<p>Lemon: what a sweet comment. Thank you for pointing out that my son is meh. You shall go far with that kind of tact.</p>
<p>I can only go on what I read on the CC EA admit (although I didn’t read every one) and comment that where compared with many of the first generations and URM his stats were better. I never said they were more worthy of admission as I believe in the holistic admissions approach.</p>
<p>My son is outstanding in many ways not elucidated on my post but that’s neither here nor there. In fact, I don’t think we disagree. I didn’t say anything about it being unfair, just unfortunate for my son and those like him who have worked hard and done well sometimes have a tough time getting into top tier colleges because they are unhooked (like atheletes, for instance).</p>
<p>If I may offer my humble opinion, your son does have truly great statistics, but they get thousands of applications just like his. He has a great gpa, great testing, and the general honors and distinctions that someone who has the previously mentioned statistics usually garners. You don’t seem to be bitter about the process which is good, and I don’t think lemon was trying to be snarky or anything but helpful. </p>
<p>Personally, I am a white, middle-class, well-rounded (if I may say so myself), non-hooked, non-recruit accepted EA applicant, with a 3.94/34ACT. I think the reason your son got deferred is because of his “Normal EC’s”. Chicago receives thousands of students that have fantastic statistics like those of your son, to the point where the only thing that can possibly differentiate them is their extracurriculars (and essays but I obviously can’t speculate on the effect your sons had). At least with the people I’ve talked to, fellow EA applicants who are in a similar position as myself and your son, everyone has had something really cool that they’ve done. Not necessarily winning some prestigious competition but they all have some really cool life experience, or something that they really care about and have devoted a lot of their time to. In my opinion, while I think it is important to be well-rounded, it can be somewhat of a curse if that is the vibe that you try to get across, compared to someone with absolute passion in something, it does come off as rather “meh”.</p>
<p>I was not trying to be snarky, but just saying that his stats, from a UChicago standpoint, seem meh. When I said that I was not referring to his sense of humor, his quirkiness, or any other aspect of his personality that makes him who he is. I was going by his stats, and his stats alone. They do come across as meh, even though I am sure that as a person he is much more interesting than he seems on paper.</p>
<p>Also I think Franstar said what I was trying to, except perhaps in a more eloquent manner.</p>
<p>Well… 3 days. The lucky 10% of the ppl here (hopefully me included :D) would be very happy…</p>
<p>Hi @UChicago, would an additional recommendation letter be allowed and possibly help my application?</p>