Chances for a.. not so great student

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>Well, my greatest regret for high school is my GPA.
From what I understand, GPA max is 4.0, so I have no idea how some people have like 6.2923 as a GPA.</p>

<p>My UW GPA is 3.3 / 4.0
and W GPA is 3.8 / 4.0</p>

<p>My SATs so far are 2030 and 1930 and I’m taking it again in October with predicted scores of
2150 or higher and at least 1400/1600</p>

<p>SAT2’s I have Chem 720 and US History 710 and Chinese 780</p>

<p>Also taking the ACT’s in october</p>

<p>I’m ranked around top 15th percentile out of 615 at a very competitive high school. We are probably the best or one of the best public high schools in Georgia</p>

<p>My course selection is very rigorous. All AP’s and honors except when I have no choice (like health and Personal fitness)</p>

<p>My senior schedule is
AP Stat
AP Bio
AP Physics B
AP Econ micro/macro
College English
Chamber Orchestra</p>

<p>My EC’s</p>

<p>-Beta Club 10,11,12
-Habitat for Humanity 10,11,12 (builds and visits to habitat centers and ect)
-Red Cross 12 (hunger and aids walks)
-National Honor Society, Inducted in 11th, and in it for 12th
-Chamber Orchestra 9-12, operations officer for 12
-Chinese School, 12 grades, graduated
-Volunteering at chinese school as hall monitor, traffic duty, and ect every saturaday for 2-3hours (around 250-300 hours of this)
-Chinese school basketball team for 6 years now

  • Baseball from age 6 - 16
    -Fall baseball at school in 9th grade
    -Rec League All star team 7,8,9,10 , MVP
    -Coach younger chinese school baseball and basketball team, kids are 6-9 years old and theres around 12 kids
    -HSK (chinese test) Scholarship Summer Trip to Beijing and Nanjing, and various other cities in China, studied at Nanjing Normal University, things like culture, language,arts, music
    -Chinese Root-seeking camp, visited Beijing, dalian, shenyang, visited various parks and met chinese high school students, around 5000 kids from around the world participated, learned culture and ect
  • Library volunteering (around 50 hours)
  • Summer Job at Tous Les Jours Bakery, between 11th and 12th grade
  • Orchestra trip to Austria for Mozarts 250th bday, visited cities like vienna and prague and salzburg
  • Orchestra in Midwest festival in Chicago
  • Volunteered at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with Brain and Behavior Research Chair and team (around 50 hours), learned a lot of lab procedures and…how to kill mice =( and look at their brain cells and measure cell distances and ect
  • Violin Recitals with private lessons teacher
  • Super Honor Roll every semester
  • Principles List every semester
  • Legion of Honor, and Legion of Scholars
  • Going to be AP Scholar
  • NACA (National Association for Chinese Americans)- Vice President, meetings with guest speakers, and lots of volunteer work like helping the elderly and volunteering at chinese events, outside of school
    -National Merit Semifinalist</p>

<p>I really enjoy doing community service because it allows me to try new things and meet new people. Total hours throughout high school easily exceeds 500</p>

<p>I know essays are important for Chicago and I truly believe I can create something amazing. I’m just afraid that it won’t match what the admissions officer wants to see. Any tips? xD</p>

<p>My teacher rec’s will be pretty good. But, I’m worried that they may not fit what Chicago wants, because my econ teacher just sent my parents a letter that basically said “He is great student, although quiet, speaks great volumes with his work ethic” Under my impression, I think chicago prefers more talkative students.</p>

<p>Also, I’m chinese, which is probably a bad thing when applying to colleges.</p>

<p>So what are my chances? This is probably my “dream university” and I’ll probably focus most of my time and effort into this application.</p>

2

<p>your stats aren’t that bad…you could get in, but i’ve seen better scores than yours get rejected and worse scores get in…so?? mayb</p>

3

<p>LiLu </p>

<p>“I know essays are important for Chicago and I truly believe I can create something amazing. I’m just afraid that it won’t match what the admissions officer wants to see. Any tips? xD”</p>

<p>Don’t try to outsmart the sorting hat. Your academics and scores are good; your EC’s are very extensive and interesting; you have a vibrant personality and a lot of energy. Present yourself truthfully in your applications. Chicago - or another fine school - will be lucky to have you next fall.</p>

4

<p>Thanks to everyone who has replied so far!</p>

<p>I will present myself truthfully in my essays =)</p>

5

<p>omg you’re chinese and you didn’t get an 800 on sat 2 chinese? what was your percentile, like 40%? I mean, your stats are pretty solid besides the whole GPA thing. If you have quirky essays, that might just do it.</p>

6

<p>geez, ccri, cut him some slack, he probably mis-bubbled, lol. The perfection (or near perfection) achieved on that test is pretty intimidating.</p>

7

<p>LiLu,</p>

<p>“My teacher rec’s will be pretty good. But, I’m worried that they may not fit what Chicago wants, because my econ teacher just sent my parents a letter that basically said “He is great student, although quiet, speaks great volumes with his work ethic” Under my impression, I think chicago prefers more talkative students.”</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be too worried about that - your ec’s show that you are very interactive with others. You might want to think about an additional rec - maybe for the coaching - if <em>all</em> your teachers are likely to say about you is that you are a great student. If your recommendors can paint a little picture of who you are, that will help the admissions committee with its evaluation.</p>

<p>What are you thinking of majoring in?</p>

8

<p>Haha, my percentile for that satII WAS pretty darn low</p>

<p>For the coaching, I coach kids range from like 6-10 year old, maybe I should ask one of the kid’s parents to write a rec? Or maybe even get one of them to write a rec for me?</p>

<p>I’ve always wanted to major in a science and biology is the science I enjoy the most, so I’m thinking biological sciences. I may change my mind if I find out that it’s just not what I want to study. I’m taking AP Econ right now and I really enjoy the course.</p>

<p>Thank you for all your input, its really helping me!</p>

9

<p>The major purpose of an additional rec is to provide information that would otherwise not appear in your other recs. My son didn’t have to do that because his english teacher was his drama coach and his CS teacher ran the robotics team. The main focus of the CS teacher’s rec was on the interaction and learning among the team members - and about their response to a disastrous competition; it was a really good letter, and I am glad I got to see it. When you ask for the rec, if you could mention that your schools would be interested in specific examples - a little story - about how you interacted with their children. You look like a pretty good kid and I sure the rec will have a string of superlatives in it … we just want the story in it, too. IMO, it is too much to ask a young person to write a rec - but I’ve been wrong before, and it is an interesting idea. </p>

<p>I would like to suggest that you also look at Brandeis - very interesting college, strong in biology, and my son would have attended there if Chicago hadn’t come through for us.</p>

10

<p>I think I may ask one of them to write a rec for me, nothing too serious, just tell them to write what ever.</p>

<p>Also, I may ask the professor I volunteered for at the Hospital of Sick Children in Toronto. We have a pretty good relationship.</p>

<p>Will two additional recs be okay? or maybe its too many?</p>

11

<p>I think its ok ;-)</p>