How does University of Chicago admissions selectivity compare with Harvard’s in general?

In broad terms, Harvard is usually viewed as the more selective school overall, though the University of Chicago is also firmly in the ultra-competitive tier.

That said, the difference is not the kind that makes Chicago feel meaningfully easy. For a student with very strong grades, rigorous coursework, high-level activities, and excellent writing, both schools remain reaches. The practical takeaway is that an applicant competitive for Harvard is often also competitive for Chicago, but not in a way that makes either one predictable.

The applicant experience can feel a little different, though. Chicago is especially known for attracting students with a strong intellectual vibe, distinctive academic interests, and essays that show original thinking in a very specific way. Harvard also values intellectual depth, but its applicant pool is often broader across many kinds of high achievement, including academic, extracurricular, leadership, research, athletic, and public-impact profiles.

So if your question is simply which one is usually considered harder to get into in the big-picture sense, the answer is Harvard. If your question is whether Chicago is close enough that applicants should treat it as equally serious and highly uncertain, the answer is also yes.