Are the Admissions Counselors awake?

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>I have a rather unique situation regarding letters of recommendation in that the English department is protesting low pay/more hours by refusing to give them out. My only other social studies class is AP US History, and I was in a class of 40 people… needless to say the educator didn’t know me very well. I took government and economics over summer school, and knew the teachers for those classes for only two weeks each. Although I know I left a great impression, I doubt anything they’d write would carry much weight. I’m currently in my third (/fourth… long story) year of Latin though, and I’ve had the same teacher for two years in a row (she’s the only senior high Latin teacher). I know UofC doesn’t like language teachers giving humanities recs, so I e-mailed one of the admissions counselors via the link on the application. It’s been a few weeks now, and I still have no reply.</p>

<p>My friends from last year also told me that the UofC admissions people took forever to reply, so I’m guessing that they’re just really busy setting up the applications?</p>

<p>What do I do? Do I send in a recommendation that will probably have “Uh, he’s a good student. I think” on it, or do I send in one from my history and one from my Latin teacher, and hope that my language teacher’s rec makes up for the lack of insight given by the one from my history teacher?</p>

<ul>
<li>Timur</li>
</ul>

2

<p>With regards to the admissions people being asleep: Yes, they most emphatically are asleep. I sent one e-mail to them in July; no response. And another about two weeks ago; again, no response. I don’t know what’s going on over there. </p>

<p>With regards to the recommendations… Uh… Call them, maybe? I’m not qualified to answer.</p>

3

<p>Trust me. E-mailing Chicago admissions is like writing the president. You don’t get a response. </p>

<p>Call them. The admissions officers are usually very willing to talk over the phone, and they’re very helpful.</p>

4

<p>Timur,
I agree - call admissions.
Also, ask your GC to note that the english teachers are not writing rec’s, so you are asking your language teacher to fill in.
The other thing you can do is provide your teachers with your resume - if they see all your activities and such, it will be easier for them to write a better rec.</p>

5

<p>At my S’s school they had students prepare “brag sheets” for teachers who were writing them recommendations. It was structured to contain the students activities, strengths to be emphasized, hardships overcome, etc. I believe it improved the recs teachers would write. Some used the brag sheets as a basis to interview the students to get a better feel for what they could write. I think that teachers appreciate it when students are organized enough to provide information that helps them present a good case. My S went so far to supply a quote by the Dean of Admissions he found about what they were looking for in teacher recommendations.</p>

6

<p>“My S went so far to supply a quote by the Dean of Admissions he found about what they were looking for in teacher recommendations.”</p>

<p>This is an especially good idea if your school rarely sends students to the elites.</p>

7

<p>Heh, well, the US History teacher is now on maternity leave as I understand it. Caught between a rock and a hard place. :/. </p>

<p>I’m sure they’re used to kids going off onto the elites. Last year my school sent five people to MIT, two to Stanford, and something like eight to ten to the Ivy League. I don’t know about UofC, but I wouldn’t be surprised.</p>

<p>MIT and UofC are my two #1s, so this looks fairly good for me. Except for the whole letter of rec thing with UofC…</p>