The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller and the American Baptist Education Society in 1890 as a coeducational, secular institution. The first classes were held in 1892. During World War II, the University made important contributions to the Manhattan Project – and it became the site of the first isolation of plutonium and the creation of the first artificial, self-sustained nuclear reaction (by Enrico Fermi in 1942).
Today, the University enrolls nearly 16,000 students in the College of the University of Chicago, various graduate programs and interdisciplinary committees organized into four divisions, six professional schools, and a school of continuing education. The College grants degrees in 56 academic majors and 40 minors. Its academic disciplines are divided into five divisions: Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and the New Collegiate Division – which administers interdisciplinary majors and studies that do not fit in another division.
Undergraduate students are required to take a distribution of courses to satisfy the university’s core curriculum known as the Common Core. Roughly 80% of the classes at University of Chicago contain no more than 19 students, and are generally led by a full-time professor. The Core requires 15 courses, tested proficiency in a foreign language, passage of a swim test, and up to three physical education courses. Popular majors include economics, biological sciences, political science, math, and English.
The University of Chicago hosts 19 varsity sports teams, all called the Maroons, with 585 participants. The Maroons compete in the NCAA’s Division III as members of the University Athletic Association (UAA).
Students run over 400 clubs and organizations, the largest being the University Theatre while the Model U.N. is the second largest. Other organizations include the twice-weekly student newspaper The Chicago Maroon, the University-owned radio station WHPK-FM and the organizing committee for the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt – an annual event in which large teams of students compete to obtain notoriously esoteric items from a list.
The main campus consists of 211 acres in Hyde Park and Woodlawn, seven miles south of downtown Chicago. On-campus undergraduate students participate in a house system in which each student is assigned to a smaller community within their residence hall called a “house.” There are 38 houses, with an average of 70 students in each. Freshmen are required to participate in the house system, and housing is guaranteed every year thereafter.
Acceptance Rate
Academic Qualifications
SAT Range (25 to 75 Percentile)
ACT Range (25 to 75 Percentile)
Application Deadlines
Early Action (unrestricted): Nov. 1
Early Decision I: Nov. 1
Early Decision II: Jan. 2
Regular decision: Jan. 2
Admissions Criteria
Freshmen Admissions
Number of 2020 (Class of 2024) applicants: 34,400
Enrolled: 1,736
Yield: 81%
Acceptance rate: 6.2%
Transfer Admissions
Number of transfer applicants: 881
Transfer applicants admitted: 48
Transfer acceptance rate: 5.4%
Academic Qualifications
Average GPA: 4.0
Top 10% of High School: N/A
Middle SAT Range (25 to 75 Percentile)
SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing: 720-770
SAT Math: 750-800
Middle ACT Range (25 to 75 Percentile)
ACT Composite: 33-35
ACT English: 34-36
ACT Math: 30-35
Standardized Test Requirements
SAT/ACT not required
Writing portion not required
SAT Subject Tests not required
Graduation Rates
Loan Defaults and Rhodes Scholars
Salary After Attending
R&D Expenditures
Campus Safety
Score Card Information
Graduation Rates
4 years: 89%
5 years: 94%
6 years: 95%
Loan default rate: 0.8%
Total Rhodes Scholars: 50
Salary after attending: $68,100
R&D Expenditures: $424.0 million
Campus Safety
Sex offenses: 17
Robberies: 1
Aggravated assaults: 7
Burglaries: 9
Car thefts: 3
Net Cost and Total Expected Cost of Attendance
Average Net Price By Income
Student Debt
Additional Information
Tuition, room and board (2020-2021): $74,646
Total estimated cost of attendance (2020-2021): $80,277
Net Cost
Average: $33,003
By income
$0 to $30,000: $3,178
$30,001 to $48,000: $6,325
$48,001 to $75,000: $7,933
$75,001 to $110,000: $18,782
$110,001 and more: $40,853
Graduates with student debt: 29%
Average student debt at graduation: $23,401
Student Residence
Undergraduate Class Sizes
Student to Faculty Ratio
Student Population
Additional Information
Student to Faculty Ratio: 5 to 1
Women: 49%
Undergraduate Class Sizes
Under 20: 77%
20 to 39: 15%
40 to 99: 7%
100+: 1%
Student Population
Total: 17,002
Undergraduate: 6,632
Student Residence
In State: 15%
Out of State: 70%
International: 15%
