<p>I agree with momrath; the important thing is not to turn this into a prestige thread; nothing takes place in a vacuum and right now there isn't much to go on except that you're an intl. Chances are if you are accepted at one of the schools you've listed, you'll be accepted by others as well; or, you could get shut out at all of them. My advice? Hang out in their individual CC forums (fora?) come the second week of April and experience the individual hoo-hahs and gnashing of teeth of applicants similar to you.</p>
<p>Chicago definitely is the best school for Economics, and its EA so I recommend you apply that way. Essays are the biggest determining factor in being accepted to Chicago, so make sure you spend time on those. Its really only slightly more selective than JHU, theyre very similar in terms of selectivity but I believe the student profile at Chicago is slightly better (they get fewer applicants, hence the high acceptance rate, disregard the previous poster claiming that Chicago is the least selective school you listed)</p>
<p>Chicago is very self-selective. Their applicant pool is very well-qualified, but the school makes a definite effort to discourage applicants who won't be able to handle the culture of the school. They have gotten off the common app to discourage people from applying without giving much thought, and their essay questions are very odd. One possible topic this year was: "If you were a mathematical function, what kind of function would you be? Would you lie in the x-y plane, or would you get some love from the z-axis as well?" etc.</p>
<p>haha thats awesome Catfish!
but i swear i read somewhere that Chicago is going back to the Common App (by the time i apply which will be for 2008 entry)</p>
<p>? oh and yes im very passionate about Russian history/cutlure/heritage etc...im founder/president of 2 societies on these topics at my school...that would count for something? i dont want them to think: "hmm...seems like some sort of Uncle Joe here..." (im always getting involved in debates with my friends, trying to distill the old stereotypes about Russia etc):D...i guess those 2 are the two things im most passionate about..Economics + Russian related stuff (and they intertwine..ive written articles for magazine related to Russian economy etc).</p>
<p>thanks for your replies CC posters :)</p>