam DiMascio for coming up with it, but the writing it inspires is, to us, counterproductive to the goals of a college application. Hard skip.
7. And, as always… the classic choose your own adventure option! In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, choose one of our past prompts (or create a question of your own). Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun! You can find our past prompts here: ”
We always say to pick the “write what you want” Common App essay prompt, so we’ll probably pick that here as well, right? Wrong. The list of additional options that UChicago gives is vast, and we do not recommend diving into it unless there is already one that you have in mind. Instead, pick something from 1-5 (remember, we strongly dislike 6) and keep your hands out of the #7 grab back.
As you pull together your application, remember the UChicago has a ‘no harm’ testing policy, but how does that actually play out? Basically, they say that your candidacy will not be negatively impacted by submitting scores. However, we also know that strong scores serve to underline an impressive application. So while not submitting SAT or ACT scores may not hurt your app, sending good ones definitely helps.
Keep in mind, too, that, , “All new students start in the system as ‘first-years,’ with an anticipated graduation date four years from matriculation at your first institution. Over the course of the year, you and your adviser will formulate your plan of study for both remaining general education and major requirements.” So, you don’t necessarily know your path at UChicago until you get there, but first you need to get in. We can help.
Getting into college was hard enough the first time. Transfer is it’s own special monster. We can help.