<p>I have decent grades gpa around 3.77 taking toughest schedule except average math, but with no EC.</p>
<p>This is due to my dad working 7 days a week 4pm-6am even on holidays to support our family and my mom is also working long hours. Which leads to me taking care of my brother for about 4 hours a day. Some things I do are help him with his homework and get him food to eat. </p>
<p>I was wondering if U of C or any other top schools will accept me because I “Lack” Ec.</p>
<p>Extra Info: I am vietnamese and am first generation college student. My parents make all together 90K+ but due to higher costs we have struggled, an example is needing to borrow my uncle to pay for house tax.</p>
<p>Thanks Again…</p>
<p>bump please</p>
<p>Top schools say they take into account circumstances. But, very rarely do they accept someone with no ECs even if he or she has a valid reason why.</p>
<p>Also, your 3.77 GPA is supbar for top schools.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Can you write well? If you can incorporate that into your essays and really make your point well then it’s possible</p>
<p>Taking care of your brother is a big-time EC. This would be a good topic for a Common App essay. What else do you do with our free time? Do you enjoy reading? If so, UofC will like to hear about that as well.</p>
<p>I devote a lot of time in Basketball and Weight Lifting. Is not being in a hs sport but committing the same amount of time into a sport an ec? Because I lift and
Play basketball as often as I can.</p>
<p>Bump thanks</p>
<p>I think you should go for it, making sure to incorporate that sort of info about your life into your essays. If you could write some phenomenal essays based on your family life, you could have a shot. Realize that getting into top schools can be insanely difficult and is basically a crapshoot, but I’d still go for it.</p>
<p>I will visit UC because I live in Minnesota and was wondering if a visit will help in admissions?</p>
<p>@kenny: Nice to meet u, kenny. You seem to have the same circumstance as mine. (I’m a Vietnamese first generation college student, too.)</p>
<p>Are you applying to UofChicago this fall?</p>
<p>Silverturtle, a 3.77 is NOT subpar. It’s all in the context of what one’s school offers, course difficulty, one’s academic peers and what else one brings to the table. </p>
<p>OP, schools DO take into account that you may have to care for younger sibs – but only if they know. Might be a good topic for an essay, or a mention by the GC who will be writing your rec. At my kids’s schools, the counselors ask about unusual home circumstances, etc. that might reflect on one’s grades or experiences. This would be an example of such circumstances.</p>
<p>Yes, do what CountingDown suggested, write your essays explaining your deficiencies.</p>
<p>ECs are over-rated imho.</p>
<p>Although many top applicants have some great ECs, I don’t believe that having a CC approved EC is the gateway into acceptance. I say this because my ECs were minuscule little things which hardly sound even interesting, furthermore I don’t believed I mentioned a single one outside of the CA. As well as this I don’t have a valid reason for not doing more with my time, at least in the context of the applicant pool. I’m not entirely sure that many people’s particular ECs are given too much weight, with exception of course.
Honestly, I think its the passion that counts. Evidence that you’ve devoted yourself into something and done your best in this area, day in day out for a sizable period of time, whether out of devotion or necessity. This shows the kind of work ethic that colleges expect from their students and are deemed necessary for a student to be entirely successful at whatever institution, including U of C. I hear this time and time again from admissions councilors who shy away from those with multitudes of ECs, instead favoring those who have spent time in a much small number. You look after your brother every day while your mother and father work, I think this is quite noble and more than demonstrative of passion that many universities search for in applicants. You should definitely apply and mention this in an essay or something, though if you do so don’t make it look like you are using it as an excuse for not having ECs.</p>
<p>Of course, I could be wrong and admissions officers really do heavily value the titles found on one’s list of ECs. I suggest you apply, I just don’t believe that not having many, even any ECs, especially under your circumstances will bar you you from admittance.</p>
<p>Just my two cents.</p>
<p>Actually, writing an essay about all of the “failings” in one’s life is the LAST essay I’d suggest anyone write. Do not complain or make excuses in a college essay. Young people have plenty of unique and telling experiences that can help paint a portrait of what one has faced in life. What the OP has learned or gained from caring for a younger sibling is an essay to write, not “it’s my parents’ fault I don’t have ECs because I had to take care of my little brother.” </p>
<p>To the extent one has any issues re: grades, family situations, etc., that is where the GC can step in and include certain information in the rec letter than gives credence to what has taken place and provide colleges with more info that places, for example, a lack of ECs into context.</p>