Chance Me: UChicago

General Info:

Asian Male
Middle-Upper Class Family
Californian
Intended Major - Applied Math

Statistics:

3.99 UW GPA
4.68 Weighted GPA
No Class Rank Provided by School

SAT: 1560 (800 Math + 760 Reading + Writing)
SAT Subject: Math II - 800, Physics - 800
ACT: 35

AP Courses:

  • AP Calculus BC(5)
  • AP Statistics(5)
  • AP Chemistry(5)
  • AP Physics C: Mechanics(5)
  • AP Biology(5)
  • AP World History(5)
  • AP US History(4)
  • AP Econ/AP Gov(5)
  • AP English Language(5)
  • AP English Literature(5)
  • AP Computer Science(5)
  • CHEM-108
  • Honors Physics
  • Multi-Variable Calculus taken at Community College

Extracurriculars:

  • CM Level 5 - honor student for CM Level 4 and Level 5 (piano for 6 years)
  • Karate Black Belt - 1st degree and competed at local tournaments
  • Debate Team -
    -Captain of PF in 11th Grade
    -VP in 12th Grade
    -Qualified to TOC 3 years
    -Qualified to Nationals 3 years
    -Varsity Public Forum for 3.5 years
    -Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking for 3.5 years
  • Lots of awards on National Circuit tournaments
  • California Scholarship Federation - volunteered at misc. events, Secretary in 11th Grade
  • Science Bowl - went to Nationals 2 years, Secretary in 11th Grade
  • Model United Nations - part of club for 3 years, competed in B MUN, SCVMUN, etc.
  • Computer Science Club - VP in 11th Grade, won different hackathons
  • Volleyball Team - 3 years, Team Captain in 11th Grade
  • DECA
  • Qualified to ICDC for 2 years
  • competed at local conferences
  • FBLA
  • Qualified to Nationals for 2 years
  • competed at local conferences

Volunteering/Job Experience:

  • Sandia National Laboratories - researched Nuclear Physics for 3 months
  • UC Berkeley - researched under prof. for 3 months in Applied Math focus
  • Teen Advisory Board - part of board for 4 years, 150 hours
  • Shiva-Vishnu Temple - part of board for 3 years, 200 hours

Total Volunteering Hours: 300+ hours

Letters of Recommendation:

  • AP Calc BC teacher
  • Prof. at UC Berkeley

Other:

  • National AP Scholar
  • National Merit Scholar
  • Ranked Top 20 PF Team in California
  • Ranked Top 50 PF Team in California
  • Ranked Top 100 PF Team in California

You are well qualified for any college in the US (and abroad). For UChicago it will come down to how you can convey “fit” and interest through your essays. Best of luck to you.

kaukauna has it, conveying fit and a high level of interest will be key. Your involvement with research shows your drive to create new knowledge. That should be attractive to UChicago. All the quantitative measures of your skills and achievements are super. I hope you get in and believe you will have a wonderful time there.

Your stats show you worked hard and are smart. Unfortunately at least 10% of the applying class (say 3000 people) will have the same characteristics. You will need to maximize your essay opportunities and recommendations, and nail the answer to “why Chicago” to stand out. Good luck!

Careful on your recommendations. They specifically say 2 HS teachers, plus one optional extra (I believe this could be your Berkely prof). Make sure you grab a second HS teacher. And like others say, put as much work in your essays as you did your college career, be yourself and then I think your chances are better then the average applicants’. I really do believe that many of the perfect resume kids, which I’d include you in that set, often take it easy on the LORs and Essays and then find themselves on the outside. My son when he applied actually seeded the LORs by giving teachers something to focus on in their letters about him in the form of a very personally handwritten notecard, first thanking them for taking the time and effort to write the letter and then he gave them some of the characteristics that he felt the schools were looking for. I don’t know if it had an affect, but he got accepted and I’m sure it didn’t hurt. On a side note, my oldest decided he knew better than the application instructions (like deciding he didn’t need to send official test scores because they were on his transcript) and did find himself on the outside at his first choice.

Be careful how to present your ECs. Do not emphasize too much on your “self-enrichment” actions such as awards and involvement in clubs, more concentrate on what have you done to enrich others in the society.

You have wonderful stats and very impressive ECs, with a great essay, you should be a shoe-in, best of lucks.

This app is as close to a lock for admission as it gets tbh - the stats and debate alone would probably have been enough to get you in, when you add in research and varsity sports you’re pretty unique. Karate, piano, and volunteering don’t hurt either.

@mallooz267 sorry if you mentioned this on your post - under which admission plan are you applying?

As others have mentioned, whether you apply ED1, EA, ED2 or RD makes a huge difference on your chances. The greatest chances are obviously if you apply ED1 (approx 17%). The lowest is RD (4%).

This is late but in high school I would’ve sympathized deeply with you but now that I’m at UChi I just think this is a hilarious post bc you’re more qualified than most of the people I know here were when they applied (myself included). You’ll be fine.

@notawitch can you read my essays?