What are my Chances?

<p>What are my chances of getting into University of Chicago (ignoring my test scores)?
As of right now I am in my Junior Year at a Public School in Pittsburgh. I am African American (if that makes a difference). I have a 3.87 GPA. I’m ranked 19 out of 369 students (approximately top fifth percent). By the time I graduate, I predict at least 6 AP courses (2 Junior Year, 4 Senior Year). I have taken a course at a Community College and received an A (English Composition 1). As far as extra-curriculars go, in 9th grade: French Club; in 10th grade: French Club Treasurer and Key Club Member; in 11th Grade: French Club Vice-President, Chemistry Lab Assistant, Key Club, and National Honor Society; in 12th grade (prediction): French Club President, Chemistry Lab Assistant, Key Club, and National Honor Society. I have been a tutor since 9th grade. I’ve been on the High Honor Roll my entire High School Career. I was in a regional Calcu-Solve Math Competition. I was nominated to compete in a national vocabulary bowl. I won 8th place in the Chemistry Olympics (out of 33). I also won 1st place in an African American History Essay Contest. My application essay, I can somewhat guarantee will be outstanding. So what are my chances of getting into University of Chicago and what test scores should I aim for?</p>

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<p>The higher your scores, the better.</p>

<p>You will most likely receive admission, particularly if you submit your application for consideration under the EA (Early Action) cycle.</p>

<p>As for testing, at the 25th and 75th percentiles, Chicago’s SAT scores range from 2040 to 2320, respectively.</p>

<p>[College</a> Search - University of Chicago - Chicago - SAT®, AP®, CLEP®](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>

<p>with harvard in your username, why are you even posting here? ;)</p>

<p>You have the good base for an acceptee, but i’d work on essay topics. In the current admissions game, you need to have a hook… chem could definitely be that. Have you considered intel/science fair/siemens? Get a hook, and you’ll be really well off. Without a hook, who knows? So many amazing people get rejected. And, Chicago is looking for people that fit the Chicago mold (as in, the people who don’t fit a mold). Also try to work on translating yourself onto paper. I think it was my common app main essay that pushed me over the edge. It was like my brain but on paper. Try to capture your uniqueness. That will help you more than GPA or test scores (or honor societies- I’m not in NHS or any kind of honor roll and I got in… with a downward trend in grades as well Yay for Chicago weighting the essays!).</p>

<p>Good luck. I’m sure you have it in you.</p>

<p>@mifune</p>

<p>I don’t think you can add percentiles like that. Someone who scored at the 75th percentile in, say, M may not have also scored in 75th percentile in CR or W. Also, unless they’ve changed it or are planning to change it, they don’t even consider the W score.</p>

<p>According to the official website (<a href=“https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/admissions/classprofile.shtml[/url]”>https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/admissions/classprofile.shtml&lt;/a&gt;), the middle 50% for SAT scores is 1320 - 1530 (with the 75th on an increasing trend and the 25th on a decreasing trend).</p>

<p>Oddly, the College Board lists the scores as 1370 - 1560.</p>

<p>^^^ minus the writing score. a lot of colleges don’t consider it (including chicago)</p>

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<p>It is perfectly acceptable to do so. The 2040 or 2320 is not the average of students’ cumulative scores on the 2400 scale but rather the summative total of the three individual sections at specific percentiles.</p>

<p>Also, Chicago does not presently evaluate the Writing section of the test, but I merely included it to provide more approximate estimates based on today’s scaling.</p>

<p>And yes, score ranges will vary based on the consulted source.</p>

<p>The street I live on is named harvard, by the way.</p>

<p>Are you in the Pittsburgh Public Schools or are you talking about Public Schools in the general Pittsburgh area that aren’t part of PPS (Mt. Lebo, USC, Shaler, etc.)? Because if it’s the former and you don’t go to Allderdice, I don’t think only top 5% will cut it (given that the other schools tend to be pretty uncompetitive and lacking in academic rigor). Other than that, you look like you’d have a reasonable shot with a 2100+ SAT score.</p>

<p>Yes, but the cumulative 75th percentile is not the sum of the individual 75th percentiles. This is only true at the 50th percentile. This is because standard deviations are not linearly additive.</p>

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<p>I agree. Can you elaborate on what you mean, mifune? The way you presented the range seemed to suggest that you think that 25 percent of students has 2320 or higher, which is not necessarily the case given the data that you linked to.</p>

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<p>Please tell me the “521” in your name is not your house number. Because that, combined with the street and city you provided, would mean that have made your address publically available :/</p>

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<p>I know for a fact that 521 is not his house number.</p>

<p>I go to Penn Hills School District and no the 521 is not my house number lol, its my 3 favorite numbers in decreasing order, it would be funny if I did something that idiotic lol. How do you know for a fact that isn’t my house number?</p>

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<p>Sure, your statistical argument is correct and I was not attempting to falsely misrepresent the collective score totals. I was not suggesting that the cumulative scores above and below the 25th percentiles were 2040 and 2320, correspondingly. I was simply providing a gauge of its scores although it clearly does not provide an accurate measure of the collective total at each of the given percentiles simply because bell curves are not linear functions. It is common practice to state the scores as I did simply because the individual section scores are the only data available to us and merely adding them provides a relative, rough, and easy-to-remember estimate of the academic quality of the school. But yes, it is not statistically accurate to suggest that those are the cumulative score totals and I can see how it would surface some misconceptions.</p>

<p>One might be able to rationally come to the conclusion that adding at the 75th percentile is not an accurate reflection of cumulative scores if one looks at those of Yale. It would simply not be true that 25% of the student body has scores of at least 2370. Given that there are only about 1,100 students who score at that level in each given year, it would be illogical to assume that Yale had approximately 40% of them.</p>

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<p>Don’t forget about superscoring. (It does not, though, render your main point invalid.)</p>

<p>Yes, I should have added that as a parenthetical aside somewhere in the bottom paragraph in Post #16. Thanks.</p>

<p>Even with superscoring, it would be unrealistic to assume that Yale’s student body had 25% of its population scoring at or above 2370. (I have always been curious about superscoring statistics and I find it unfortunate that they do not exist.)</p>

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<p>How Chicago!</p>

<p>As a pre-frosh, should I be worried that I don’t understand half this thread?</p>