Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2390, composite
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: didn’t send
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.8
Weighted GPA: n/a
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 3%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Studio Art (5), Bio (4), Psych (5), Stats (5), US Hist (5), Calc BC (4), English Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): didn’t take
Senior Year Course Load: not going to go into too much detail in order to stay anonymous, but it wasn’t too heavy. Still had majority AP classes but, other than AP Physics C, they’re the more laid-back AP courses at my school.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, HOBY delegate, had a lot of art/journalism awards but nothing else major academic-wise.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): not going to go into too much detail in order to stay anonymous.
- photography/art/design business (founder/owner) – very successful, made a lot of $$$, well-known through my community and outside, featured in art galleries and a few magazines, super passionate about the arts
- yearbook (editor-in-chief) – nationally-acclaimed yearbook, one of the best in the US. We’re well-known and have won tons of national awards. I personally won a lot of journalism and design awards through this.
- president of two clubs at my school and VP of another
- local magazine (photo editor) – they have a program for youth to get involved after an application period
- dance (varsity) – discontinued mid-way though high school in order to focus more on art
Tip: quality > quantity. I made it my goal not to fill up all 10 slots of the extracurricular part of the common app even. Show that you are special by having a “spike” rather than being “well-rounded”.
Job/Work Experience: I worked at a local art museum and did private tutoring.
Volunteer/Community service: Again, not going to go into too much detail in order to stay anonymous.
- American Red Cross (regional exec. chair, school pres) – won regional youth volunteer award
- Church Youth Service Team (arts team leader)
Summer Activities: didn’t mention any of this on my application, so I don’t think it’s taken into account.
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
- Common App: 5/10 I chose the prompt about challenging a belief/idea. Very beautiful, detailed writing but tbh I thought that the concept I was going for was too general to apply to the prompt I chose. I didn’t like my essay one bit after rereading it later on, but I guess UChicago liked it!
- Uncommon: 8/10 My unique love for genuine yet slow conversations definitely made me stand out from other applicants here. Don’t try to be overly clever or quirky if you aren’t. I know I def. am not super quirky so I didn’t want to pretend to be in my essay.
- Favorite Things: 7.5/10 Def. showed my unique interests, but I didn’t really expand as much as I could’ve.
- Why UChicago: 7/10 Could’ve been more detailed but overall well-written and interesting
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 6/10 I read it later for a scholarship – everything she said was nice but it was relatively generic and at times was just repeating some things on my resume.
Teacher Rec #2: n/a – never read
Counselor Rec: 7/10 – probably very nice but generic too. I go to a large public school, so she doesn’t know me well. I know colleges take school size into account when reading counselor recs though.
Additional Rec: 10/10 – from my yearbook teacher. I’ve grown really close to her over the years. I read her rec. letter later for a scholarship, and it was truly incredible. She was super detailed and talked more about my personal character qualities rather than simply my work ethic or academics.
Interview: 8/10 – Went smoothly. I did an on-campus interview my junior year. Since we both liked design/art, after the interview she asked for my youtube channel and really enjoyed it.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 6/10 I read it later for a scholarship – everything she said was nice but it was relatively generic and at times was just repeating some things on my resume.
Teacher Rec #2: n/a – never read
Counselor Rec: 7/10 – probably very nice but generic too. I go to a large public school, so she doesn’t know me well. I know colleges take school size into account when reading counselor recs though.
Additional Rec: 10/10 – from my yearbook teacher. I’ve grown really close to her over the years. I read her rec. letter later for a scholarship, and it was truly incredible. She was super detailed and talked more about my personal character qualities rather than simply my work ethic or academics.
Additional Rec #2: 8/10 – from a regional volunteer coordinator I work with often. It was short but sweet and detailed. Each sentence was packed with detail, so the length definitely didn’t detract from the value.
Interview: 8/10 – Went smoothly. I think she could tell that my appreciation for UChicago and learning were authentic through the conversation we had.
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: interdisciplinary studies in neurosci/compsci/design/psych
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: female
Income Bracket: 200,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): no
Reflection
Strengths: SAT score, extracurriculars, good interview (not sure how much that’s taken into consideration though), asian whose interested in not just STEM but also the humanities (maybe helps)
Weaknesses: grades (had a few B’s but none in the major I’m pursuing), other than my yearbook teacher rec the other recs were generic I’m assuming
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think I stood out from the other applicants because of my extracurriculars. It’s very rare for people to own businesses in high school and/or to work at an art museum. I’m also v. involved with community service.
General Comments: I totally wasn’t expecting to get into UChicago! I remember seriously doubting myself at the time after rereading my common app essay (I really thought it sucked and would prevent me from getting into any of my top choice schools), but I guess UChicago liked it heh. Just a tip: don’t doubt yourself if you truly feel you deserve a certain college, but still remember that we don’t deserve anything we have. It’s only because of the opportunities that we’ve been blessed with that we’re where we are today – therefore stay humble and grateful my friends. #solideogloria #gomaroons