<p>newmassdad - haha I know Chicago has quarters, not trimesters, but for the sake of this board, I say trimesters, because “quarters” may be misleading (prospies may think Chicago has 4 quarters per academic [Sept - June] year, which is not the case, most Chicago students are in classes for 3 academic terms per academic year). </p>
<p>Also, I have no knowledge? Come on man, that’s just rude. I went to Chicago and have known a handful of Rhodes/Marshall scholars and Student Marshals pretty well. Generally, candidates from Chicago for the Rhodes or Marshall must have sky-high GPAs. Certainly, this is not ALWAYS the case, and, like most other awards, superb performance in some other endeavor can compensate for a (slightly) lower GPA. From what I know though, a sky-high GPA can open the door, and then you need all sorts of other amazing attributes to even get past the early stages of the competition. </p>
<p>If you want to point out the exceptions to the rule, sure, there will always be some, and if the OP has something amazing he’s been doing it’ll help for a Rhodes scholarship. Generally though, from what I know, candidacy for becoming a Student Marshal is primarily based on grades (and, as often comes from this, good relationships w professors), and the Marshals are the ones that are groomed for Rhodes or Marshall Scholarships. I’d say something like 80-85% of Chicago Rhodes’ winners are Student Marshals, and of that group, the vast majority of those Marshals have superb grades.</p>
<p>Ultimately, if the OP has a 3.7 from Chicago by the end of junior year, a Rhodes or Marshall would still be a reach - maybe not a huge reach, but he/she isn’t in the first rank of students the Chicago admin is grooming for the Rhodes/Marshall app process (barring some utterly amazing extra-curricular).</p>