<p>Unlike the plethora of paranoid prospective students, I don’t have the GPA to support my way into Chicago. </p>
<pre><code>GPA: 3.00 (no joke people!!). I don’t feel this reflects my ability as an academic and my intellectual insight AT ALL.
Latina/Native American
SAT scores:
SAT I scores came up to 2300.
ACT: n/a
SAT II: n/a but I feel I have a good chance of scoring well.
</code></pre>
<p>Extra Curriculars:
Linguistic Society of America member- three years
French Club- 4 years: president, ambassador to the international club
Discussion leader for the afterschool French Literature discussion group
International Club- 3 years
Activist to preserve the Santa Clara County Library System ( One of the libraries nearby actually closed down.)
ESL tutor to local refugees (Amensty International)
volunteer at the local migrant camp
- founder/editor in chief of a magazine devoted to 1960’s French and European pop
- 3 years of high school band (Its not 4 because I am graduating in January)- I have been playing music formally for 7 years. I play three different instruments.
- I independently earned over $500.00 for my school band in less than 2 weeks.
Volunteer/intern at UC Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archives
National Geography Bee- Results n/a </p>
<pre><code>Special Interests:
</code></pre>
<ul>
<li>I am currently conducting research to write an English language biography of Chinese silent film screen star, Ruan Lingyu. </li>
<li>Self taught Japanese and French </li>
<li><p>I am currently editing a series of self written essays on Alain Resnais’ “The Last Year at Marienbad”</p>
<ul>
<li>Extinct language preservation</li>
<li>International philosphy</li>
<li>I taught myself to play oboe and within less than a year, I made my school’s audition only band. </li>
<li>Preservation of international silent cinema </li>
<li>Attempted to graduate one year early from high school. </li>
</ul>
<p>Letter of Recommendation: </p></li>
</ul>
<p>I am not sure who to ask for this. My school has a notorious reputation for laying off all teachers. My freshman-sophmore year was mainly taught by substitute teachers. </p>
<pre><code>However, I do have connections with a certain prestigous cinema professor/ scholar at the University of Chicago.
</code></pre>
<p>the heading asks for opinions, the last sentence requests advice. so i will try to accomplish both for you. if you are overly sensitive, i would stop reading at this juncture. here goes. the 2300 sat is great anyway you slice up the three section scores. i just don’t quite understand what “comes up to 2300” means. did you score 2300 or not? if you did, that’s great. sat II’s are not required, but you claim that you would do well. then what are you waiting for? with a 3.0 gpa, your best chance at uchi is with ea. if they accept 40% of their applicants, then they must accept a higher number ea. if you haven’t taken them, i assume that you will go rd. satII’s would have clearly bolstered the low gpa. you seem to have a lot of ec’s and special interests. With a crummy gpa, what the heck are you doing conducting research on a chinese silent film star that noone really cares about? you should be studying and that is what most adcoms will be thinking. why are you editing “self written essays” when your gpa is so low? what are “self written essays” anyway? aren’t all essays self written? if they weren’t written by alain, then they wouldn’t be his, no? i’m just not understanding that part. one thing about the gpa is that i hope the trend is upwards maybe a 2.0 the first year and 3.5 your junior year?</p>
<p>i am also not understanding the problem with recommendations. if i read correctly between the lines, you seem aprehensive about asking for recommendations because you probably don’t have a teacher that gave you a high enough grade, hence the 3.0. that doesn’t matter. with all the ec’s and special interests, there must be a teacher that gave you a bad grade, but would be willing to attest to your ambition and general wonderfulness. the freshman and sophmore teachers are a bit far removed. you should get a recommendation from a junior teacher and a current if you can. you will not be able to hide, the schools require teacher recs. just ask if they can obfuscate the grading and concentrate on another portion of your character. </p>
<p>the positive is the latina/native american hook. that alone will probably get you into most places. native americans with 2300’s are very rare. the self taught french and japanese, chinese silent film star and other special interests are high falluting enough to warrent some consideration. The bottom line will be your essays. write great ones, and you have a chance. write good or mediocre ones and instead of this u of c, i would consider a u of c in california instead. </p>
<p>btw, how do you have 4 years of french club and 3 years of everything else when you are graduating in january? shouldn’t french club also be 3 years then?</p>
<p>Ah…someone I can relate to! I wish I could coast through the college application process on my test scores, but they do care about grades, for some silly reason…it seems to me that I’ve learned a lot more in my life from libraries then from classes.</p>
<p>You have interesting ECs, show a lot of independence, and have high scores. You show intellectual initiative. You are a desired minority. They will be concerned about the 3.0 GPA, but it won’t keep you out. Can you elaborate on that 3.0? They will want to know what was wrong. Were you bored? You hint at problems at your school- the layoffs of teachers. Do you do well in any subjects? If you shine in certain subjects, or had some high points in your high school career grade-wise, it would help. Just try to explain the problem truthfully. Maybe you do not fit in at your school, or maybe it is not a good school. However, if they worry that you will blow off the classroom stuff at U of C, they may have serious doubts about you. Students do that there, too. If your GPA has an upward trend, it will help. If it’s uneven, with lows in some subjects, highs in others, it will also help.</p>
<p>the acceptance rate for EA and RD is essentially the same at UoC, so EA not worth doing in your case. Instead, work hard on first semester grades – strong grades first semester could help, a lot. Also, pickup CB’s Real SATII test book, and take a test or two in subjects in which you feel strong. If you score 700+, consider the November test date, stand-by, or sign up for Dec. </p>
<p>You gotta get recs…regardless of your HS. Indeed, with a relatively low gpa, you NEED recs.</p>
<p>You don’t have to post it here, but if there is any good reason for your low gpa, your GC should point it out i the rec. Or, you could also explain it in the ‘Why Chicago’ essay. Remember, the #1 admission for criteria for every school is your transcript. Low gpa and high grades typically means “HS slacker” unless there are extenuating circumstances.</p>
<p>You will need to present a good case for yourself. From the student decision thread:</p>
<p>Decision: Waitlisted
Stats:
SAT 1560 780M 780V Nation Merit Semifinalist
ACT 35
GPA: 3.0/4 UW rank: 65/428
AP tests: 5’s and a couple 4’s on 7 AP tests to date: Calculus BC, Chemistry, English Lang., US History, Europ. Hist., Economics, Psychology
Essay: Excellent
Recommendations: Decent, but not that great
Extra-curriculars: Good</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected
Stats:
SAT: Verbal: 770 Math: 760 (1530 combined)
SAT IIs: 740 Bio ; 730 Math IIC; 630 Writing
GPA: 4.2/5.3 W. 89.__ average unweighted
Rank: First Quintile (20%)
Other stats:
Subjective:
Essays: Sucked
Teacher Recs: I liked my teachers and I think they liked me.
Counselor Rec: Probably good
Hook (if any): None
Location/Person:
State or Country: Tennessee
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Indian American
Gender: Male</p>
<p>Decision: Waitlisted
Stats:
SAT: 1560 (800V/760M)
SAT IIs: Writing, 800; Literature, 760; Biology, 720.
GPA: 2.7u/3.2w
Rank: Unranked.
Other stats: 34 ACT.
Subjective:
Essays: I’ve heard nothing but good things, and I was proud of them.
Teacher Recs: Incredibly amazing.
Counselor Rec: Probably not too bad.
Hook (if any): None, I guess.
Location/Person:
State or Country: Connecticut, USA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
major strength/weakness: Test scores and essays/grades.
why you think you were accepted/rejected/defered: I honestly thought that I had enough personal stuff to balance out my grades… I guess the admissions office disagreed. I mean, it’s no mystery why I wasn’t admitted. (Note: I think I read were this guy’s persistence got him admitted off of the wait list)</p>
<p>Good point, schools prefer students with high rank and low SAT than low rank and high SAT. However, schools die for Hispanics with SAT above 1400 (2100 new).</p>
<p>The reason I did so poor in high school was nothing more than academic boredom. The “teachers” didn’t help much. “Why don’t you put your energy into something other than English class?”- my Freshman English “teacher”. Try having a full schedule (the AP classes were no different) for 3-4 years of this joke of an education, the last thing one would want to do is attend. Regardless of my lack of an access to a formal education, I preserved and nurtured my intellectual interests. I can relate with those who said, " Why did you focus more on a silly Chinese silent film star than you GPA?..". The quote might not be exact but that message was expressed. The explaination is simple and I understand the risks behind it- I take more pride in my interests and curiosities than a flashy GPA. To me, it doesn’t matter whether I recieved a 4.5 or my current standing. At my school, that “earned” 4.5 wouldn’t have represented some astute young scholar but someone who came to class and completed worksheets. This will be revealed in the school profile information U of C will evaluate. </p>
<p>My letters of recommendations are being worked on by two of my instructors- my world history teacher at the c.c. (She is obsessed with writing letters of recommendations. For some odd reason, she takes a pride in which schools her letters help her students transfer to) and my 11th chemistry teacher.</p>
<p>YeYe/Heather, if you can communicate what you just said in your post above to the admissions people, you will get in. Are you planning to have an alumni interview, or to visit and interview on campus?</p>
<p>Heather, no doubt you are an intellectual, but I think it all depends on how the admissions people will perceive your circumstances (as OneMom has just mentioned).</p>
<p>Although academic boredom is comprehensible (I too were bored in some of my classes - simply “filling in worksheets,” etc.), I’m not too sure whether that is a good enough excuse of having a mediocre gpa, especially in the context of your academic potential. </p>
<p>If I were an admission officer, some questions I would likely ask are: Why didn’t she transfer out to another high school?
Is academic boredom a good enough an excuse for a mediocre gpa?</p>
<p>I think a 2300 SAT will help your chances significantly, and a lucid explanation of your circumstances is imperative. </p>
<p>I am applying EA to Chicago, and I also have a relatively weak gpa (3.3). My low gpa was mainly due to my extreme athletic committments, and hopefully, I can convey this fully to admissions. </p>
<p>Good luck with your application, and I hope we both can offset our gpa’s with other factors. </p>
<p>hi heather: “I take more pride in my interests and curiosities than a flashy GPA. To me, it doesn’t matter whether I recieved a 4.5 or my current standing.” </p>
<p>although that statements shows a great amount of independence, the bottom line is that you pay the consequences. filling out worksheets is what your hs wanted, that’s what you should have given them. thus you got what you deserved which is a 3.0. i highly doubt that the gc at your hs will state that your hs is nothing more than a worksheet filling out substance lacking institution. the gc will not smear the school just for you. with your 3.0 i will assume that you have a correspondingly low ranking. well a lot of these top schools get 2300 maybe 2400 sat candidates and they get rejected. your case is a classic case of poor priorities and the colleges will see that. whining about how bad the hs is will not make you appear as a better candidate. sorry</p>
<p>Heather, I completely understand where you are coming from (my own 3.3 gpa assures it) but I do agree with genie about the approach you take regarding the GPA… I plan to take the blame for my laziness-which is what it ultimately comes down to- and show them a hell of an upward trend.</p>
<p>In my situation, I did very well in my community college classes that use the quarter system like Chicago. I just did terrible in high school. Will that help me out? I am just going to have to convince U of C, that the academics at their institution ARE my highest priorities. It is the academics why I love U of C so much.</p>
<p>yeye, here’s the best advice i can give you. do a great or better than great job with your essays. then attach a cover letter with your application that explains why you did like crap in your classes. do not blame your high school, do not say that your classes did not interest you, i would try to be a little contrite and at the same time, try to explain the best you can what went wrong and thank god that many universities and colleges need urm’s.</p>
</p>