There is a running joke about the University of Chicago that it is where fun goes to die. For students who are strong candidates for the university, this is actually an attraction. They want to go to a school that is focused, intense, and competitive. They want to be pushed to do their best work, to think their most compelling thoughts, and to build relationships that can stand up to friendly competition. So, if the idea of going to the place where fun goes to die sounds like hell to you, UChicago is not your school. If, instead, your curiosity is deepened, UChicago may be your dream school. Getting in isn’t easy, though. The acceptance rate is estimated to be under 5%.

We say ‘estimated’ because UChicago has delayed the release of their recent admissions data for the past few years. The most recent official data is the , which shows admissions data for the Class of 2028. Unofficial statements by admissions officers have hinted at the acceptance rate in the two most recent application cycles being between 3% and 4%.

The at UChicago is consolidated into one school, The College, which offers nearly 70 majors, 60 minors, and dozens of areas of specialization and pre-professional preparation. When students come to us with UChicago at the top of their list, the question they usually start with is, “Can I even get into the College at UChicago?” We understand that approach, because it would be really efficient to get a yes or no answer. The problem is that college admissions strategy isn’t a yes or no game.

We work with our students to address a different question: “What needs to be true for me to get into the University of Chicago?”

The answer to this question is never yes or no, and that is by design. It is almost always possible to find a way into UChicago if you have two things: drive and time. You need to be determined, hungry, and willing to work hard. You also need to have the time to put your plan in action. Truly, the more time the better.

In this post, we will take you behind the curtain of how we build an admissions strategy for the University of Chicago. Our goal is to empower you to build an impactful application, but for a personalized strategy and hands-on support you should get in touch.

Getting into the University of Chicago requires a personalized plan. Get yours.

There is nothing that can substitute for strong academics when you are applying to the University of Chicago. Their expectations are high, and you need to exceed them or risk your application falling into the proverbial wastepaper basket. So, let’s take numbers first.

Step 1: Polish your Grades and Scores      

UChicago is a seriously academic undergraduate school. “But aren’t all colleges academic?” Well, yes and no. Most strong schools are strong as schools, but Chicago is a bit different because the academic experience doesn’t end when you step out of a classroom. Rather, it follows you everywhere. Students are Chicago are extremely driven to excel in their academic area of focused, and that bleeds into every corner of the school. To maintain this ethos, they accept applicants who are similarly passionate about school. If your favorite thing to do is to talk about a book, unpack a mathematical concept, or debate the merits of an economic policy, and your grades measure up, you’re in a great place already.

Class Rank	Percentage
Top 10th of HS graduating class	96%
Top Quarter of HS graduating class	99%
Top Half of HS graduating class	100%
Bottom Half of HS graduating class	0%
Total submitting class rank	25.50%

We work with our students to do more than just measure up. That means strategizing on course selection and developing the skills and opportunities to stand out from the pack. They want to see you taking the hardest classes that you have access to and excelling in them — and this is not simply in the area of your major.

Another key place to stand out can be the SAT or ACT.

Technically, Chicago is test optional. They also have a “” policy that states that an applicant won’t have not submitting a test score held against them. The data, however, doesn’t quite play out that way. While not submitting scores may not hurt your application, a strong set of scores most certainly does help. For the fall of 2024, 76% of accepted and enrolled first years submitted test scores — and those scores were high.

Test	25th Percentile	50th Percentile	75th Percentile
SAT Composite	1510	1540	1560
ACT Composite	34	35	35

The data shows us that you want to be able to submit a 35 ACT composite score, or a 1550+ score, and we work with our students to achieve that goal. Outside of studying, though, there are other things to do that are not about numbers.

Step 2: Identify a Passion

Caring is cool, you know this. But let’s make it bold and underlined. Chicago wants to see you caring about something deeply. You can care about more than one thing, of course, but you need to pick one to be your passion. This will help you focus your extracurriculars in a way that tells a compelling story through your application of determination, resilience, drive, and, yes, passion.

When a student has a passion already, great. When it is relevant to your potential area of study, awesome. If you don’t have a specific passion yet, though, or the passion you do have is irrelevant to your prospective major, we guide our students to their strongest passion personally and when connected to an application to Chicago.  

Identifying a passion is the top of the funnel. It isn’t where this journey ends, truly it is just the start.

Step 3: Niche Down

Now, you need to jump into the funnel and take a giant leap toward specificity. A broad passion, like loving economics, is great for you as a young student. It is not, however, strong narratively. And we’re working on a UChicago application, so the narrative is mandatory. That’s where niching down helps.

So, you love economics. Finding your niche means identifying a specific type and application of economics that you can majorly zoom in on. This applies for any passion. When you niche down, you need to find a passion within the passion that you can then build story on in your application.

For our students, identifying their niche often comes naturally, but that doesn’t mean it is always obvious or intuitive. High schoolers and their parents often focusing on doing more, and spreading the net of their passion as far as they can, so challenging them to narrow the funnel and focus in can be counterintuitive. That discomfort, though, is often where the best and most impactful work happens.

Step 4: Amplify Your Extracurriculars

Once you have your passion and your niche, it’s time to take a hard look at your extracurriculars. You are a driven and high-performing student, so you probably already have a packed schedule. As we said, it can be hard to wrap your mind around, then, taking things out to build other things up. This is exactly what we often have to do to make UChicago a strong possibility, though.

College admissions is not a game where doing the most makes you a winner. It is all about building connections between what you do, what you love, and what you want to study in college. Some of these connections are obvious, but many aren’t.

For example, we rarely advise that a student quits a sport that they love deeply just because they aren’t being recruited for it. We do, however, challenge our students to find ways to make a sport fit into their passion. For example, if you love basketball and are interested in healthcare or education, you could coach for the local Special Olympics program. Or maybe create a series of activities for a STEM camp that combine basketball with physics study.

What you need to keep in mind as you refine your activities are three buckets that UChicago cares about deeply when assessing applicants from a non-academic angle:

• Exceptionalism

• Leadership

• Care for Others

The University of Chicago loves awards. They love recognitions. They love it even more when they see you helping others excel through leadership. They also want to see care for others, but that doesn’t have to be through volunteering. It could be formal mentorship or paid tutoring, for example.

You should also be looking to add research and an internship to your roster. The internship can’t be a weekend one summer, though. For an internship to be impactful, it needs to be at least a few weeks long and include doing real work. We work with our students to find opportunities that fit the bill, which often means convincing someone to create a program that didn’t already exist. Other activities that may make sense for you include:

• Outside classes

• Summer programs

• Clubs at school

• Jobs

• Long-term volunteer work

• Team sports

• Individual sports 

The most impactful extracurriculars are a long game. If you do a summer program, it builds on top of past experiences. If you find a job, you hold it for more than one summer. These are of course ideals, but we work with our students to achieve them.

Step 5: Apply!

The final step is to put all the pieces together and apply. The University of Chicago is notorious for ridiculous essay prompts that require much longer answers than most supplements. Since one of s is to answer any past prompt that you want to answer, the time to start working on your UChicago supplement is today. Literally, whether you are weeks, months, or even a year away from pressing submit you should absolutely start working on ideas now — and that is exactly what we do with our students.

As you brainstorm essay ideas, you also need to decide what application path to take. Choosing how to apply to a top-choice college is easy if you do the work in advance. Early application gives you your best odds of getting in, but if you haven’t built a compelling applicant profile in the lead up to applying, choosing to apply early to UChicago could tank your whole college application process.

Chicago offers . Like all the options possible. They do Early Decision I, Early Action, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision. As is normal, the Early Decision options are binding, and the EA and RD options are not.

At minimum, you need to apply Early Action. It won’t give you the same boost in acceptance rate as the ED options, but it is still important both for Chicago and for your well-being through the college application process.

UChicago does not report their EA and EDI and EDII acceptance rates separate from the overall acceptance rate, which is . Making it into that small group of acceptance applicants is the challenge before you, and it takes more than great grades and exceptional scores. You need to stand out from all the other top students hoping for a spot, and that’s why steps 2-4 are so important. As you can see below, Chicago cares about who you are, not just what grades you get.

Nonacademic Factors	Very Important	Important	Considered	Not Considered
Interview				X
Extracurricular activities	X
Talent/ability	X
Character/personal qualities	X
First generation			X
Alumni/ae relation			X
Geographical residence			X
State residency			X
Religious affiliation/commitment			X
Volunteer work			X
Work experience			X
Level of applicant’s interest				X

The University of Chicago likes students who are passionate about learning, who carry that hunger with them wherever they go, and who think differently. Just like how caring is cool, quirky and nerdy are both also cool at UChicago. So lean into your niche harder, explore deeper, and bring others along for the ride.

Conclusion

When we work with students on UChicago, our focus is on helping all facets of our students’ shine, but through a particular perspective and working towards a specific goal. That goal, obviously, is getting in. Every year, we pull it off.

If you want to craft the perfect application for the University of Chicago, reach out to us today.