Decision: Deferred EA then Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1530 (760 Reading, 770 Math); Essay 8/8/7
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36E, 36M, 35R, 36S); Essay 12
SAT II: 800 Molecular Biology, 760 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
Weighted GPA: 4.78
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A; top 5% of grade
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP European History (5), AP US Government (5), AP Biology (5), AP Physics 1 (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Spanish Language, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB, AP Human Geography, Religion classes, Research Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Scholar Finalist, some AP Scholar Award (can’t remember which), Girls Nation Delegate
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Research at local university, Student Senate (basically our form of student government), Varsity Golf (Captain), Key Club (Service Coordinator), Mock Trial (Varsity Attorney), NHS, Yearbook staff, Peer mentoring/international student mentoring/retreat leader
Job/Work Experience: I tutored some kids in my neighborhood throughout the summers. Nothing really official.
Volunteer/Community service: Campaign Fellow for the Hillary for Ohio Campaign and Ted Strickland Gubernatorial Campaign, my parish’s Vacation Bible School
Summer Activities: Research, tutoring; I attended both Girls State and Girls Nation in Washington D.C. from which I was chosen to be one of seven counselors at the 2019 session of Girls Nation.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9/10; For my Common App essay, I compared how my writing style has changed overtime to my love of discovery in my research. My Why UChicago Essay was my favorite essay to write. I modeled it around saying UChicago is where contradiction finds coexistence and how that plays into my dual interests in various aspects of life. For my Uncommon essay, I did the one about something that is under discussed. I talked about how women’s and men’s dress shirts have buttons on opposite sides; I then opened into a broader discussion about gender inequality.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: From my freshman and AP Biology teacher, 9/10. She has had such an influence on my life and I am extremely close to her and her entire family. She cultivated my love for science and I put a lot of work into her class. Just knowing her, I imagine the letter was a bit dry, but quite sincere.
Teacher Rec #2: From my freshman US History teacher and AP US Government teacher, 10/10. Another teacher who has had a tremendous impact on my life. Outside of class, we discuss politics a lot and once we had a very long conversation about feminism, specifically intersectional feminism. He had never heard of it before so I taught him all about it and he said that he was definitely going to put that in my rec. Probably more personal than the first recommendation, more anecdotal, but still very sincere.
Counselor Rec: 10/10. I spend almost any free time I have in her office. Again, a very important teacher in my life. She’s gotten to know me really well and I think she really worked to convey my multidimensional interests in policy and science in an interesting way.
Additional Rec: 8/10, from the professor whose lab I worked in over the summer. He’s a respected guy in the structural biology field and worked hard to get to know me. All the other grad students and lab managers pitched in to help him write it, so there were multiple perspectives of my work. The letter basically explained what work I did, why it is important, and why my research should make them want to accept me. I also sent my research abstract from the paper I wrote. The project has been accepted for presentation at some research conferences.
Interview: A great interview! It was with an immigration lawyer and we talked a lot about our views on politics, religion, and philosophy. It was mostly just us having an intellectual discussion about our ideas lol. He was super chill and at the end he said he was recommending me for admission!
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Double major in Biology and Public Policy.
State (if domestic applicant): OH
School Type: Private Parochial
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A.
Reflection:
Strengths: Test scores, research, recommendations
Weaknesses: ECs are a bit run of the mill
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted: I made it really clear how much UChicago meant to me to the Admissions Office throughout the entire process. I had been going to admission events since my sophomore year and made sure that my regional admissions counselor was familiar with me. I made sure to send him emails and stuff whenever relevant, too.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted: Ohio State University Honors College, Case Western Reserve, Georgetown University
General Comments: I was crying and shaking too much to write this after I opened the acceptance thing two days ago, so I’m just now getting around to writing this haha. So excited!!