<p>800 Math, 800 CR, 720 Writing(but I know Chicago doesn't count that). 224 PSAT, likely Merit Scholar. All IB classes, more than I need to each year. My senior year is very rigorous, Chem 3 IB, Physics IB, Calc IB, Comp Sci 2 IB, History of the Americas IB, English IB. Varsity Soccer. I build and wire guitars, amps, and speaker cabs. Worked in a warehouse last summer and interning at a CPA firm this summer. Half Iranian. Very traumatic childhood experience.</p>
<p>The BAD:
4.28 weighted GPA puts me at the top 11th% of my class
Was in Boy Scouts, but cannot make Eagle because of a change in administration</p>
<p>What chance do I have at U Chicago? Any ideas on what would be a match?</p>
<p>u being an URM should definately help. your stats look good, and if you can write movingly about the tramatic experience plus UChicago’s high rates, i say your a match/in given whats there. also a bit more humanitarian ECs couldn’t hurt</p>
<p>Wouldnt Iran be either middle eastern (viewed as white) or asian(viewed as ORM)? im not sure if it is an URM. anyways, you seem like a very strong candidate for U chicago. I would call it a match. I think it is so cool that a school that academic and intellectual can admit so many people, not worrying about how it will look in their rankings.</p>
<p>I forgot to add that when National Merit let me choose 2 schools for them to send recommendations to, I chose Chicago as 1. Would that help acceptance? Im taking Math 2, Chemistry, and Spanish. And, yes, my school is pretty competitive, especially within the top 15%.</p>
<p>Travistag, I think UChicago will know how competitive your school is, if it is that competitive. You have a good chance as long as your writing is good, their essay topics are quirky and can be difficult to answer. Although, by the looks of your first post, you might want to write about the traumatic childhood you had. </p>
<p>Thanks. When I was notified that I was a National Merit candidate, they let me send 2 letters of recommendation from them to colleges of my choice. Chicago was 1 of them. Will this help my acceptance? Not that I’m counting on that, but it would be nice to know that I have a little edge over other applicants.</p>
<p>It will give you money if you get accepted ($2k w/o FA, $1k w/ FA), but I doubt being a finalist will help, since Chicago already has your SAT scores.</p>
<p>Matches for you could include some rather good schools, like Duke or Northwestern, that don’t care that much about the essays. Since Chicago cares a lot about the essays, you will have a slight advantage to other candidates due to your SAT scores, but by no means will you get accepted unless you can prove that you can write well and have extraordinary ideas. The essay prompts at Chicago aren’t meant to test your writing ability per se; they want to see your ideas so that they can assess whether you will be a fit here.</p>
<p>I think any college would be pleased that you picked them out of two schools, and it definitely says a lot about you showing interest. Don’t count on it, but it’s a nice token for the college admissions committees to see, I suppose.</p>
<p>Actually, the U of chicago’s acceptance rate now is around 25%. While your grades and SAT scores are superlative, you definitely can’t count on automatic acceptance at Chicago and the argument that it is not all that selective is misleading. The University is quite selective about who they think will fit in and grades and scores alone do not guarantee acceptance. I think that you need to show some sort of passion and leadership in your life, i.e. with regard to extracurricular activities or a great academic passion supported by recommendations. I know of many applicants with perfect scores who were admitted a top schools, but rejected at Chicago. Why do you have a desire to go to Chicago and why would you fit in. Let them know.</p>
<p>You have the grades and the test scores, definitely! I guess all that’s left is to make sure you have a good essay – the making guitars thing is really cool and it makes you stand out. Pick something in your essay that makes you different and I don’t see why you wouldn’t get in! Good luck!</p>