Chicago-epitome of intellect and learning

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>chance me?</p>

<p>AP/IB Taken/Will have taken (Class): AP World History, AP US History, AP English Literature, AP Calculus
IB English HL, IB Economcs SL, IB Physics HL (yuck), IB French SL, IB Math Studies SL, IB Theory of Knowledge, IB History of the Americas HL
Full IB Diploma Candidate</p>

<p>Asian Male from NY from a public magnet.
Major: I plan to double major, one in business (not sure exactly what area) and French.</p>

<p>GPA Roughly: UW: 3.92 (estimated, we only give out Weighted) W: 4.04</p>

<p>Note: Though my W and UW are similar, my school decided to deflate GPA this year and last for reasons beyond me. I have taken the most challenging load available.</p>

<p>School doesn’t rank, but roughly the second half of the top 10%.</p>

<p>SAT: Highest Single Sitting CR-680 M-750 W-760, 1430/2190
Superscore: CR-710 M-750 WR-760 1460/2220</p>

<p>SAT II’s: 740 Math II, 640 USH I will retake the US because I got a 5 on the AP</p>

<p>AP: Psych 5 (Self-Study), USH 5, Micro 3 (Technically self-study), English Lit 3, World History 3.</p>

<p>EC’s Sports:
Varsity Soccer 4 yrs, Varsity Swimming 3 yrs (Scholar-Athlete), Varsity Track and Field 4 yrs (Captain 12)
EC Activities: NYS Math League 2 yrs (Captain 12), Guitar playing 5 yrs, Multi-Cultural Club 2 yrs (did various things to raise money for endangered animals and stuff)</p>

<p>Jobs: Did math tutoring in and out of school, taught English abroad in a formal setting.
Volunteer: 50 hours at an historic landmark, 90 hours abroad doing translation services for the olympics, roughly 30 hours at various school functions</p>

<p>Programs: Economics for Leaders
Leadership Development institute</p>

<p>Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction
A College Book Award
Congressional Award Bronze/Silver Certificates
Sherman F Fyler award for Scholarhip and Citizenship
Praxair Science Award
NYS math league certificate of merit</p>

<p>other things: featured in a newspaper abroad for volunteer work, wrote an article for my local paper</p>

<p>Essay: pretty good</p>

<p>Recs: Counselor thinks i’m overly ambitious and have no fun (not true i swear) , but the other two should be great.</p>

<p>Oh I plan on taking up to 6 more AP tests senior year (up to five self studied) anyway to include this on my app?</p>

2

<p>“90 hours abroad doing translation services for the olympics”</p>

<p>That’s sounds like fun!</p>

<p>–</p>

<p>Numbers wise, I would say you are fine (mine were lower and I was accepted).</p>

<p>Your stats are kind of all over the place though: sports, math, language, music, etc. Make sure that you show passion and substance in your essays and spend a good deal of time asking yourself why you UChicago. Interview also helps in this area.</p>

3

<p>thanks, i was afraid of the all over the place thing</p>

<p>i really don’t 100 percent know what i want to do, just that i want business+french</p>

<p>so number wise you think i have a good shot?</p>

4

<p>I didn’t take the SAT, but I got a 31 on the ACT (comparable to a 1950ish on the SAT from my understanding) – so that won’t keep you. I was ranked #1, but really in the top 10% it depends on the school you are going to.</p>

<p>Check the link below to see some other numbers, you’ll notice many people had lower numbers than you and got accepted. This is because UChicago stresses essays and teacher recommendations, a lot.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/668281-official-university-chicago-rd-decisions-class-2013-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/668281-official-university-chicago-rd-decisions-class-2013-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck with your college search.</p>

5

<p>actually a 31 is more like a 2090 or something, but thanks so much</p>

6

<p>another person that makes me feel really inferior lol </p>

<p>good luck dude u sound great on paper!</p>

7

<p>Any student correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that you can’t major in Business in the college. I think you can take a few crossover courses with the Booth School of Business, but not enough for a major. The University does however (from what I’ve heard) have a fabulous overseas center in Paris which is their main office for University activities in Europe. So you can choose to study abroad there, if you’re accepted. </p>

<p>As far as grades, you seem fine. Your SAT is solid, but your SAT IIs are a little low (however, I don’t think the Adcomm puts heavy emphasis on them). And your AP scores are a little low, but it’s not that big of a deal because, from what I’ve heard/read, the Adcomm doesn’t pay attention to them that much AND you can only use so many AP credits when you enroll. </p>

<p>But otherwise, assuming your essays are in good shape (and it seems that we all say this to everyone) then you should be in a pretty good position. It seems like all of these chance threads for the UofC end up the same way: as long as your essays are good, you’ve got a decent shot.</p>

8

<p>^ I think it needs to be stickied, about the essays. UChicago doesn’t require SAT IIs or AP scores to be sent, so if you feel they are a little low – don’t send them.</p>

<p>And yes, there is no major for business but a similar degree in economics is considered to be one of the best (if not, the best) in the country.</p>

9

<p>Yeah, that was exactly what I was thinking-Econ with French.
And thanks so much guys!</p>

<p>Chicago doesn’t require II’s? wow I didn’t know that lol I won’t send 'em.</p>

10

<p>^^ make sure you check about the SAT IIs. I’m not for sure, but I think that you have to send 2 if you send the SAT I. I’m not positive though. Either way, your scores on SAT IIs (assuming you have to send them) won’t make or break your decision, it might help or hurt a little, but not too much. </p>

<p>From what I hear, only do Econ if you REALLY want to do Econ. Don’t settle for it just because they don’t have business. Major in something you really WANT to major in, not just because it’s close to what you’re interested in. And trust me, there are tons of kids out there who want to go to the UofC precisely BECAUSE the Econ program is the best in the nation, so they’ll be hell bent for the best grade in the class and probably very competitive. </p>

<p>Also, from every Admissions Representative that I’ve talked to: it is really super hard to double major. That doesn’t mean you can’t but it’s really hard. They said that the Core takes up about 1/3 of your curriculum, your major takes up another 1/3, and your electives (basically stuff you’re interested in, also the only courses APs can count for) take up the other 1/3. So if you want to double, you would have to sacrifice your electives (and thus your APs) and be bound by a very strict course-load with very little wiggle room.</p>

11

<p>^ Kind of true, but not entirely. First off, the Core doesn’t necessarily take up 1/3 of your courses, especially if you have the AP credit to place out of Core gen ed requirements (math, foreign language competency, physical science, biological science). The irreducible core of the Core is about 1/4 of the required units for graduation (42), and less than that if you take 48 units, as many do. Second, some majors have more requirements than others. Depending on how much math and French you have before beginning, you could complete Economics and French majors with as few as 22 courses (although, realistically, it would probably take a few courses more). Even if you didn’t have the maximum possible credits towards requirements, if you had some you could probably complete the Core, Economics, and French majors in 38 courses, leaving you with up to 10 electives (or time to write BA papers in one or both majors). So . . . not impossible, just a little tight.</p>

12

<p>could I minor in French then?
And I like like Econ a lot.</p>

<p>any assessments of chances?</p>

13

<p>neogop: Yep, that is right. I submitted ACT so I forgot about needing the SAT IIs; good catch.</p>

14

<p>Nope, not good catch. Chicago does NOT require SAT IIs, whether or not you submit an ACT score, and it claims not to look at them if you do submit them (since they will be on the report in any event if you submit SAT I scores). It’s different from almost all of its peers that way. No SAT IIs required, ever.</p>

<p>Re: Minoring in French. I’m not going to check the course catalog for you again. All the requirements are there, in pornographic detail. Colleges’ course catalogs are a rich source of infomation about stuff like this, and they’re all online.</p>

15

<p>@JHS, I wasn’t entirely wrong… I did say that I wasn’t sure, but I did know that you certainly do not have to submit SAT IIs with the ACT. So I wasn’t entirely wrong. And I guess apparently you don’t have to submit them with the SAT I either (as you said). Thank you for clarifying. As well, my bit earlier about the 1/3s of the curriculum was straight from an assistant director of admission’s mouth. I’m not claiming it as fact, I was just saying that that is what they tell prospective students, so it is probably a nice GUIDELINE for planning a curriculum. As you proved, it is not exact, but I would tend to think that assistant directors of admission have at least some idea of what they’re talking about.</p>

<p>@Honors Centaur
Again, as I said and as most people will say when it comes to UofC chance threads, if your essays are solid (which is a big If because the only thing I know about you is what you said above, and I really have no idea how good your writing is) then you have a good shot. </p>

<p>PS Assuming I am accepted and attend, I’m going to try to major in Economics, and minor in one or two of these: French, Mathematics, Poly Sci, Classics. I’m really interested in all of those, so I’m not quite sure which one or two I’d like to major in. Maybe we’ll have a class together, seeing as we’re looking into similar curricula! Good luck!</p>

16

<p>Economics is HEAVILY math based…if you want to further your economics education after graduating, I’d suggest that you major in math instead (they have a math program that specializes in econ)</p>

<p>It is usually recommended that prospective econ grad students major in some quantitatively oriented field i.e math, stat, computer science.</p>

17

<p>ahhhh my guidance counselor screwed me over.
I am in STATS instead of AP CALC. :frowning:
However, I now switched to IB Math Methods SL, which is calc based. Does this make any difference?
Does EA offer any advantage? I hear (but am not certain) that it has around a 35% acceptance compared to the regular 25% or so.</p>

18

<p>It may, but the pool may also be stronger.</p>

19

<p>ok, so i gave copies of my essays to my english teacher today, who told me they were brilliant.
So keeping in mind my stats, and pretty good essays, I should have a very solid chance right?</p>