Chances for a southerner

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>Visited this summer and i LOVED it (but who wouldn't , right?)</p>

<p>White female from Tennessee
My high school can most likely be considered the best public high school in the south not including magnet schools</p>

<p>possible majors:History, English, or Political Science
possible minors:Spanish, Latin American Studies, Economics
(don't worry, I'm not going to try to do all of them)
after college: either law school,grad school, or business school</p>

<p>GPA: 3.73 (unweighted)/4.1 (weighted)
class rank:top 10%
I will have taken 9 AP classes, 6 honors classes, and 4 years of foreign language.</p>

<p>ACT: 30 (33 reading/30 math/29 english/26 science)</p>

<p>high school schedule:
freshman
Orchestra-A
Geometry Honors-B
English Honors-A
Health Class-A
Biology-A
Spanish 1-A</p>

<p>sophomore (definately weakest part of my application)
Spanish 2-B
Alg 2/Trig-A
Orchestra Honors-A
English Honors-A
World History honors-B
Chemistry-B
english/history is a team-taught class that is arguably the hardest at my
high school including AP classes</p>

<p>junior year
AP US History-A
AP Physics B-B
Pre-Calculus-A
AP Junior English-A
US Government-A
AP Micro Economics-A
Spanish 3-A</p>

<p>senior year schedule
AP Senior English
AP Calculus AB
Gym(required to graduate)
AP Macro Economics
AP Environmental Science
AP Modern European History
Spanish 4, Honors</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
Karate (1996-present)
training for 12 years
Second degree black belt:10/06
Nationally Certified Assistant Instructor Certification: 12/04
I teach both children/adults every week
Presidents Vision Tour Committee senior member
Head of 117th Regional Black Belt testing committee
2006 National Championship:
2nd place in two divisions
scoring/timekeeping committee
2005 Regional Championships:
3rd place in one division
Judging committee
Rotaract (2004-present)
Treasurer-2007
Head of Habitat for Humanity project chair-2006/2007
Relay for Life project chair-2006
RYLA nominated leadership conference participant-2006
Project Committee member-2005
various other projects I've been apart of
Student Council(2005-present)
Head of a committee, member of another committee
Homeroom Representative
Orientation tour guide since sophomore year
School Newspaper(2004-2005)-it was a class, could only fit it in one year
Sports Editor
TN HS Press Association award for feature article
National Honor Society member & tutoring/speaker committee member
400+ hours of volunter work by time of graduate (Presidents Gold Award)
Girls Club for two summers,then Animal Shelter,then juvy law group
Distinguished Spanish 1 Student award</p>

<p>The teachers doing my recommendations know me very well(one teacher I had freshman/junior year, the other I had sophomore/junior year) so I'm sure they'll be excellent. My counselor knows me pretty well (i've tried to visit her several times through my high school career)</p>

<p>I know U of Chicago puts a lot of emphasis into the essays, and I think have a good approach to the one I'm doing.</p>

<p>Also, if I am accepted do you think I'll get any type of need-based scholarship? My parents make $95,000 a year which I know usually isn't the type of income that scholarships are given to but I'm just wondering whether I'll get anything at all.</p>

2

<p>Could you have any more ECs? Good god.</p>

<p>There's a thing called Expected Family Contribution - read up on it, or perhaps somebody here will elaborate.</p>

3

<p>i didn't think there were that many: Karate, Rotaract, Student Council, Newspaper, and volunteering. Everything in between is leadership stuff within that group. Sorry if it was hard to read</p>

4

<p>It's really difficult to determine chances from any of these threads.</p>

<p>What I can tell you is what you already know: your rank, ACT score, and challenge of curriculum (especially from your high school) put you in the range of admitted students.</p>

<p>At the same time, just because one is in the range of admitted students does not mean one has a spot at said school. Many uberelite schools turn down students who perform well in favor of other students who perform well.</p>

<p>I think it's to your benefit to ask yourself some questions your profile does not make clear: Why do you want to attend the University of Chicago, and how will Chicago help you with your immediate goals rather than your final goals of graduate school? How dedicated are you to learning for learning's sake, working with the core curriculum, and being around students who like to discuss "nerdy" things at least some of the time? Among many other things, Chicago kids tend to be crossword-puzzle-doers, poetry lovers, and science geeks. Do you see yourself fitting in with that sort of crowd?</p>

5

<p>Heh...</p>

<p>"Dear UChicago,</p>

<p>I do crosswords and I have the FoxTrot where Jason makes the 'nerd search' up on my door. It's next to the ninja gingerbread man one, but I won't go into that.</p>

<p>I don't have a lot of ECs or leadership positions, but that simply gives me more free time to be weird and contemplate my life as a speck of dust. </p>

<p>Please let me into your school. PLEAAAASE. I'll bake you brownies if you do. I make some kickbutt brownies, you know. Even if I do have to rely on the box mix sometimes. It happens. But I'd do it without...just for you, UChicago.</p>

<p>PLEEEEASE. Do you see how desperate I am to give you all this money I don't actually have? Do you?! Honestly.</p>

<p>I love you, darling. I'm yours always and forever.</p>

<p>Love always,
(and really, this is LOVE, not just a fleeting passion, I swear),
me</p>

<p>xoxoxoxo"</p>

<p>I wish college admissions were like that.</p>

6

<p>"Also, if I am accepted do you think I'll get any type of need-based scholarship? My parents make $95,000 a year which I know usually isn't the type of income that scholarships are given to but I'm just wondering whether I'll get anything at all."</p>

<p>Your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is calculated based on factors such as your family size, income, assets, whether your parents own their onw business, number of siblings in college, etc. Your need-based aid would be Chicago's total Cost of Attendence - EFC. Some of the aid would be grants (that you don't need to pay back), and some in loans. </p>

<p>One of the things that you and your folks need to do is get a handle on what your EFC is likely to be. To do so, go to <a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp&lt;/a> and complete the estimate. You will need more information than just income, so get a parent involved. You need to have this happen soon so your folks will get over the sticker shock for Chicago (and the other private school to which you wish to apply). </p>

<p>Information on Chicago Finaid is here: <a href="http://collegeaid.uchicago.edu/index.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeaid.uchicago.edu/index.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I would encourage you to look at the financial aspects ASAP. My crystal ball's not working, so I can't tell you if you'll get into Chicago or not, but you've got really strong qualifications, and so some fabulous school is going to want you. You need to know if your folks might be able to manage their EFC or not - because that determines the schools to which you can reasonably apply. We are in a similar income bracket - its not what you call pleasant coming up with our EFC - but we're over halfway though and are sort of managing. Some families can, others can't. Hope yours can!</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
My high school can most likely be considered the best public high school in the south not including magnet schools

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Really? I think there are some schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, Austin, Texas, and a bunch more in major university college towns that might take exception to that.</p>

<p>Regardless, the best answer I ever heard an admissions officer give about whom the University of Chicago admits is, "We try to admit kids we think our faculty will like." I like that. I'm not sure what it means, but I like it.</p>

<p>Financial aid? It really does depend, but the UofC tends to follow the beat of its own drummer on this sort of thing. The FA you get will depend on how they look at your parents' whole financial picture. I will say that $95,000 usually gets some sort of aid for a school as expensive as the UofC, but your parents' assets and particulars will play a role in that.</p>

<p>Chances? Well, you're right in there. Your essays will count for a lot. It will be useful if you really are an intensely intellectual being who tended to get good grades in areas of passion, and go above and beyond class requirements in those areas. And, of course, it would be useful to have a teacher say that about you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>