“What’s up with U Chicago legacy admissions?” It’s a harder question to answer than you might think. We work with legacy students often, so we make it our job to fully understand legacy admissions at top schools. This means looking at data, talking to admissions officers, and doing research. For many schools, this gives us a full picture of what to expect when applying as a legacy. For some others, it isn’t quite as clear-cut. U Chicago is unfortunately one of the latter. However, we still wanted to talk about legacies at U Chicago and give some tips for students who are hoping to follow in their family's maroon footsteps.
Does U Chicago do legacy admissions?
Most colleges publish the percentage of their incoming classes that are legacy or have FAQs on their admission’s website about who counts as a legacy, etc. U Chicago doesn’t have this usual information. They have very little information about legacies at all online. The last time U Chicago posted any about legacy admissions was 10 years ago on a Tumblr blog run by the school. At the time, they did consider legacy status as part of their holistic admissions process. However, in 2019, the Guardian listed U Chicago as a school where “legacy status does not give applicants a meaningful boost.” While the Guardian might list them as a school that doesn’t consider legacy status, hundreds of other third-party college blogs say they do.
So what’s the truth? Well, we called them and it’s a little bit of both. U Chicago has a place on their application that tracks legacy status, however, they say that status doesn’t give applicants a boost. Now, we could argue, that by even collecting that information, you might sway some admissions staff, but in practice, students shouldn’t anticipate a bump.
So my student should list their connections on the application? Right?
We say yes. The application asks if the applicant has relations who graduated from U Chicago. When we talked with someone at their office, they said this is really a place to list close connections. You don't need to have your student list a great grandma or a distant cousin. They are really asking about parents here, but you could probably get away with a sibling or grandparent. Try to keep the connections close and don’t worry too much about this section. It won’t be the thing that gets your kid into U Chicago. But it will not hurt their application!
What will get my kid in?
Often when parents realize that legacy isn’t considered at their kid’s dream school, they can start to freak out. It’s natural. When you think your student has an edge and find out they might not, it can create some anxiety. However, we give the same advice to all students here, make your application the strongest it can be.
U Chicago does a holistic process for admission. This means they look at everything. You need good grades and test scores to be considered, but after that, you need a great package. This means an impressive resume, great essays, and an application that catches admissions officers’ eyes. This isn’t an easy task. Most students come to us with good grades and good extracurriculars, but the rest takes work, practice, and expert help.
We work with our students to help them create a fully realized application that sounds and feels like them. Having a great application is the only way into a school like U Chicago. In general, we always advise working with a professional when it comes to applying to top schools. We know that might sound self-serving (we are professionals and all…) but it can make the difference between a good application and a great one.
Even at schools that use legacy as an admissions criteria, most legacy candidates don’t get in. There is a statistic about Harvard that has been making the rounds. It states that a couple of years ago, around 30% of legacy applicants got in as opposed to the overall 6ish% of applicants. Even when schools use legacy as a criterion, it’s important for students to have great applications and put their best possible foot forward. U Chicago isn’t using legacy as a criterion, so it’s even more important for students to have stand-out applications. We can help with this. So if you don’t know where to start and are worried about your student getting into U Chicago, we are here to help.
Reach out here!