How high is odd stacked against me?

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>Hola guys, I am a noncitizen Korean dude who lived here for 3 yrs and 6 months.</p>

<p>after receiving bunch of mails from Uchicago, I ve become interested in UCHicago</p>

<p>so this is the class and test I took(math and sciecne only for convenience)</p>

<p>My high school is dang laid back despite being among top 1.5% high school in nation…
9th grade: biology and precalc(both were A)-others were also A except semester PE B+</p>

<p>10th: AP Calc AB, honors chem, physics(A in all three in both semester)
B in english both semester because eng. teacher was a total feminist who hated boys’ guts</p>

<p>11th; Calc BC, AP Chem(A in both semester in both subjects)
AP Physic(B+ in 1st/A in 2nd)
English B and B-. Others all A. in both semester</p>

<p>PSAT
186(10th)
223(11th)
SAT 1: 1st-710,710,700(reading, math writing0
2nd-630,680, 640(got sick during test but kept taking it
3rd- 640, 740,800(kinda unexpected combo)
I know…very inconsistent(taking test itself is my weak point)</p>

<p>SAT II(all in 9th)
SAT math level 2 800
Chem 800
Physics 730</p>

<p>AP
Bio(5, 9th grade self taught)
AP Calc(5, 10th)
Took Calc BC, AP physics, AP chem this yr(propbably got 5 in all)</p>

<p>Extra:
NHS since soph(we are allowed in since 10th)
SHS since last yr
AMC10A 96(9th), 102(10th)
AMC 12A 76
USAMTS honorable mention
Local chem Olympiad stellar(according to coordinator) score-couldn’t get in national due to citizenship (damn!)
Speech and debate LieBiel 2nd place in state
JSA
Wind Ensemble, All State band, and math club president
Science bowl, spanish club
PSI internship during school time
Writing competition grand prize(9th grade)</p>

<p>One thing you have to know is that

  1. Oregon state doesn’t have much math/science competition compared to others states
  2. My school doesn’t have professional team for ARML or science competition, and barely anyone was willing to do so when I tried to make one.
  3. some competitions were unavailable for noncitizen
    4)…I am very poor that i dared not to go any math competition far far away…</p>

<p>…so what do you think?</p>

2

<p>I think you have a good chance.
As an immigrant, you should consider learning English being the first priority. Getting B’s in the school is not a good sign for applying elite schools, especially when you have 3 and half years of time to do it. There is no excuse.</p>

3

<p>I concur with artloversplus, work on your English. Even the title of your thread had grammatical mistakes. Another thing do you LOVE to read & study? Because at UoC you will be doing this in abundance. UoC is not for everyone, it is considerably one of the most rigorous universities here. All of this I say not to discourage you, but rather to inform of you of what you would be facing if you were to be admitted. I would venture to say it’s more difficult, at least core wise, than HYP.</p>

4

<p>thank you for honest yet relieving replies.</p>

<p>*my keyboard doesn’t work well, yes I meant to write *highly.</p>

<p>1) Might having A in senior English help? Only reason I got B in Junior English was because I was way too timid in discussion. I am not anymore, though. I emailed to International Admission office of Uchicago and it said that I need to send senior year grade.
To Frank5150: Yes I like reading, but I take a bit longer to finish than others to. BTW I don’t read books like Hunger Games or Twilight(those are not books. Even high school students can write such books too)</p>

<p>2) At this point what else would you recommend me to do to have better chance? I won’t take SAT anymore because I don’t think I will improve a lot at this point. Probably ACT?</p>

5

<p>OP: Also, try not using SLANG because even on CC it can come off as derogatory speech/grammar if taken the wrong way by certain readers…especially written by a Korean national…</p>

<p>…as written by above posters…Chicago places extreme emphasis on writing/grammar than most other elite schools…so, understand what you are getting into. You can not skate by with moderate, let alone, inferior writing skills…you will get “killed” in the common core classes…</p>

<p>…understand Chicago before you apply…by the way, if you didn’t know this Chicago has a reputation of being the MIT/Caltech for liberal arts/humanities students…</p>

6

<p>You have some top notch accomplishments behind you already, so you probably meet or more than meet the minimum standard. I want to reinforce what has been written here about understanding and appreciating the UChicago academic culture. Try to visit this summer or this fall. You are aware of course that UChicago employs essay writing to a greater extent than most schools in its admissions process? Regarding the question about an “A” in senior English, yes I definitely think it would help, especially if the English is Honors or AP. Good luck to you.</p>

7

<p>"…as written by above posters…Chicago places extreme emphasis on writing/grammar than most other elite schools…so, understand what you are getting into. You can not skate by with moderate, let alone, inferior writing skills…you will get “killed” in the common core classes…</p>

<p>…understand Chicago before you apply…by the way, if you didn’t know this Chicago has a reputation of being the MIT/Caltech for liberal arts/humanities students…" - I wish I had written this. It sums up what I was trying to say. Perhaps, I needed more coffee. ;-)</p>

8

<p>particularly Korean National?</p>

<p>and might this help? or will it actually hurt?
Writing competition grand prize(9th grade)</p>

9

<p>And I already know that ‘Chicago has a reputation of being the MIT/Caltech for liberal arts/humanities students’</p>

10

<p>Uchicago has nothing against Korea Nationals, plenty of them are now attending. What matters is with only less than 10% admission rate, even a slight indication of weakness in English will dash your dream of being admitted into the school. Slangs and grammatical errors in your essay will be exposed and will not be tolerated. </p>

<p>Orientals have a natural ability to shine in math and science, what makes you stand out are humanity aspects of your academic history.</p>

11

<p>Ahha Artloversplus, you are not really thinking that I will allow any slang or grammatical errors in my essay, aren’t you? No! I will ask my AP English friends to help me in grammar.</p>

<p>…Anyway I have no trouble in understanding what the writings say or what people say unless they talk way too fast. Also, yes, it sounds like really bad excuse, but having a feminist teacher who hates boys and never gives A is really troublesome(and she is very proud of her feminist view). For my junior English. I have no excuse, though.
I will do all my best to get an A in English.</p>

12

<p>Artloversplus,</p>

<p>Please choose your words more carefully. The term is “Asian”, not “oriental” and not all Asians have a “natural ability to shine in math and science”.</p>

13

<p>^^ILoveUofC</p>

<p>What is the difference between Orientals and Asians? Both are generalizations. 1/3 or more of the world populations are from that area, there bound to be people of all works of live. To generalize that large groups of population is not right. But two wrongs do not make a right.</p>

14

<p>There is no reason you shouldn’t apply to UChicago, although (as others have been saying) keep in mind that if your writing abilities are subpar to those of your peers, you will have not only a difficult time getting in but also a difficult time at the university if you do get in. Definitely have any writing you submit for your app read over by English teachers.</p>

<p>Also, keep in mind that a “feminist” is a term for an equal-rights advocate. If your teacher truly hates boys, the correct term for that is “misandry.” Feminists don’t hate anyone, haha</p>

15

<p>^^etacarinae
Then my soph teacher should have classified her as a misandry, not a feminist. Seriously,
too many misandries identify them as feminists.</p>

<p>I got a 95 in final essay though! I think I do have writing abilities that’s significantly above the average, as my teachers said.</p>

<p>By the way, I got an offending message from one of Class 2010 Uchicago. That just made me even more eager to apply. </p>

<p>Etacarinae, so will my ‘misandry teacher’ sound like a pathetic excuse?</p>

16

<p>paul, your “misandry teacher” will sound like a pathetic excuse. Also, even making allowances for the fact that you are posting online and not taking the kind of care you would for graded material in a class, it’s obvious that you have a long way to go before you can write fluently in English. At this point, if you got an A in an English class (non-ESL) in an American high school, I would question the value of that class. (This isn’t a criticism of you, by the way. I’m sure you will get better, and that your comprehension is very good. It’s just that, as a matter of objective fact, you are not fluent in English yet.)</p>

<p>artlovers: “Asians” is a neutral, fact-based term that is pretty useful to describe racial/ethnic groups that primarily live on the (eastern/central/southern) Asian continent (plus Japan and, I guess, the Philippines). It also adds a modicum of precision, because it clearly is not used to include Arabs, Jews, or others from the Middle East. “Orientals” is a relational term that implies point of view: here, in the West, vs. there, the “Orient” or East. It is specifically a European term that barely even makes sense in the U.S. And back when it was used most it WAS used so as to include Arabs and Jews, Turks, Persians, and maybe even Bosnians, as well as groups from the Indian subcontinent and Central and East Asia. “Orientals” also evokes “Orientalism,” a set of 19th-early 20th Century European fantasies about the “mysterious East,” which many people now find reductive and insulting. (Think Burton’s “Arabian Nights” translations, Rudyard Kipling, T.E. Lawrence, or Lafcadio Hearn in Japan.)</p>

17

<p>^^JHS</p>

<p>JHS, just for your information, you do not know(and can’t know) how hard the English classes are in my school,even for the native speakers.(my grammar has been improving slightly though) </p>

<p>Thanks for the clarification of the term ‘Asians’ and ‘Orientals’. by the way.</p>

<p>So B in English is a sharp disadvantage I guess?</p>

18

<p>In your case, it’s not the B in English that’s the issue. You are plenty smart, but your written English fluency is less than might be desired. </p>

<p>I don’t know how the admissions people at Chicago evaluate that. Your English will clearly improve with time, and you don’t seem to have trouble understanding things now. Your test scores are very good for someone who still has language issues. I don’t know whether they will look at you and say, “He can’t write English well enough to meet Chicago standards,” or whether they will say, “He’ll have some trouble but he’ll get past it.” Both statements are probably true. But, to repeat, it’s not the B in English that’s the issue; a B is probably the very best you could get in English. </p>

<p>The best thing you could do for yourself would be to work like a dog to improve your written and spoken English. You could probably make huge gains this summer if you put your mind to it. If, a few months from now, you are writing a lot better than you do now, you will look really strong, and on the right track. If you aren’t writing a lot better, you will come across as someone who doesn’t care about writing English well, given your general high intelligence and (by then) four years here. And that won’t help you at Chicago.</p>

<p>One other point. I get the impression that you don’t care that much about writing, because you have been here long enough, and you are smart enough, to write English a little better than you do. So . . . why are you so interested in the University of Chicago? Given your interests, there probably isn’t a college you could pick reasonably where you would be required to write more than at Chicago. There are plenty of other places where you could get by and even do well without improving your written English much at all.</p>