<p>I'm a senior who applied EA and was deferred. I'm applying regular to some other selective schools and I've already gotten into one that I like (Umich), but Chicago is my top choice by far - I'd choose it above anything.</p>
<p>But I'm really worried about my application, especially after first semester grades. Our school semesters just ended today (this friday, 1/17/14), unlike most schools which I believe send RD colleges first semester grades before Christmas. I ended solidly, but it wasn't superb (mostly because I missed a ton of school - for combination of a little illness and a lot of debate friday-saturday-sunday-monday tournaments - and a lot of late work ended up not being accepted... kind of a bummer). But, stats anyway:</p>
<p>Have either a 2290 or 2260 on SAT, don't remember (unfortunately, 800 writing, 800 reading, then math is the ugly duckling, so I'm a little less competitive on the 1600 scale. Still, sent them the full SAT. Also took 3 SATIIs... scores were somewhere between 760 and 790 on them, don't entirely remember - was US, World, and Lit, iirc).</p>
<p>Have a 33 ACT. Don't remember individual scores.</p>
<p>My weighted GPA is hovering at around a 4.2 on a 4.0 scale - mostly As, a couple of B+s over the years (nothing below that... well, idk, I may have gotten a C in gym freshman year or something. I've never paid much attention to my grades until now). There's no real "trend" in either direction - I suppose slightly downward because it maxed out at like a 4.4 my sophomore year, but it's always been somewhere between a 4.1 and a 4.4. My grades are probably considerably lower unweighted, though - I take more than the maximum amount of permitted AP courses (my school only permits 3 APs per year - I got special permission to take a fourth this year), so my GPA is a little inflated.</p>
<p>This leads me into my big worry - first semester senior year my grades were solid, but not superb. Idk if Chicago was really interested in seeing sky-high grades after my deferral (they aren't bad, they are just sort of in-line with what I've been getting, only a little lower and a little more inflated by APs). Like, I'll probably end the semester with two B+s and maybe one or two A-s (I think just one A-... everything else is A or A+). Which is, given weights assigned to AP/honors, like a 4.3 or something, but probably not so competitive unweighted. I'm probably overreacting, but the semester ended today, and I wish it had ended on a higher note just so I'd feel a little more secure (not that the difference between a 4.3 and a 4.7 is too considerable or that I'd have made my way into Chicago had I just cut debate-research-time and actually studied, but I just have a meh feeling about my GPA... and I'm really nervous about applications because I really love Uchicago).</p>
<p>BUT, that's not all that matters, and I think I have some other strengths (I've tried to make that evident when talking to chicago reps... like, I contacted my regional rep after my deferral and told her that I expected my grades to be strong, but I thought I had better strengths that were more accurate indicators of my potential).</p>
<p>So, first off, I think I have really good recommendations. One from an English teacher at my high school (I've had him two years - junior and senior. He asked me if he could write my rec, and actually wrote to my parents to say I was the best student/writer he's ever had, which felt pretty good because he's one of my schools older teachers. Also a fairly smart guy), another from my debate coach (also my speech teacher junior year. Again, I think this is a solid rec - I'm on my school's "A team" in policy debate, and this teacher loves my partner and I, wrote us great recs, etc. We're a smaller debate school and he oftentimes raves - to our faces and others - about how we're the best kids he's ever taught, etc.). Finally, I have one from a professor at a state university (knew him via a summer debate program - he offered to write a rec for me, too, because I was one of the top researchers at that program. I think this is a solid rec, too).</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
- Model United Nations Captain (Model UN is kind of a joke social club at my school, but idk how it's perceived by admissions boards. still, I'm a leader and I've been commended at conferences before).</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Founder of the Student Libertarian Society (funny story - since the 2000 elections, my school has had liberal and conservative student political organizations put on public debates in the fall. I was a member of both organizations at the same time for a while before a friend and I went and registered a Libertarian organization with the administration, which we later got recognized as a chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty national organization. Again, low-commitment activity - I've won first speaker 3 of the 3 debates we've had with the other clubs).</p></li>
<li><p>Policy debate captain - this is the big 'un, I think. I have recs from two people who know me through debate and I'm the co-captain with my partner, both of us on the A team. I've twice attended a 7-week summer debate institute at a major American university, and I've been pretty successful the last few years in debate. But this year our team has been incredibly successful (we got our first "bid" - qualification - to a really prestigious national tournament called the ToC that my high school has received in the last 15 years). We've gotten to octafinals around 5 times at major national tournaments, and we beat the top-ranked team at one such octafinalist round. This is all the cooler because I'm from a small debate program (it's basically my partner and I that are the engines of the program... we have to compete with some schools that have 90ish students churning out files full of research, and the two of us - partner and I- have basically been able to match top schools in the country in terms of output). Like Model UN, this is a four-year commitment, but it's been a huge commitment. It's lowered my grades (missing so much school... like, every weekend in the Fall), but I've gotten speaker awards, recs, and essays about extracurriculars because of it, so I think it'll help my app at least a little.</p></li>
<li><p>A few other low-commitment activities. Got some award from Kenyon College for "outstanding contribution to the intellectual community" (it was based off of really arbitrary factors - the teachers at my school nominated me for it. I'm statistically weaker than most of the "highly competitive" kids at my school in terms of GPA, though). Member of national honors society. School requires so and so many hours of community service during sophomore year, etc.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Essays... I thought they were decent. I wrote my WhyChicago one about how much I love the liberal arts and being around smart people (this is paraphrasing, but it was basically about Chicago's core curriculum - I mentioned that I want to go into economics and how strong Chicago's economics department is, but it wasn't really the focus of my essay - and the university's culture). My commonapp essay was about how much I love Socrates and how much Socratic philosophy has influenced my life. My Uchicago specific one addressed the history topic (history is what they're not telling us or w/e) - I wrote about how tenure is bad and encourages university departments to be conformist (it was kind of me bastardizing microeconomics - I'm not an expert, so it was a little clumsy - to show that tenure incentivizes universities to only hire people who are ideologically "safe" and won't hire people who might be innovative... I ended talking about how Uchicago was the exception to the rule though, lol). I had them proofread for grammar, but that was it (people said they were good, but I didn't really get any other feedback).</p>
<p>So... strengths and weaknesses above, I guess. I realize in truth that I'm probably a decently strong applicant, but there are thousands of kids out there who are incredibly strong applicants who won't get in, and I'm just incredibly nervous because of the deferral+my first semester grades aren't spectacular (this isn't to say I expected to get in before I was deferred... I was nervous in early December too, lol. But I'm a more worried now because I'll get my final decision in a few months). I wrote a letter to my regional rep after the deferral and was pretty emphatic about how much I love Uchicago and that it's my first choice bar none (I didn't mention this, but I'd pick it in a heartbeat above any other place I applied. I applied to Umich, Columbia, Harvard, etc... I loved them all - got into mich, the harvard interviewer said he'd "push for me", etc.-, but none as much as Chicago. I'd rank it first before anything else, bar none). I mentioned my success in policy debate this year (a lot of high places at national tournaments) and how this is a big accomplishment considering the resources at my school - I said that I expected to have strong grades (and I do... but I think they might be lower tier for a Chicago applicant?), but that I thought my debate accomplishments should be considered, because I've put all of my energy into doing research, practice, etc. for the last four years.</p>
<p>Oh, should mention that I don't have a legacy or any other connection to the university. I've interviewed, visited (neither of these make a big/any difference, as far as I can tell), and written to the regional rep, but that's it. No wealthy grandfathers with libraries named after them, lol.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm probably overly worried, especially since the semester just ended. I've gotten into a couple colleges I love (namely umich), so I'm not hysteric over my transcripts atm, but I'm just nervous about Chicago because it's been my dream school since, like, 7th grade. chancemepls (I'm not missing anything important in data, am I?), would you kindly?</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>EDIT: I should say, in my letter to my regional rep I expressed an interest in debating at Uchicago (because I was talking about my debate career). I've spoken to the director of their debate program, and I sort of know/have met the captain of their team (at that summer debate institute, I was pretty productive in terms of evidence output, which is why I got that professor to write me a rec. But a few of the debaters there had heard of me because of that). I had email convos with both of them about debating at uchicago, but mostly just for me to ask questions about the program. I don't know either of them incredibly well and I'm not sure if chicago even has a policy of recruitment (at least in debate), so I feel like it'd be inappropriate for me to ask them to "push" for me with admissions (like... idk, that just seems disingenuous, given that I'm not on really familiar terms with them). Still, I don't know if expressing an interest in a particular activity at Uchicago (regardless of "recruitment") could positively influence my application?</p>
Idk, do you think this really /hurts/ my chances at Chicago? I had heard that, unless grades change astoundingly (as in, I totally bombed first semester or I went from a 3.5 to a 4.6), it doesn’t have a huge indicator on the admissions process, but i wasn’t sure if this is the case at Chicago, especially for deferred applicants. Like, my GPA/grades are similar to what I have been getting in previous years. Do you think they’re particularly weak for a Chicago applicant (I mean… Chicago turns down kids with 4.4s and 2400s, so I know I’m not going to shine based off grades), or are they in a passable range?</p></li>