<p>^ And doesn’t going to community college make you a transfer student, which makes admissions even more selective? Also, thanks for the link to the article; I read it two years ago, but it was interesting to read it again, especially since I noticed some parallels between the admissions atmosphere of '99 and '10, such as 44% more EA applicants.</p>
<p>@OP: What’s your SAT score breakdown? Chicago doesn’t look at writing. How are you doing on SAT practice tests/ what makes you so sure that you’ll do so much better this time on the SAT? What were you getting on practice tests before you scored your 1720? How likely are you to get a 4.0 senior semester?</p>
<p>What were the extenuating circumstances that led to the drop in GPA junior year? Why were you able to continue spending so much time on STAND if you were getting such bad grades?</p>
<p>As you said, your grades and SAT scores are very low compared to other applicants. Your SAT scores put you well under the 25%tile for SAT, and your class rank puts you well below 5%tile. This means that you need to present a strong case that despite these facts, you should be accepted. Now, I don’t know you, and you could be an absolutely amazing person; the problem is that you need to express this to the admissions office, and IMHO, I haven’t seen anything jump out at me and make me say, “This person needs to be admitted, regardless of their GPA/SAT”!</p>
<p>I hope you take these comments in stride; I’m asking the tough questions now to help you out later. ;)</p>
<p>Miscellaneous Comments:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Have you considered sociology or something like that instead of Econ? Econ at Chicago is supposedly really heavy on math, and I’d imagine as a future journalist you’d want more writing-heavy courses. Furthermore, econ at Chicago is particularly competitive because many Econ students are more preprofessional than students in other majors.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know you, so I don’t know about the circumstances of the racism you feel like you encountered, but I’d just like to point out that w/o any concrete evidence, it will come across as an admissions ploy. I myself encountered clear-cut racism, but I chose not to include it in any of my essays b/c I felt like there was more important things to highlight about myself in my essays than just my race. What exactly makes you say, “Sometimes, I have felt academically descriminated by my peers and teachers because of my race”.</p></li>
<li><p>Applying RD, if what happened last year happens again, is going to be tough. I don’t know if they’re going to favor EA so heavily again, but they might.</p></li>
<li><p>A gap year could be a great way to show improvement, but you should still apply this year; you can always apply next year if you get rejected.</p></li>
</ol>