College profile
University of Chicago
IL · Private nonprofit · Large city · 38,631 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $178,068 four years out; biology grads about $59,794 — a 3.0× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- Grades and scores convert directly to dollars here. This college publishes an automatic merit grid — hit the GPA/score tiers and the discount is guaranteed, no negotiation. Check the scholarship table below before assuming the sticker.
- Built for the AI economy. About 1 in 17 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields; its AI research output ranks #35 among US universities. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 96% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- Your price depends enormously on whether you qualify for aid — and this college says exactly how. It publishes tuition-free aid for families earning under $250,000. Families who receive aid average about $14,860/yr here; without aid it's the full ~$90,360/yr. The college's own net-price calculator turns all of this into your family's own estimate.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Highly selectiveHighly selective reach for nearly every applicant. Heavy discounting — among aid recipients average ~$14,860/yr net; strong students should also check the merit grid.
Best for
- Strong academic profiles — students here cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Strong test/GPA students chasing merit aid — Stamps Scholars or College Achievement Scholars on offer (see merit-scholarship tab below)
- Students focused on Social Sciences (the school's signature program)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1510, or ACT below 34, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
- Big sticker, but don't rule it out on price — this school publishes tuition-free aid for families earning under $250,000. Without aid the full price is ~$90,360/yr; aid-receiving families average ~$14,860/yr — run the school's own net price calculator for your real number
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
46% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 30% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
High-school GPA
4.97 avg weighted GPA, enrolled first-years
| Enrolled first-years | 4.97 weighted |
Enrolled first-years by GPA band: 4.00 58.46% · 3.75-3.99 30.07% · 3.50-3.74 6.85% · 3.25-3.49 1.76% · 3.00-3.24 2.78% · 2.50-2.99 0.09%
weighted (school-reported, can exceed 4.0). University of Chicago Common Data Set 2024-2025, Section C12 (average HS GPA) and C11 (GPA distribution) ↗
As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2024-25) (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What University of Chicago actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by University of Chicago's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
University of Chicago's own published aid policy · 2027-28
Who qualifies: starts Autumn 2027; assumes typical assets.
"students from families earning up to $250,000 will receive free tuition"
Income thresholds assume typical assets. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$557K ahead at full price +$859K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at University of Chicago
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what University of Chicago actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — University of Chicago's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $178,068 |
| Mathematics. | $172,826 |
| Economics. | $159,578 |
| Statistics. | $130,189 |
| Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. | $96,510 |
| Public Policy Analysis. | $94,237 |
| Political Science and Government. | $87,869 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | $78,169 |
| Research and Experimental Psychology. | $73,483 |
| Philosophy. | $71,709 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Merit aidScholarship money awarded for grades or test scores, not financial need — at many colleges it's automatic at certain GPA/score levels.
What your test score unlocks at University of Chicago
Score-or-merit-based scholarships published by the institution. Stackable in most cases — confirm with the financial aid office.
| Award | Annual award | Score gate |
|---|---|---|
|
Stamps Scholars
Stamps · any
|
$89,000/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
1500+ SAT |
|
College Achievement Scholars
College Achievement · any
|
$5,000/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
— |
See all merit scholarships across colleges + 13 national awards on /merit-scholarships →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to University of Chicago
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
Or compare any college side-by-side
Deciding on University of Chicago?
Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for University of Chicago and every other college on your list.
Get your child's odds at University of Chicago →Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to University of Chicago?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
143 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name University of Chicago on it. Between them they printed 1074 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at University of Chicago, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 131 more
Published, but not ranked — these schools name University of Chicago on a list of where their graduates enrolled whose class years we cannot read ("Since 2023", or no class year printed), so their totals are shown rather than divided: Pierrepont School (8, not stated); St Andrew'S School (4, Since 2023).
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
10 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name University of Chicago on it. Between them they printed 56 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to University of Chicago, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 151 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantUniversity of Chicago is a private nonprofit four-year college in IL. It admitted 5% of applicants (38,631 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1510–1570, ACT 34–35. 46% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 30% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class. Average enrolled GPA 4.97 (weighted, 2024-25, as published by the college).
Cost: about $14,860 a year on average with aid, $90,360 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $91,885 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $859,410 ahead with aid, $557,410 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($178,068); Mathematics ($172,826); Economics ($159,578).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 45% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Aid pledge published by the college for 2027-28: families earning under $125,000 pay nothing; families earning under $250,000 pay no tuition; aid packages carry no loans; the college meets full demonstrated need (starts Autumn 2027; assumes typical assets).
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name University of Chicago: 143, 1074 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Horace Mann School (21.3 per class year, 64 over 3 class years, Class of 2024 - 2026 Graduates); University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (18.0 per class year, 72 over 4 class years, past four years); Harvard-Westlake School (14.0 per class year, 14 over 1 class year, BY THE CLASSES OF 2021-2025, counted column "CLASS OF '25"). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-chicago.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming University of Chicago: 10, 56 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Middlesex School (11.0 per class year, 11 over 1 class year, Class of 2026, counted column "accepted"); National Cathedral School (4.3 per class year, 13 over 3 class years, 2023-2025); The Chapin School (3.0 per class year, 15 over 5 class years, 2022-2026, counted column "Admitted"). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-chicago.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/university-of-chicago.json