Chance Me? (UChicago, Amherst, U of T)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi everyone! I’m an upcoming senior in high school, and I was wondering what chances I have to get into a few of the colleges I’m interested in.

Colleges:

  1. Amherst College (thinking of EA)
  2. University of Chicago (definitely EA)
  3. University of Toronto
  4. University of Washington
  5. Bard College

Intended Major: Something in social sciences, depending on the school

Weighted GPA: 4.06

Rank: 5/100

SAT: 2040
M: 610 CR: 710 W: 720
(going to take one more time, hoping for ~2100)

AP courses:

AP Euro - 4
AP Psych - 5
AP US Hist - 5
APES - 4
AP English Lit - 4
AP World Hist - 4
AP Studio - 5
AP Comp - 2 (lol ik)

Senior Courses:
AP Gov, AP Calc, AP Phys, AP Art History, AP Spanish Lit, Yearbook, Economics

Note: Along with AP classes, most of my schedule is honors/advanced classes

ECs:

  • Editor for Literary Magazine for my school (since 10th)
  • Editor and Writer for an online mag (started recently)
  • Teacher at religious school (since 11th grade)
  • Tutor (since 10th grade)
  • NHS (11-12)
  • Flute (since 4th grade, but just for fun)
  • In various clubs w/ no leadership positions
  • Tons of community service through various activities

Essays (will be): I’m a writer by nature, and I think they’ll be interesting and convey my passions/hopes, along w/ being extremely honest.
Recs: not 100% sure who I’ll be asking, but they’ll be solid for the most part, if not a little generic

I’m a South Asian student living in an underrepresented 3rd world country. I go to a small school where the education isn’t the best and which doesn’t really send many students to any of the high ranking/ most selective schools, maybe like, 1 or 2 every year. I’m a US citizen, but my parents are from India. Our finances aren’t the best, which is one of the reasons why Amherst and UChicago are my top choices due to the education AND aid I can receive!

I’m a huge slacker who never studies or prepares for exams, which I guess can be seen from my GPA but I’m really enthusiastic about learning over the grade I get. I’m passionate about social issues and a huge critic, and I love humanities and learning as much as possible (grades aren’t as much of a deal for me as learning is). I know these colleges are mostly reaches, but I was wondering if anyone might also have any suggestions for me which are more up my alley/are matches or safeties with reasonable tuition for internationals.

Thank you for reading! :slight_smile:

2

Your Math and lack of leadership will kill you. Those factored together with standard but not extraordinary ECs will make UChicago highly unlikely but hey you never know. Amherst will be a high reach but obviously possible.

3

Pros:

Rigor of schedule
Rank/GPA
APs
Third-World Country (possible hook about overcoming adversity…?)
Stats thus far- Still need work but are still decent scores.

Cons:

Admitted Slacker

EC’s- Usually considered one of if not the most important part of your application, yours is, not offense, lacking. There’s honestly very little you can do about them this late in your high school career except talking them up. Talk about any accomplishments, no matter how trivial, in your description. I’d condense your writing accomplishments and make them the centerpiece of your application. Talk up the fact you’ve been playing flute for almost 10 years, as well. Let your passion for social sciences shine through.

Verdict:

Chicago- Reach-High reach
Amherst-Reach (if EA) High Reach (RD)

The others are probably within reach.

4

I’m sorry, but I don’t think UChicago should even be on the list. Here’s why.

  1. They just consider the critical reading and math sections of the SAT. 2040/2400 would be a weak score at a top school, but 1320/1600 is terrible at UChicago. Excluding your highest score-writing-is a killer.
  2. As others have said, your ECs aren't great.
  3. Given the above, you'd need stellar recommendations to have a chance-think "Bluepants is the best student I have seen in my 35 years as a teacher." If your recs are going to be average, I'm not optimistic.
  4. You're applying from South Asia. That means the people reading your application are the same people that read hundreds or thousands of applications from very competitive students, many of them from India. Competition is fierce in that region.

2, 3 and 4 also apply to Amherst, but I'm not quite ready to put the school out of reach-it's less competitive than Chicago.

In order to have a better idea of some schools where you could be competitive, we’d need to know your unweighted GPA. Many schools weight differently, so colleges pay little attention to the weighted number and much more to the raw GPA.

5

thank you all! @futureco2020 @codemachine @NotVerySmart yeah, i thought that UChicago was a definite reach but i was hoping that Amherst would be more of a reasonable goal.

@NotVerySmart I’m actually not applying from South Asia, but from South America! I’m definitely thinking of removing UChicago now. And my unweighted GPA should be around 3.7/3.8. Thank you so much for your help!!

6

anyone else have any suggestions/ideas?

7

Well maybe keep U Chi up there as a reach if you reaply want it. Theres a very small chance you’d be considered but they may surprise you. As it is they’re self-selective so you’d be ahead of the curve by just applying.

8

@codemachine thank you! do you have any ideas of schools where I would be a match/ a good safety?

9

Lehigh, Lafayette, UIUC, Santa Clara University, and similar. Solid science schools that you have a good shot at.

10

I just wanted to let you know that no matter how bad people tell you your chances are, if you really really love the school and definitely think it’s the place for you, apply. Don’t be too discouraged. Best of luck to you!

Hopefully you won’t contact senioritis… (easier said than done… )

11

@bluepants don’t remove it from your list if you truly love the school. You never know what will happen