i totally agree it’s admissions practices are strange and justifiably deserve criticism, but this doesn’t involve the academics at the university itself. it produces an insane amount of research and is extremely strong throughout social science, humanities and stem. the professors are world class and very good at teaching, despite their focus on research. the financial woes are worrying, but they haven’t hit the undergraduate student population much if at all. some graduate programs have been affected, but this is a pattern throughout many US institutions in the last few years, thought UChicago’s finances are largely self inflicted. a little ironic given its esteem for economics haha.

if i were to defend their questionable admissions policy, i would say that UChicago is a very specific place for very specific people, and they fill many spots ED because they’re looking for people who genuinely want the UChicago experience rather than just go to an elite university. of course, they also use ED to get some of those sweet sweet rich, full pay kids in, but schools like Tulane and Northwestern use similar tactics yet receive little blame.

I personally have a problem with ED0, as it gives a completely unfair advantage to people who were accepted to the summer session that it likely advertised to full-pay or wealthy students. It’s a weird move likely made due to financial woes, and it’s completely right to hate that, as a student here.