<p>-Born in Poland and have lived in U.S. for 12 years...U.S. Citizen... </p>
<p>-GPA: 4.292 (W) ... 3.91 (UW)
...based on strenuous schedule with many Honors classes.</p>
<p>-Rank: 3/~150</p>
<p>-ACT Composite: 31</p>
<p>-ACT Writing: 11/12</p>
<p>-ACT English/Writing: 34</p>
<p>-AP:
School only has 4 classes available, all of which I have taken or am taking.
I received a 5 on the US History test as a junior and am currently taking Physics B, Calculus AB, and English Literature.</p>
<p>-EC's:
Not very many to list, but I have written for my school's newspaper for 3 years and have been the editor for 1 year.
I have played on the soccer team for 2 years and on the tennis team for 1 year.
I have several hours of volunteer work at the local rehabilitation hospital.</p>
<p>-P.S.
I'll have great REC's from my teachers and counselor and am capable of writing decent essays...</p>
<p>ANY input at all will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!</p>
<p>hi, since i'm the only one to respond so far, let me break the bad news to you: no. a one dimensional student like yourself is useless to a school that is seeking to build a well rounded class. there are a million kids with your stats. it's what you do with other portions of your life that make you an interesting person to adcoms. you will not only get the boot from uchi, but from a lot of of other selective colleges. you state that you have several hours of volunteer work at a rehab hospital. what does that mean? several hours in the past year or several hours in per week? tell uchi that you spent most of your time taking care of your sick grandma, that's why you did nothing with your life after school. come up with something that will explain why you have no ec's.</p>
<p>actually, i think you have a plenty good chance at uchicago, they admit about 40% and unlike the person above, i think you do have ec's, especially if you're dedicated to them</p>
<p>sljaeger: you're right, uchi does admit a large percentage of their applicants so i guess this poster has a better chance at uchi than at, say, brown.</p>
<p>Honestly speaking, I never had an opportunity to participate in very many extracurricular activities within my high school career, as few are actually offered here. For instance, I am a terrific chess player and have participated in many competitions while in grade school. Unfortunately, there is no chess club at my high school, and it would not be practical to form one, as there certainly would not be too many eager participants. I have always been a trivia-geek and have, similarily, taken advantage of this while in grade school. The "scholastic bowl" club was eliminated, thus, I was never able to take advantage of this either. We really do not have any 'social clubs' that would attract students from varying backgrounds and nationalities, i.e. a Polish student club. We have had a major issue within the school newspaper as of late with a lack of articles being submitted by our uncommitted writers. Therefore, we have resorted to releasing the issues bi-monthly due to such an utter lack of dedication from the members. What clubs are available seemingly have been formed in order to earn insignificant monetary profits for the school by means of selling candy bars as fundraisers. It is unfortunate that my high school's social scene is this extremely laid-back, as the administration's concerns are seemingly concentrated on keeping the school off of the "watch-list" as opposed to employing its funds towards enhancing the school's social character. Still, I had never anticipated that this would prove to be detrimental towards my chances at being admitted to such a university.</p>
<p>Your class rank is excellent, your ACT is ok, and you appear to be literate and thoughtful. So that is to the good. The negative in your application is that you don't seem to have taken the initiative in your activities. However - you come across as leaning more toward scholarly interests than 24/7 activities... if reading and learning in on your own is important to you, let this come across in your application and interview. 'Scholar' is not a dirty word at the University.</p>
<p>wow, you have an answer (excuse) for everything. what about helping blind people cross the street? how about volunteering at the food co-op? what about those types of ec's? you're young, so it's ok to be naive about not thinking ec's were important, but frankly, you're screwed. there are a ton of other applicants with the same stats you have who play a couple of sports in high school. what makes you so different? the fact is, uchi doesn't want someone who places a premium on "reading and learning on your own." They are trying to build a class as much as anything else. you need to fluff up your ec's, make them more impressive than they actually are. hopefully you are economically distressed so that you may be able to squeeze in a an urm. i wish you well, but you have to bulk up your resume.</p>
<p>Well, at least now I am aware of what to expect. I will write the essays to the best of my abilities and schedule an interview in which I will try to explain my position under such circumstances. Again, thanks to everyone for your input.</p>
<p>I know quite a few ppl who went to UC with worse stats than you...however none of them are a decent essay writer. Exceptional i would say :) So you need an exceptional essay as well.</p>
<p>you definitely have chance of getting admitted.
you just need to write a pretty good essay that can represent yourself well and make the admission officers to like you.</p>
<p>I am a first year myself, and my stat last year was about same as yours. and I got in.</p>
<p>but you can never be sure about the admissions.
Last year, I got the rejection letter from Rice, and I thought 'okay, UC is not gonna accept me either' but surprisingly I got in.</p>
<p>Rice and UC are very comparable schools by the way.</p>