What are my chances at U. Chicago?

Colleges & Universities University of Chicago
1

<p>Background: I am a Chinese applicant.</p>

<p>Classes:</p>

<p>9th grade:
LA 9 Honors
Integrated Math III H
Latin 1
P.E.
World History H
Marine Biology (this is normally a 10th grade science class)</p>

<p>10th grade:
AP European History
LA 10 Honors
Pre-calculus H
Latin 2
P.E./Health
Chemistry H (normally a class for juniors only)</p>

<p>11th grade:
Marketing (1 semester)
Latin 3
AP Chemistry
AP Calculus AB
AP Eng Lang/Comp
AP US History</p>

<p>12th grade:
Physics H (equivalent to an AP class)
AP Latin Literature
AP American Govt.
AP Eng Lit
AP Statistics
Drawing and Painting, Marketing (to fulfill occ ed and fine arts credit)</p>

<p>SAT V: 680
SAT M: 800
SAT W: 780</p>

<p>SAT Subject Test in US History: 750</p>

<p>AP European History: 5
AP US History: 5
AP Calculus AB: 5
AP Chemistry: 4
AP Eng Lang/Comp: 4</p>

<p>My only work experience is a job from 3:00-5:00 two days a week tutoring 1st-3rd graders on reading.</p>

<p>In 9th grade I got 58 hours of community service, and this year I hope to get about 60 more. </p>

<p>I am involved in only 3 things: math team, Junior Classical League (Latin club, essentially), and Chess Team–</p>

<p>Extracurriculars/Honors</p>

<p>Latin: 10,11,12
2006 State convention: (here are my achievements on “academic contests”)
2nd place Roman life
2nd place mottoes
3rd place grammar
3rd place reading comprehension
1st place certamen (basically team jeopardy, only latin)</p>

<p>National Convention 2006:
6th place certamen
6th place roman life level 2
8th place grammar
9th place reading comprehension
9th place classical art</p>

<p>2007 state convention:
1st place certamen
1st place essay contest
1st place roman life
2nd place derivatives
2nd place mottoes
2nd place reading comprehension
2nd place grammar
2nd place sight latin reading
3rd place vocab</p>

<p>I also got 2 perfects on National Latin Exams in 9th and 10th grade, and I got a gold (39/40 questions) on the Latin Prose test.</p>

<p>I am currently the senior senator for our school’s Latin club.</p>

<p>Chess:
9th grade: Junior Varsity
10th grade: 2nd place regionals, 8th place state
11th grade: 2nd place regionals, 2nd place state. Also we had a regionals speed chess tournament, and we got 2nd. There was also a state chess “pentathlon” and I got 4th individually.
I was also nominated “All Star Board #3” by the regional director.
Throughout the 3 years I have been involved in chess, my rating went from 1046 to 1354, which is actually quite an accomplishment in itself. I was also our school’s “speed chess champion” for 2 years.</p>

<p>Math:
I need to contact someone from my 10th grade team, because I didn’t keep track of my achievements, except being on the 6th place team in the National Association for Testing math contest (I, along with 3 others, represented my state)
11th grade: Math is Cool regionals: 1st place team
fall classic (state): 2nd place team
Math is Cool masters (state): 2nd place team. At Math is Cool Masters I was 4th in state in speed math, yay.
Northwest Math Championship: 3rd place team
6th place in National Assessment of Testing Math Contest in 2006
Mu Alpha Theta ciphering contest: 17th place out of 114.</p>

<p>9th grade: won state-wide essay contest.</p>

<p>I was a member of the National Honor Society in 11th grade, and in 12th grade I plan to be more involved, even though I don’t have an official leadership role. </p>

<p>So, even though I have a lot of achievements, I pretty much have no leadership whatsoever. I was only involved in 3 things too, and that concerns me. I think I can get a great recommendation from one of my math teachers, but I rarely talk to my counselor, and he really knows very little about me. </p>

<p>So I’d like to know from you guys: how much does U Chicago care about leadership/work experience and counselor recommendations?</p>

<p>I’m in love with UChicago right now, and I really love the intellectual atmosphere of the place, even though I haven’t visited it before. I think I could really contribute to the intellectual atmosphere of the university.</p>

<p>How can I improve? What are your biggest tips for U chicago?</p>

<p>I’d really appreciate anyone’s response.</p>

2

<p>A Chinese kid majoring in Classics and Math? A very offbeat combination for a very offbeat school… </p>

<p>If you’re craving a definite, percentage chance of admittance, I’m totally unqualified to give you one but here goes:</p>

<p>68%</p>

<p>There you go. Good luck to you.</p>

3

<p>Though leadership qualities are always good to have, a college, I think, would prefer an honest applicant to one who claims to be the president of a club that has held a grand total of two meetings at which the members ate brownies and gossiped. At the end of the day, the most important EC’s for colleges are the ones that are most important to you. I was very heavily involved in one EC for all of high school and didn’t really have the time or interest to get involved in other things. Chicago was able to see that even though my EC list was woefully short, the activities on there were important to me. </p>

<p>I understand that Latin and math are important to you, and those academic interests will certainly help you as an applicant at Chicago, a school where many students are involved with Latin and many students are involved in math. These awards will definitely help you in the “fit” category.</p>

<p>Your SAT scores and AP suggest you’re a strong student… if your actual (or estimated) class rank falls between 10-15% or higher, that will also help you admissions-wise.</p>

<p>What you should really focus on now is building up your essays. If Chicago is your dream school, make sure your application makes that aspect sing through. Take the three questions-- the Why Chicago, the favorite things, and the uncommon essay itself very seriously, and make sure they convey you.</p>

<p>Talk to your math teacher, if you are close to him or her, about why you want a school like Chicago and what qualities you would like him or her to touch upon in the recommendation. A detailed and strong recommendation from one teacher will probably override general recommendations from others… it’s pretty difficult to get close to your GC, and from what I’ve been told about the process, the primary goal of the GC recommendation is to explain you in context with your peers and your school and to explain any rough patches in your grades.</p>

<p>Anyway, good luck!</p>

4

<p>You have good stats…and a really good chance to get in…write a good essay then u probably have a 90 % chance of getting in…but who knows? I jus came wit the stat like herodotus53 did</p>