Chance me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

Sex: F
Hooks: 1st gen
School: In the most richest county in the world with excellent schools (Thomas Jeff. High is in the same county)
Race: Asian

Overall UW GPA: 3.6
Freshman Year GPA: 3.4 UW
I take the most rigorous courses in my school: HN Geo, HN Eng, HN Bio, HN History, Chinese 1
Sophomore Year GPA: 3.09 UW
Again, most rigorous courses: HN Alg2, HN Eng, HN Bio, AP World, Chinese 2
the reason why my GPA was so low this year is because i have a C in AP World which obviously brings me down a ton):
Predictions/Goals:
Junior Year: 3.9 GPA
Physics, Precalc/Tric, AP Lang, AP Psych, HN US History, Chinese 3, Peer Helping
Senior Year: 3.9 GPA
AP Physics, AP Calc, HN Govt, HN Eng/AP Lit??, AP Macro/Micro, AP Chinese, AP Stat

I also have extremely unique and great EC’s (I am a very competitive figure skater who skates about 15 hours a week with a handful of medals from local competitions and I am in the highest level possible (Senior). I am also a dedicated figure skating coach who works about 4 hours a week for children, seniors, and people with mental disabilities. I can ask my boss to write me a good rec, because he really likes me and thinks im an incredibly active instructor).

My family has a history of doing incredibly well on the SAT’s because my dad is very good at helping me and my sibs prepare. My oldest sister who graduated HS with a gpa of 3.3/4 UW gpa and went to VT engineering had a near perfect SAT score, with maybe 50 points off (the 1600 SAT) and my sister who went to TJHSST and went to Columbia got a 2350 on her SAT, so my prediction would be:
2200-2300

I am interested in majoring in business, but to increase my chances, I will first apply as an engineer, since they are looking for females in that department, then switch to international-b if i get accepted!

2

Chicago does not have engineering.

3

@artloversplus i was thinkimng i would apply as a major in econ or english or something instead

4

Many Chicago students complain about no engineering after they attended the school. Just buyer’s remorse.

5

@artloversplus I have no interest in becoming an engineer, i want to major in business. I just thought that maybe i could apply as an engineer since it is easier for females to get into it and then switch immediately to increase my chances of acceptance, but i decided that I am not going to do that

6

your chances are good providing the sat scores high.

7

@artloversplus thanks for the input. also, on collegeboard how do people calculate their avg uw gpa? do they count non ap electives and gym, because then my gpa would be a 3.5 during freshman year and a 3.25 this year

8

Have no idea how to calculate UW for you. But there is a student on cc just got off waitlist with 4.0 UW and 1560 sat, (not counting W)

9

UChicago only considers CR + M, and your low GPA will probably hurt you, even if you do manage to pull off a 3.9 Junior and Senior year.

UChicago does not have business or engineering (except for molecular, and it’s brand new), and majoring in econ as some sort of substitute to business is not a good idea, the professors love making kids who try that suffer. I have heard that UChicago Careers in Business does a good job and you can take classes in Booth if you’re ambitious, so UChicago isn’t a totally horrible place to go to if you’re interested in business, but you should major in something you’re genuinely interested in.

To be blunt, why do you even want to come here? If the answer is the US News ranking, you don’t want to come here. I recommend doing some more research on the school.

10

@YogSothoth whats CR + M? I am just going to do something like careers in business

Trust me, I have done plenty of research on Chicago. Not only is it a top notch university, I also heard it is the most holistic top college compared to others and ivies with an average UW admission gpa of 3.75. I have also seen videos of the campus and love it. It has a nice college feel on campus, and outside of campus is one of the best cities in the US.
Booth also really attracted me since it is like #5 and I think if I can get into undergrad then it will be easier for me to be accepted to booth. This has been my dream school since I was 8 (while my sister was figuring out which colleges to apply to, I became interested as well), and I am applying EA.
The only problem is that I heard it was really cut-throat once your in

11

CR + M is Critical Reading and Math. UChicago doesn’t look at your writing score.

I doubt it’s true that the average UW admissions GPA of 3.75. They don’t publish that stuff, but they do say that something like 98% of the class came in at the top 10% of their class.

What UChicago really does look for in admissions is your essays. Have you read the past essay prompts? If you don’t write a stellar uncommon essay, you probably won’t get in. On the other hand, there are lots of people I know who had slightly less than optimal GPAs and are convinced they got in on the back of their essays.

I recommend you do more research on what being a student at Chicago is like. Yes, our campus is nice and Chicago is wonderful. But that really isn’t what being a UChicago student is all about; if you just want Chicago and a pretty campus, I think you’d be better off going to Northwestern.

Now…you might actually be a good fit for UChicago. The truth is, I don’t know. Just realize that you will probably spend more time in the library than the loop, there are core classes you have to take where you will have to read 100 pages of some angry 18th century philosopher a week, and you will constantly be surrounded by the nerdiest people in America. Academics are king at UChicago, even compared to other schools at the top of the US News list, and coming here because you don’t think you could get into a different top university is a good way to end up depressed.

Come here if you really really really like learning, don’t come here because our business school is #5.

12

@YogSothoth thanks for the input. I heard the library was gorgeous and was actually hoping to spend a lot of time in the library haha. I also did hear that the people there are socially awkward which I actually like since im an extrovert and one of those people who like being a big fish in a small pond. Ill definitely look into the students

http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=327 heres where I got the 3.76 gpa from (right hand side) from the class of 2019.

13

^^ also i am ready to pour my heart and soul onto that essay. If u look at my EC’s you can tell that I am extremely passionate about skating and teaching so I am so ready for that.
Im really hoping that my essays, EC, and SAT score makes up for my crappy gpa

14

I wouldn’t trust that data. The only data the university has officially released about the class of 2019 is this: http://chicagomaroon.com/2015/04/14/record-low-acceptance-rate-as-applicant-numbers-increase/

UChicago students are nerdy, not shut-ins. Being extroverted will not make you stand out (There are even frats and parties! Yes, plural!). I don’t know where you are getting the ridiculous idea that you will be a big fish in a small pond. UChicago is not a small pond in any conceivable way, and you would have be an absurdly big fish.

15

@YogSothoth i guess what I just said doesn’t make much sense, nevermind. may I ask what your gpa, sat score, and ec’s were? and why did you think you got in? also did you apply EA?

16

Be aware that the GPA and SAT averages you are looking at on College Data site are the averages of those students registered on that site who are interested in Chicago. They are not the averages of real applicants to the university and certainly not those of admitted applicants. The average Math/Reading SAT of admitted students last year, as I recall, was 1515 out of 1600 and the average unweighted GPA of admitted students was well above 3.76.

The average SAT score of admitted students at UChicago is one the the 3 highest in the country and higher than Harvard, Stanford, or Yale. If i recall correctly only Cal Tech has a higher average SAT. There is some evidence that Chicago puts more weight on a high SAT in the reading section. A 1560 to 1600 is helpful along with great essays. There are also indications that at Chicago SAT scores, GPA, and essays carry more importance than ECs.

As others have mentioned there are always those students admitted who have GPAs and SAT scores below what one would think could gain admittance but you should know that this is a very small percentage of the 7,8% who are accepted these days. I don’t wish to discourage you but your GPA should be a real concern and remember that since you plan to apply early you won’t have first semester senior year to raise GPA.

I assume you will apply to several schools and I think that would be a good plan.

17

@scrippieangel thanks, do you think i should apply EA to chicago?

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@scrippieangel oops, sorry you already talked about that. you said that college data was unreliable, but i was looking at the colleges.about.com statistics graph of people who got accepted based on their GPAS and SATs, and they wrote that the majority of people who got in had an A- average or above, and an A- is 3.7, if I am correct

19

Difficult to advise on EA other than to offer the opinion that if one has outstanding stats EA offers an advantage at whatever university to which one applies. I was just pointing out that if one can boost GPA in first semester of senior year it could be helpful. If, on the other hand, your GPA through junior year is above 3.7 and your Math/Reading SAT is above the average then you may wish to do EA. It’s all just a crap shoot either way. When a school is admitting less that 8% of applicants no applicant’s odds, including those with 4.0 GPA and 1600 SAT, are a lock.

20

thank you!!