I’m still very interested in UChicago, so do you guys think it would be a good idea to send my regional counselor an email expressing my interest in a possible gap year since I have not mentioned it since?
Are you internation student ?
@Hoped123 If you’re talking to me, then nope, I’m domestic.
Hmm, as a (government-mandated) gap year student who got in off the waitlist, now I really wonder how this gap year thing affects your chances. From what was said earlier it seems like it could increase your chances, but you could also expect them to have tougher standards since next year’s applicant pool would undoubtedly be more competitive than the last. I’d expect Sanders’ popularity would certainly drive up a lot of exposure to the university name amongst potential applicants.
What happens if I’m an international student and gets offered a gap year? Would they do that?
Damn…I sent in an update two days ago, and it was the first time that my counselor didn’t reply within a few hours. I guess the fact that they’re almost done with the acceptances from the waiting list explains it.
Got off the waitlist last week! I was offered admission to the class of 2020. I’m on a couple of other waitlists (including some Ivies) but for now, I happily sent a deposit to UChicago. Good luck to everyone still on the waitlist and feel free to message me with any questions.
@jinpachi Congratulations! 
Would you mind posting your stats?
@whoo74 Looking through the old posts, I think jinpachi’s ACT score is 36/36/36/36.
@jinpachi Which Ivies are you waitlisted at, and are you in communication with one of those schools? Looking at your stats, I think you have a great chance at some of them. Also, what did you put down as your intended major?
Good luck!
Boy UofC really raised their bar for admission, with a 36 ACT, it was a sure thing in the past, now they put some one on the waitlist. Back in the 2010, it was around 34.
I know a couple of kids personally with 36s that got flat out rejected this year.
Well were they able to raise somebody from the dead and walk on water? I think I read somewhere that Universities are only interested in kids who have the potential to become prophets and messiahs. You know the true leaders 
My S found out a 36 is not a sure thing at any of the top schools. He was waitlisted at Uchicago, you need a hook to stand out.
Yeah of course it’s not. At the top tier of SAT/ACT scores it’s really your other stuff that matters, especially if you’re Asian. For UChicago that would primarily be the essays. They want to know who you are and whether you would be a good fit for their school, not just know that you’re a high scorer that could go into any of the top schools. Pretty sure this applies to all the top schools since some years ago, though they would have different emphases for different parts of the application.
The SAT is a terrible test anyway. It’s about how well you can pick between ambiguous options (reading), avoid careless mistakes (maths), how pedantic your grammar is (writing MCQ), and how long you can write in 25mins (essay, quality only optional). I’m quite dumbfounded that the test has managed to maintain itself as the standard for so long. Don’t know about the ACT but it doesn’t seem much better.
Looks like nothing came about from this week’s predicted “batch” of students. I think a couple users were right in anticipating the high yield rate for UChicago, which admissions likely anticipates as well, so they leave off with this last batch just in case it’s not necessary. I tried to call my AO but he was out today and the woman on the other end was not able to give any indication as to whether or not they’d access the waitlist.
I got a 31 on my ACT and a couple C’s on my transcript, and I got off the waitlist, so… Stats really aren’t everything to UChicago. I think my essays and activities and personality were way more important to them.
@whoo74 Other people have already mentioned my test scores, but beyond that, my transcript is mostly A’s. I sent in my LOCI and got my offer of admission sometime around a day later.
It’s not the essays, and please all quit saying that your extracurricular were “genuine”…at this level of intellectual competitiveness I refuse to believe that people were disingenuous. DD won scholastic gold and silver keys for her college essays ( submitted them after she applied last fall), had 35 ACT/3.9 GPA and so on so forth…still WL here and a couple others and made it in none of her first choice schools…it’s a crapshoot…and it pains me when I hear: oh, I made it into this college with a couple of Cs or 1900/ 30 stats, and its all because …blahblahblah…let’s all say it’s a lottery…no more merit to you than to her…
@captusica maybe it is a lottery, all I’m saying is that they wouldn’t have let me in with my stats if they didn’t see something that they liked in the rest of my application. just trying to give some hope to future students who feel they don’t measure up stats-wise. a lot of people claim that the only ones who get off the waitlist are the ones with the highest stats and that wasn’t true in my case. I hope you daughter gets off the waitlist, I’m sure she deserves it!
You can say it’s a screwed-up process or that great kids don’t always get in, but it’s clearly not a lottery. The nature of holistic admissions is that there won’t be a single formula that predicts who gets in. So, yes, essays (and/or recs), may make the difference in one case but not in another. Things like where you went to school (and which of your classmates applied) can be decisive for some kids.
It’s got to be incredibly frustrating when it feels like your kid has done everything right and it didn’t pay off, but think about what message you want to leave her with. Denigrating someone else’s success probably isn’t the way to go here.