Chances for a deferred EA student?

mccj · February 10, 2010, 1:38pm

I WAS DEFERRED EA.

Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Location: Bergen County, New Jersey

My big passion: politics.

Academics:
-I am a high school senior at a tough college preparatory high school outside of New York City. The School does not rank.

-I have a 3.504 GPA. (At least top 20 percent, tough high school)

Senior Year Semester 1 Grades:
English Lit AP: A
Twentieth Century World History H: A-
Spanish Lit Ap: A
Diff Calc: A-
Senior Thesis Honors: A
Stage Band: A

-I have taken honors or AP History, English, and Spanish for all of high school. Math and Science has been the regular ‘college prep’ track. I have nothing lower than a B- on my transcript.

TESTS:
-ACT: 29
-US History AP: 5
-European History AP: 4

SAT II’s:
US History: 780
Lit: 660
Spanish: Pending

-I am in the midst of a year long independent project on the tone of the United States called media called a ‘Focus’ project. I have done extensive research and got an A+ on a 20 page paper, and will go into field work on the topic in the second semester.

<h2>Extracurriculars</h2>

-I am the President of the Student Body at a school that takes its student government pretty seriously. I was the VP junior year and the president of my grade Freshman and Sophomore year.

-I was the National/International Affairs editor for the school newspaper and previously contributed on American politics. I now contribute a presidential column, featured in every issue.

-I have played the guitar for the last 7 years. I am in the school guitar ensemble, Jazz ensemble, Jazz-Rock band, and play in the pit orchestras for school musicals. I have also performed at gigs at local restaurants and cafes, as well as school functions. I teach one elementary school student.

-I set up an afternoon group where students can play totally improvisational music in a pressure-less setting. We discuss techniques behind learning to play and improvise with a group, and it allows students to stretch out and learn to interact with other musicians.

-Tour guide for my school, all 4 years.

-Varsity Cross Country, all 4 years. Won the coaches award, sophomore year.

-I directed a one act play by Woody Allen for the student directed one acts, wrote a play and directed it for the student written one acts.

<h2>POLITICS</h2>

-Last summer/fall, I worked at my real passion, politics. I compiled over 120 hours of volunteer work as a registered Intern and assistant to the field organizer for the Barack Obama campaign in New Jersey.

-This summer I worked on a victorious City Council campaign in New York City, District 1, for Margaret Chin, who will be sworn in at the end of December. She also contributed a letter of recommendation on my behalf.

-I am currently working as an intern for State Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle D-NJ as a part of my thesis project.

I don’t know how to phrase it, but while I don’t have the top grades, or the best scores, I am considered to be mature and focused beyond my years by teachers, students and administrators. I have been pegged as the natural ‘leader’ of my school, and I don’t know how to express that without someone being a part of our community and meeting me. You guys probably get this a lot, though, that inability to put who you are on paper.

Anyway, chances?!

PBush · February 10, 2010, 4:03pm

I’m sure others will tell you this, but the chances this year of being accepted after initially being deferred are quite low. I’ll leave the statistical analysis for someone else.

Looking at your post, it is clear that you are involved in a lot of activities outside of school, which is great, especially since you seem to be genuinely passionate about them. However, I think the thing holding you back are your academics and test scores. A 29 is like a 2000, right? That’s hardly “bad”, but for a school like Chicago? Definitely not helping. Furthermore, while I recognize that your school is tough, your GPA (and class rank) is still quite low for top schools, and there isn’t enough to backup that you really did learn a lot from your classes. Ways to show that despite your relatively low GPA, you actually did learn the stuff well would be to have fantastic AP and SAT II scores, and while yours are solid, they’re only average for Chicago applicants.

I won’t give you any numerical chances b/c honestly who knows? I will say that you will likely be very successful and happy wherever you go and to (try) not to freak out about this.

BTW, how were your essays for Chicago?

neogop · February 11, 2010, 8:02pm

Thought I’d poke my head back in after a few months in absentia…
I had very similar statistics and interests to you, but I was admitted EA. I had a 3.65 at a school quite similar to yours, but a 33 on the ACT. My GPA, I’m convinced, was terribly low for Chicago, even though it’s ~top 15% in my class of 100, so I’ve come to the conclusion that I got in because of my essays.

Honestly, I think the pitfall of your application (without having seen your essays) is your ACT and GPA. Although you might go to a school that is just as hard as mine, a 3.5 doesn’t look good because every other school is inflating grades like Aunt Marge from Prizoner of Azkaban. Your ACT is, like PBush said, also quite low for Chicago. While Chicago, historically, has put much less weight on standardized testing, it’s not a surprise that they’re wondering why your ACT is low. For the class of 2013, only 25% of applicants scored 29 or below on the ACT. In an applicant pool that is much larger and more competitive, combined with the fact that you’re a deferral, rolled in with the notion that UChicago Admission is becoming a lot more “normal” and is probably weighing ACT scores MORE, I’d say your chance for admission is not the best, but still possible. Your essays will have to have been fan-FREAKING-tabulous, and your update (which all deferees ought to send) needs to be amazing too. Good luck.

Chances for a deferred EA student?

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