International applicant aiming for UChicago

Chance Me / Match Me
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Hello All!

Demographics
International student (from India)

Curriculum
Maharashtra HSC

Intended Major(s)
Mathematics/Physics

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Indian system does not calculate GPA, instead we have percentage*
  • 9th grade - 96%
  • 10th grade - 99%
  • 11th grade - 97%
  • Class Rank: 1
  • SAT Scores: Math - 800, RW=770

Coursework
Taking all possible course load in physics, chemistry, math, geography and computer science, schools in HSC schools in India do not offer any IB/AP. Have taken courses on basic number theory, basic and advance geometry and basic combinatorics from local college and ranked first in the class there


Awards

  • Got merit-based scholarship from Govt. of Maharashtra
  • Ranked 2nd from state in a nation math and science wide exam, organized by Govt. of India
  • Scholar of Maharashtra Talent Search Exam
  • Awarded Gold medal in a state wide science competition(which included independent action research project)
  • Won several quizzes (of which I was the captain), best performance was in a Astronomy Quiz ranked second in the state and was organized by Govt. of India.
  • Ranked 1st in a district wide abacus competition.

Extracurriculars

  • Started a quiz club in school, which has currently 50 members
  • Played cricket till the state level, and won many district tournaments.
  • Tutoring young students since last 2 years (tutored around 40)
  • Completed all levels of playing flute
  • Worked for an huge NGO, which works for environment conservation and raised about $100,000.
  • The editor of a school newspaper
  • Was a ‘young’ photographer for a nationwide newspaper.
  • Started a Math & Science Club in school
  • Started a small club which would organize monthly star gazing programs.

Essays/LORs/Other
As I will be applying the next year, it would be too early about talking about this rightnow

Cost Constraints / Budget
Will need Fin aid from UChicago

I want to just figure out whether I am in the 5% which UChicago accepts

And, what should I do to make my profile more stronger???

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You likely have a chance at Chicago, but it is a highly-selective holistic review college, and is need aware for internationals, so it is basically impossible to know you have a high chance. Accordingly, if you want to go to college somewhere in the US, you should make sure to have a much longer list including some far less selective colleges.

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@NiceUnparticularMan, will my application be strengthened even more if I appear for AP exams, externally? If yes, which APs should I appear for and how many?
Also will transcripts and certification from schoolhouse be really useful?
(UChicago is an official partner of schoolhouse)

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Not without the corresponding coursework

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@skieurope is it not a good idea to kind of self study for APs?
Would appearing for APs without corresponding coursework look odd?
In our curriculum, we have calculus, trigonometry, algebra, etc clubbed under a single name Maths, but it is not orientated towards APs.
So would maths taught in our curriculum not be counted as corresponding coursework?

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It’s not that it looks odd. It just adds no value to admissions. AP exams carry little weight, if any, for admissions. For them, a 3 hour test is not a substitute for 120 hours if classroom instruction.

Whether taking the exams is worthwhile for potential college credit is a different question

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It’s likely too late to register for this year’s AP tests anyways. The deadline is tonight and you’d need to find a testing center since your schools does not offer the tests.

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Same answer as the other poster. Since you have a very high SAT score, I do not think you will need any other US-style standardized testing in order to apply to US colleges, including APs.

In general, I think the best guidance you can get on application credentials will come from seeing if you can find out what sorts of credentials people from your specific school system, ideally your specific school, usually have if admitted to US colleges.

One last general point:

In the US system, many of the most competitive applicants have not yet started seriously specializing, and they have continued to take the highest level of classes available in all of the five core areas in the US (Natural Sciences, Math, English, History/Social Sciences, and Languages).

This is important among other reasons because many highly selective US colleges continue to have some sort of broad “general education” requirement regardless of major. Chicago in particular is well-known for its “core curriculum”:

Colleges like Chicago therefore reasonably want to make sure its students are prepared to thrive in all of these classes, not just the classes in their major.

You have more been specializing already in STEM. US colleges understand this is more common outside the US, but I still think it is one of the reasons why even very highly qualified international applicants do not always do as well as they hoped at highly selective colleges like Chicago.

Fortunately, you have a high ERW score on the SAT, so that might help. Being an editor for a school newspaper might also help. But you might want to think generally about how to persuade Chicago you are not just a STEM person, in fact you are well-prepared for, and enthusiastic about, the wide range of courses Chicago’s core curriculum will require you to take.

And if instead you are not actually enthusiastic about that–you might want to reconsider Chicago. Almost all four-year colleges in the US require some sort of general education, but many are looser and less extensive than Chicago’s. And a few have what they call an open curriculum with no formal requirements, but for admissions purposes that is not much help because those colleges tend to still expect their students to use that opportunity to explore broadly, not focus narrowly from the start.

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Thanks for the detailed response everyone.

Also what should my school have on it’s school profile?
(My school has never participated in US admission process. Is school profile supposed to be on the school website, or is there an option to upload it on common/coalition application?)

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Common App makes available PDF versions of all the forms, including the School Report:

https://membersupport.commonapp.org/s/article/Are-paper-PDF-versions-of-the-application-and-or-recommender-forms-available

Note these were for 2023-24, they should be updating for next cycle.

Anyway, if you open up the School Report PDF (form SR):

https://commonapp.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#d0000000eEna/a/8X0000011Ken/ll9soTdjMLh73NA1QlQ0FR4fZlDcb1LeXjVEh55XY2E

You’ll see starting at the bottom of the first page it starts asking questions about the school.

Sometimes schools already have all that information assembled, and sometimes it is available on their websites, and so sometimes they just attach that profile rather than fill out this form. But my understanding is as long as your counselor fills out this form, that is sufficient.

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Here is one public HS school profile and one private HS school profile.

These are two top notch examples. Many schools don’t show any GPA distribution like Deerfield does. Many US counselors don’t fill out the common app forms and if they do, they leave a lot of it blank. The counselor typically uploads the school profile with the common app.

Your school should have a profile publicly available as well as the course guide/course of studies. I expect this is done less frequently in international HSs.

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Yeah, our feederish HS puts a lot of work into our school profile, because it (rightly) sees it as a marketing document and wants to maximize the value it can provide. It makes a lot of sophisticated use of graphics, tries to make as clear as possible the course progressions, lists all the colleges with recent enrollments . . . .

But none of that is actually required, and I think US colleges will understand if a school that does not normally send kids to US colleges simply fills out the form.

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Maybe on the forms, who knows? Especially for international schools it’s important that admission peeps know course content, progression, and leveling.

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