OFFICIAL University of Chicago EA Decisions - Class of 2014

phuriku · January 14, 2010, 5:11pm

Agreed. I would call the admissions office to inquire.

The_Government · January 14, 2010, 5:35pm

WaldoEmerson looks like a ■■■■■.

A poor Hispanic guy with a perfect ACT score, almost-perfect SAT/SAT II scores, and a perfect GPA is a near-unbelievable applicant.

Said applicant being rejected from UChicago? Now THAT is utterly unbelievable.

(And look at his post count…)

Starbuck11 · January 14, 2010, 8:20pm

WaldoEmerson is clearly messing around.

phuriku · January 14, 2010, 8:27pm

If you’ve been around the forum for years, you’ll have noticed that more than a few perfect scorers on the SAT have been rejected from Chicago, even when its acceptance rate was above 30%. They’re rare, but they do indeed exist (although I’d expect them to exist more on O’Neill’s terms than on Nondorf’s).

Robespierre21 · January 14, 2010, 11:13pm

Decision: Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT I (by section): M: 710, CR:690, W: 740
[] SAT IIs: I didn’t send my scores since they are not required
[] GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: UW: 95.25, W: 100.15
[] Rank: 13/703
[] ACT: 32
[] APs (including this year’s): Biology, Calculus AB, Chemistry, English Language, English Literature, European History, Macroeconomics, U.S Government and Politics, and U.S History.
[] IBs (including this year’s): None
[] Senior Year Courseload: Wind Ensemble, Health, P.E, AP Gov’t, AP Calc, AP Lit, AP Macro, and Honors Physics.
[] Number of Apps from Your School: I was the only one who applied EA and I only know one student applying RD (people from my school aren’t keen on leaving the east coast).
[] Other stats (AIME, AMC, etc.): None.

[/ul]Subjective:[list]
[] ECs listed on app: Jazz Band, Jazz Ensemble, Marching Band, Math Club, Quiz Bowl, National Honor Society (Treasurer), Physics Master Class, Physics Olympics, and Foreign Language Honor Society (President).
[] Awards listed on app:AP Scholar with Distinction, Selected for SCMEA/NYSCAME (All-County Band), Honor Roll throughout high school, Selected for NYSBDA (All-State Honor Band), Inducted into the National Honor Society, and Scored in the A+ range on the highest level NYSSMA solo two years in a row.
[] Job/Work Experience: Five-hundred hours volunteering at a food pantry, fourteen hours of highway cleaning, and two years of Sunday School teaching.
[] Common App Essay: I wrote about the influence of my AP Language teacher.
[] Why Chicago Essay: I discussed the University’s nerdy environment and what makes Chicago’s physics and French program great (I emphasized the physics research opportunities that UChicago offers and referenced specific French courses that I hope to take, etc…).
[] Optional Favorite Things Essay: I wrote about The Canterbury Tales, Le fabuleux destin d’Am

tehV747 · January 18, 2010, 9:15pm

Deffered yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

daaznkigga627 · January 20, 2010, 10:49am

Decision: Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT I (by section): 2020, Math: 710, Critical Reading: 700, Writing: 610 (Superscore)
[] SAT IIs: Math IIC: 730, US History: 770, Chemistry: 710
[]GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: 3.98 unweighted
[]Rank: 4/612 weighted
[] ACT: 34 (34 English, 36 Reading, 33 Math, 32 Science, 6 writing)
[]APs (including this year’s): US History: 5, Chemistry: 4, English Language: 4, Computer Science A: 3
[] IBs (including this year’s:
[] Senior Yr Courseload: AP Spanish, AP Calc AB, Orchestra, AP English, AP Economics, Internship,
[] Number of Apps from Your School: I think there were 2 U Chicago applicants from my school (including me)
[]Other stats (Awards, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, Commended Scholar.

[/ul]

Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: Darfur Fundraiser, Volunteering, Track and Field, Orchestra, Student Leadership, Model UN, Boys State, Boys Nation
[] Job/Work Experience: At some local charities and tutoring
[]Essays (subject and responses):
Common App: Why I got interested in fundraising for Darfur
Why U Chicago: Talked about their Human Rights Program
U Chicago Essay: Talked about how I once pretended my dog at my homework to get out of doing an assignment in 3rd grade and how I felt really guilty about it afterwards.
Optional Essay: Wrote about my favorite things in a narrative format
[] Teacher Recs: Social Studies Teacher, 10th grade math teacher (U Chicago alum)
[] Counselor Rec: I thought it was good.
[] Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): At a Starbucks with a local alum, 2009 Grad. It went really well, we really clicked and I feel like he wrote a good interview report which helped me.
[li] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.):[/li]
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: Midwest
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Upper-middle class public high school
[] Ethnicity: Asian-American
[]Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: $60,000-$80,000
[]Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
[] Strengths: Fundraising, interview, Boys State/Boys Nation
[]Weaknesses: ACT writing, some of the essays were weak
[li]Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Because I got lucky =D[/li]
[/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I feel really blessed and honored to be a part of the U Chicago Class of 2014!

momo123 · January 23, 2010, 3:21pm

Decision: Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT I (by section): M:700 CR:730 W:720
[] SAT IIs: 35
[] GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: UW:3.9
[] Rank: 17/493
[] ACT: 35
[] APs (including this year’s): 9
[] Senior Yr Courseload: AP Stats, AP Euro, AP Chem, AP Physics, AP Government
[] Number of Apps from Your School: not sure
[li] Other stats (Awards, etc.):[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: fbla, amnesty international, volunteer work, basketball
[] Job/Work Experience: none
[] Essays (subject and responses): About my basketball coach
[] Teacher Recs: Great
[] Counselor Rec: Great
[] Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): average
[li] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): none[/li]
[/ul]Location/Person:[list]
[] State or Country: VA
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Competitive
[] Ethnicity: Indian
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket: 100k+
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
[] Strengths: Scores, GPA
[] Weaknesses: EC’s
[*] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I think my essays stood out

lavalamp306 · March 13, 2010, 12:32am

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:[ul]
[] SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take…
[] ACT: 34 Composite (twice); Superscored 36
[] SAT II (if submitted): 800 Math II, 760 US History, 720 Physics
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 16/1100 (top 2%)
[] AP (place score in parenthesis): 5’s in Euro, US History, Comp Sci A, and Eng Lang & Comp. Taking 6 more tests this year
[] IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
[] Senior Year Course Load: All AP’s, but taking regular English
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NSHSS Member, IMEA All State (Violin), AP Scholar w/Distinction… nothing too special
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Orchestra (1st Violin Section Leader), Violin, Urban Arts Club (Recruiter/Promoter), Movie Production Club (founder/head Editor).
[] Job/Work Experience: Math Tutoring, Working at a grocery store
[] Volunteer/Community service: Public Library work, volunteering at soup kitchen
[] Essays: common app essay was very good, best I have written. U Chicago was one was generic (this proly killed me)
[] Teacher Recommendation: pretty good
[] Counselor Rec: didn’t read, but proly generic
[] Additional Rec: n/a
[] Interview: Didn’t sign up for one
[/ul]Other[ul]
[] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[] Intended Major: Finance
[] State (if domestic applicant): IL
[] Country (if international applicant): USA
[] School Type: Public
[] Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: $100,000+
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): None, if anything anti-hooks for being affluent and asian
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[] Strengths: Test scores, essays, recommendations
[] Weaknesses: Lack of interview, somewhat generic EC’s, Grades are a little inconsistent
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: From my school, the acceptances were very random. There were people with better GPAs rejected, while kids below the top 5% got in. I’m guessing that they put a lot of weight on the essays. [/li][/ul]**General Comments: **Start your college search in the summer. Stay organized and also make sure you have a clear idea of what the schools are looking for. If your time and money are going to be invested in completing these apps, you might as well make it the best damn application you can. Also once you send in your applications stop worrying and focus on the other things in your life. Being paranoid and worrisome will not affect your decision. You will know your decision in time, so there’s no use in fretting over it.

Nanquanmikey · March 15, 2010, 7:14pm

Decision: Accepted OR

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT I (by section): 800 CR, 710 M, 730 W = 2240
[] SAT IIs: 710 Chemistry, 750 Math II, 790 Spanish Reading
[] GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: 4.0
[] Rank: 1 of 900
[] ACT: N/A
[] APs (including this year’s): American Gov’t/Politics, Spanish, Calculus BC, European History, English Literature
[] IBs (including this year’s):
[] Senior Yr Courseload: Last three APs mentioned above, Spanish VI, Anatomy, electives
[] Number of Apps from Your School: 2
[] Other stats (Awards, etc.): 98% percentile on Level 5 Nat’l Spanish Exam, National Merit Commended, school departmental awards, community service awards

[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: Newspaper (Editor-in-Chief), community service club (president), NHS (president), two singing groups in school, school musicals
[] Job/Work Experience: Paper boy since 5th grade; worked in a law office for a few months; volunteered to teach ESL during the summer
[] Essays (subject and responses): How did you get caught? - Wrote about covering up a huge printing issue with our school newspaper.
[] Teacher Recs: Didn’t read them, but I was very close to the teachers so I know they were good
[] Counselor Rec: Same as teachers
[] Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): In Chicago with an admission counselor. Really informative. They are extremely nice at their admissions office.
[li] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Really interested in international development. Traveled to West Africa during spring break to help build a school with the organization buildOn.[/li]
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: Pennsylvania
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Large public school with extremely diverse student body in every sense of the word. Our average SAT scores are below national/state average given the nature of our school, but the average scores of our honors students are well above
[] Ethnicity: White
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: Middle class
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My high school is very much a microcosm of the world and, as I’m interested in international studies, I really took advantage of it
[] Strengths: I am genuinely interested in everything I am involved with
[] Weaknesses:
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I’m very passionate about my interests and have spent a lot of time working on them[/li]
[/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: Congratulations to everyone accepted! Unfortunately, I won’t be attending in the fall as they gave me a significantly smaller financial aid package compared with other schools. I really love the university, though. My one piece of advice for younger students is that you do what you actually like, not what you think college’s will like. It’ll make you happier and actually help you in admissions!

WorriedJunior10 · March 16, 2010, 12:59pm

Decision: Deferred

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT I (by section): 730 CR, 720 M = 1450. 800 on W (not counted) yields a 2250.
[] SAT IIs: 740 MathI, 690 US History
[] GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: 3.723
[] Rank: 51/189
[] APs (including this year’s): APUSH: 5, AP Lang: 5, AP Chem: 3, AP Macroeconomics: Expecting 5, AP Gov: Expecting 5, AP Physics: Expecting 3 or a miraculous 4, AP Cal AB: Expecting 5, AP Lit: Expecting 4 or 5
[] IBs (including this year’s:
[] Senior Yr Courseload: Business Information Systems, AP Literature, Advanced Health Science, AP Cal, Art, AP Eco/Gov, AP Physics
[] Number of Apps from Your School: 10, all deferred. Mine was the lowest ranking of them all.

[/ul][ b]Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: Eagle Scout Award, Black Belt, First Place Gold Key Scholastic Writing Award in Journalism, a few math/science competitions, few art competitions
[] Job/Work Experience: Student Researcher, Rice University Dep’t of Civil and Environ. Engineering: Effect of biofilm on nickel deposits of heat exchanger on International Space Shuttle. (Collaborative project with NASA.)
[] Essays (subject and responses): Common App Essay about the movie Blow’s effect on my artistic perspective, Why Chicago essay was brilliant, Favorites essay about 1960s Buddhist Crisis and its effect on my perception of society, Caught essay was brilliant too. I did very well on my essays. Writing is my forte. (After getting deferred, I sent in another essay that was unbelievably amazing/brilliant/passionate/lovely. I also sent in a Letter of Continued Interest.)
[] Teacher Recs: Physics teacher rec was horrendous. APUSH teacher rec was glowing. (AP MacroEconomics teacher sent in a rec letter after I got deferred. It was the most glowing rec of them all.)
[] Counselor Rec: Average.
[] Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): Decided against it for reasons I can’t remember.
[li] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): None.[/li]
[/ul][ b]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: TX
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): Best public school in Houston, ranked in top 40 of the nation. Sends top quarter of its students to the Top 25-30 universities. Many go to the HSYPM.
[] Ethnicity: Indian American (as in Asian)
[] Gender: Male
[] Income Bracket: 130K+
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
[] Strengths: Writing. I attuned my essays to the personality of UChicago but also made them entirely accord to my personality. My SAT wasn’t too bad either.
[] Weaknesses: Rank and GPA.
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: Rank and GPA.[/li]
[/ul]Other Factors:
**General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc: I really wish somebody had told me how important grades would be freshman year. I was ignorant. **

dumdeedumdum · April 20, 2010, 2:12pm

Decision: Accepted

Stats:[ul]
[] SAT I (by section): 800 Reading 700 Math 770 Writing
[] SAT IIs: 780 MathII (<– I’m really not good at math so if I can do it you can do it! I was surprised at my score but basically I just used a review book :Db) 770 Biology M 760 Literature 800 U.S. History
[] GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: Not really sure lol. Weighted is around 4.13 I think? Unweighted probably a little less than 4.0
[] Rank: We don’t rank
[] ACT: 33 w/ and w/o writing
[] APs (including this year’s): APUSH 5, APEuro 5, APEnvSci 5, APBio 5, I didn’t do so hot on my calculus BC exam hahahaha and I think I left it out on my application hee. Not taken: AP Comp Sci A, AP Stats, AP Psych, AP Gov (not going to take that), AP Lit & Comp
[] IBs (including this year’s: None
[] Senior Yr Courseload: AP Psych, Advanced Topics in Comp Sci, AP Gov / Gym, Multivariable Calculus, AP Lit & Comp, AP Stats, AP Comp Sci A
[li] Number of Apps from Your School: idk >>[/li]
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[] ECs listed on app: Academic Quiz Team, online volunteering, co-pres of a computer club, pres of charity club, member of a bunch of clubs, talked about organizing an event for NHS
[] Job/Work Experience: piano teacher
[] Essays (subject and responses): Common App essay on my AP Bio class that made me feel more confident etc., tried to be funny (most likely failed… :P), How did you get caught? essay on studying in my bathroom late at night and getting caught by my parents, why chicago essay was stuff that I learned from my visit + tried to be funny, optional essay about my favorite stuff: favorite art was a t-shirt on Threadless that I wrote about, Catcher in the Rye, etc. Tried to show my personality through my essays
[] Teacher Recs: Didn’t read mine; I won awards in both of the classes of the teachers I asked recs from so that might have helped; one of the teachers I’m pretty close to and since i got accepted they probably weren’t terrible?
[] Counselor Rec: Probably nothing too exciting!
[] Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): It was pretty relaxed and we talked for a very long time about Chicago and my essay and it was pretty casual.
[li] Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): I don’t know? XD[/li]
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[] State or Country: USA
[] School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): public, very competitive, lots of people who are friggin’ smart.
[] Ethnicity: Asian, baby~
[] Gender: F
[] Income Bracket: <65000
[] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Ah am awesome
[] Strengths: test scores, essays
[] Weaknesses: grades? I dropped down in math my freshman year but I recovered and now I’m taking Multivariable Calc so I guess it was okay…
[li] Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I had fun writing my essays and I had things to talk about on my why chicago essay that wasn’t just pulled from their website. I really wanted to go there! XD I think my personality probably managed to show through on the essays, too.[/li]
[/ul]Other Factors:
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations,etc:
Don’t write what you think the college will want - write what you want to write, even if the question is about your favorite work of art and the only thing you can think of is a t-shirt rather than the Mona Lisa. That way you’ll know if the school really likes YOU and wants people like you. Also, stay organized! It gets really easy to get confused about what you’ve submitted and what you haven’t when there are like 2000000 different forms to submit to each school plus financial aid. Do your best!

machiavellismile · April 20, 2010, 6:49pm

Decision: Accepted
(with merit!! )

Stats:

<pre><code>* SAT I (by section): 800 Reading 740 Math 710 Writing

SAT IIs: 690 US History, 710 French, 730 Literature
GPA, Unweighted and Weighted: 4.0/4.98
Rank: 2
ACT: 34
APs (including this year’s): Eng Lang and Comp: 4 (freshman year)
IBs (including this year’s): French SL 7, History Americas HL 7, Math SL 6, English A1 HL 6, Latin SL 6, Philosophy SL 6, Philosophy HL 6, Environmental Systems SL 6, TOK B, EE B
Senior Yr Courseload: Mentoring Latin III, IB Latin VI, IB French VI, Band, Bridge American Lit, Bridge Philosophy, Honors World Civilizations, IB Chemistry, AP Government
Number of Apps from Your School: 4 (all of whom were accepted, two with merit aid, one early!!! This was surprising because there has only ever been one person from our school to apply and to go to Chicago before)
</code></pre>

Subjective:

<pre><code>* ECs listed on app: Spring Musicals (lead), Scholastic Bowl, Forensics, Latin Club, Girl Scouts, writing in general, Marching Band, Concert Band

Job/Work Experience: Tutor for pay
Essays (subject and responses): What have you grown out of - talked about how I’ve grown out of high school, basically; favorite things - Chuck, the TV show; why Chicago - very down to Earth, honest, related Core to IB; commonapp - talked about cincinnati fire kites and my love of learning
Teacher Recs: They were pretty good; one of them was absolutely great. Both were from language teachers though.
Counselor Rec: Nothing much to look at, I’d think.
Interview (feel, interviewer and general location): Didn’t have one.
Hook (TASP, RSI, Research, etc.): Don’t think I have one.
</code></pre>

Location/Person:

<pre><code>* State or Country: USA (VA)

School Type, Average Stats of School (if available): public school, not very competitive in general (we’ve had one Ivy acceptance in the history of the school, and that was Cornell), some really bright kids come out of here though
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Don’t have one.
Strengths: test scores, essays probably.
Weaknesses: Little community service, no/few national or state level honors really
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/denied: I think I somehow showed them how much I wanted it, and how much of a fit I am.
</code></pre>

OFFICIAL University of Chicago EA Decisions - Class of 2014

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