<p>I’m definitely of the mindset that UChicago looks at more than just test scores. In fact, I think the UChicago supplement is a fantastic place to showcase your quirkiness. A lot of the other schools go with the standard essays that really don’t tap into your creative thought process. Why would the University of Chicago students and faculty members come up with such awesome essays for applicants if it wasn’t a major part of the decision process?</p>
<p>And Bird rock, I don’t mean to target you by saying the following because I know many others have said similar things and will say them again when Regular Decision responses roll around, but I don’t think any of us are really qualified to make the claim that UChicago is all about an applicant’s stats. I’ve worked in the admissions office for 2.5 years now and I still cannot quite put my finger on this whole process. We don’t have the applications in front of us, so we don’t know whether or not that girl with the perfect SAT had a killer essay or just a so-so one. I know that an awesome essay and a good impression in an interview can turn a not-so-impressive test taker into a really competitive applicant. I also know that a stellar student with a perfect SAT can be denied. I’ve heard it happen before. What were they missing? I don’t have any idea. And that’s the thing- unless you are an admissions counselor at the University of Chicago, you can’t say for sure. The same goes for any other school. Of course we can generalize and say that a student at the top of their class with good test scores, good recs and essay, and extracurricular involvement will be a competitive applicant, but we cannot say for sure whether or not they will be admitted. We don’t know how long their application was deliberated over, or if ten more points on the SAT or one more edit on the essay would have made the difference. I especially caution you guys from thinking a great SAT is the thing to get you into a college. If you went by the numbers of admitted students in past years, my SAT scores were higher than the middle 50% range at all of the Ivies when I applied in 2007. I’m sure you guys would just love to hear my long list of activities and awards but I’ll spare you the gory details. In short, I still got denied to many of the schools I applied to. Like embeezy so aptly put it, you are “more than numbers, a spreadsheet of facts, a green word and a handful of bulleted lists.” So I really do think that universities, especially the University of Chicago, are looking for more than a great exam score. Something about me didn’t fit in at those schools and I am sooo glad they realized it before I went there and was miserable.</p>
<p>Hi guys! Sorry to hijack my own thread back for me, but…
Anyway, I’m still around if anyone has questions about UChicago or the admissions process for an RD candidate. I won’t be able to discuss the specifics of your decision with you if you’ve received one, but I am still around to answer any questions regarding admissions and student life you might have.</p>
<p>If someone was deferred, is it okay to send a new essay and supplement materials for the RD round? </p>
<p>BTW - thanks for all the information you have provided. It has been very helpful. Although my son is disappointed about being deferred, he is happy to have another chance at getting accepted. Do you know what % of deferred students are accepted in the RD round?</p>
<p>Sorry for the hijack before :(. However, I have a few questions (sorry for so many!). First, to build off MomLive’s question, if we can send in replacement essays, do we have to send those essays by Jan 1st? </p>
<p>Second, I was just wondering why you send music/art supplements to faculty for evaluation while you entrust Admission Officers to sufficiently evaluate research papers (if the research was independently done, that is) as I’m still confused on that point. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I hope this hasn’t been asked already, but I’m a freshman at another university currently. I’m not liking it so much, and I’m planning on applying to UChicago as a transfer student. However, the website only mentions that UChicago is committed to enrolling 50 transfer students for fall 2009. It’s already almost 2010, so I was wondering if they simply have not gotten around to changing the information for this year’s transfer applicants. Hopefully UChicago will still be accepting transfer students for fall 2010! Please tell me this is true…</p>
<p>Yes Grace,
I would love to get a brief recommendation from you on what is the best way to move forward with a deferral. Some recommend really bothering the admission staff with extra submissions but I am not sure if that is the right approach. of course I also have worked on my other applications and am submitting them as well, but how do I let U of C know I am still very interested and is there any way to improve my application at this point?</p>
<p>@musictomyears
My advice is not to think about that and just continue to do the amazing work you’ve done all through high school. Don’t let yourself slide, even though it’s tempting. That being said, it would take a pretty large drop. It’s very rare for admissions to be rescinded solely based on grades. Keep up the good work, and you have nothing to be worried about.</p>
<p>@MMouse
This is the blog post addressed to deferred students that was put up this time last year. </p>
<p>I urge all of you deferred applicants not to overdo it. Contact your regional counselor with any questions about new essays and supplements. The key phrase here is “express interest”. If you have reservations about sending that ode you wrote or that big bouquet of flowers, I’d probably default to no. Good luck to all of you, and hope to see you next fall!</p>
<p>@ deferred students: Thanks to KMad for putting up the blog post from last year; we’re updating the post currently with some minor edits, and should have revised information up for deferred students sometime today. I will post a link to the revised information once it is available.</p>
<p>@ musictomyears: Every year we get a lot of worry from students worried about getting their admission rescinded. Honestly, while we like to keep the idea out there to make sure people keep their grades up, it very rarely happens; as long as you keep your grades and lifestyle similar to how you presented them in your initial application, you will be fine. A few extra Bs, even a C are not going to put you in this territory. Becoming a convicted felon, needing to go to the hospital from alcohol poisoning on a prospective student overnight, and a straight D and F report card that keeps you from graduating from high school will. Don’t sweat it too much, do as well as you have been doing in high school for your last couple of months, don’t commit arson, etc etc, and you are going to be just fine.</p>
<p>In prior years, Chicago asks students to self-report midyear grades in mid-January. They also encouraged students to drop a line at that time with any updates. Not sure if that will change this year.</p>
<p>I will add that even if you are already accepted, if you have any exciting updates, include them with your mid-year grades. You never know what may trigger scholarship consideration!</p>
<p>Hello,
My question is about grades, my situation is that I am taking a class at a community college, and according to their grading scale, I have a B, however, I believe that when it transfers to my high school transcript it may be a C(I won’t be sure until monday, it’s borderline), because of the difference in grading scales(HS-7 point, CC-10 point). If I were to send the transcript from the community college, would the admissions committee consider my grade for that class a B or a C? I’m really hoping it will be a B, but just in case.
Thank you.</p>
<p>UChicagoPSAC: Sorry to bother you with this, but I was accepted to U Chicago EA and was wondering , is it possible to still submit a supplmentary music CD (to increase my admittedly miniscule chance at some sort of merit scholarship)?</p>
<p>@Ivan: while you are by no means barred from sending in a music supplement, because you have already been admitted, it is highly unlikely that it will be a priority for us to have evaluated, as we’re quite busy going through RD applications. You are welcome to update us with any new awards or accomplishments you might have in music on your midyear report, though, and this will definitely be seen!</p>
<p>Is it acceptable to use an old essay topic for essay option 5? I’ve been looking through some of the previous topics, and one of them really sticks out to me. </p>
<p>Chicago’s instructions say it accepts the Common App Arts Supplement but the “Future Plans” section of my Common App account doesn’t say it does. Do I need to submit physical materials via mail or will Chicago still receive my online Arts Supplement?</p>
<p>Some people on CC are receiving Christmas Cards from their Regional Reps. Does everybody who was admitted get one? I confess that I’m anxiously waiting for mine.</p>
