Chance Me: UChicago ED, others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

SAT I (breakdown): 780 R/W, 780 M
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Bio M 790, US History 770, Math II 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: (school does not calculate)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 1%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo (5), Bio (5), World History (4), Calc AB (5), US History (5), Lang (4), French (4), Computer Science A (4), Calc BC (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Courseload: AP US Gov, AP Lit, AP Chem, AP Stats, Post-AP CS, Post-AP Calc, Journalism

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
-National AP Scholar
-National Merit Semifinalist (expected)

Extracurriculars:
Swimming (Team Captain)
-Swam varsity and went to state all four years. Swim year-round, which is a big commitment (20 hour/week, 40 week/year). Not recruitable though, even for D3.

School Paper (Editor-in-Chief)
-I love journalism and invest a lot of energy. We have the largest journalism class in the state (50 students), and being EIC is a big deal at my school.

Member of NHS

Job/Work Experience:
Internship at a local biomedical research institute

  • Full time for 7 weeks. It has been a really great experience so far, especially since my career goal is to become a biomedical researcher.

Volunteer/Community service: Random tutoring, volunteering for swim meets. I only get enough hours so that I can stay in honors society.
Summer Activities: Research internship (11), swimming (9, 10, 11)
State (if domestic applicant): Washington
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income: 100,000K+

Potential Hooks: none

Schools considering:
UChicago (ED)
Princeton
Columbia
Cornell
Swarthmore
Williams
Rice
Berkeley
MIT
Caltech

2

UChicago loves applicants who love UChicago, so applying ED is a big boost. Yours stats are solud but the essays are just as important so spend the time on them.

3

You have a very strong set of stats. I hope this is not your complete list of schools though

4

I forgot to put in that I’m also applying to UW. My counselor thought it’d be an adequate safety. I might also apply to more UCs than just Berkeley.

5

for a Biomedical researcher, why UChicago? I would think your in state flagship would be a better fit. Just wondering.

6

@kjake2000 I agree that I would have excellent opportunities if I attended UW. However, during my visit I found the campus to be too large, and I’m worried that professors might not be as accessible in terms of letting undergrads help them with research, which is extremely important for when I’m applying to grad school. I loved UChicago when I visited and like how their curriculum is set up.

7

I only cited UW as an example, I would just caution against engineering/science at UChicago, especially because it is a hard school to get into. Just wanted to point this out, choice is completely your tho.

8

Hey @traviata I think you made a great decision by choosing to apply to Uchicago ED. I was accepted ED for the Class of 2021 and I can’t wait to start in the fall (they make you feel VERY special once you’re admitted). I have met a lot of other incoming students who are pre-med (personally I am pre-business), and a lot of them cited the excellent research opportunities as part of the reason they chose Uchicago. When you are a student at Uchicago you really do have access to the limitless resources that the university offers, and the vast majority of schools simply cannot match that. Good luck!

9

If you really like UChicago do ED. Your numbers and EC are pretty amazing. Work on your essays, and find good letters of recommendation. Those help a lot. UChicago really like nice kids with great personalities, not only good numbers. My daughter is going this fall, and she (and I) cannot be happier.

10

Most of my decisions came this week, and while I knew I was applying to many competitive schools, I was not expecting to be rejected/waitlisted at so many. Were my essays likely not good? I’m still waiting to hear back from Cornell, but should I assume that I’ll be rejected or waitlisted there?

Rejected: UChicago (deferred EDI), MIT, Swarthmore
Waitlisted: Johns Hopkins, WUSTL, Williams
Accepted: UWashington, UCSD, Northeastern

11

Send letters of interest to the schools that waitlisted you, and emphasize that you will attend if given an acceptance. Update them with reasons for why you like the school and with any new awards/grades/extracurriculars that you have received since applying