Chances for EA

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm aware the Chicago is one of those schools infamous for being reaches for everyone. I understand that, I just want to know whether or not it would be worth trying. </p>

<p>State: Illinois
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Income: About $160,000</p>

<p>My intended major is Poly Sci, with a possible double major of econ or history. </p>

<p>GPA UW: 3.94 (two B's)
GPA W: 4.556
Class Rank: 5th, or Top 2%</p>

<p>Counting senior year, 11 AP classes. From the results I have, 3 5's and 4 4's. All A's in AP classes.</p>

<p>ACT:
Superscored 34 (35,33,34,32,11)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
4 Years Debate, 2 Year Captain
4 Years Quiz Bowl, 4 Year Captain
2 Years NHS</p>

<p>Awards:
Numerous from debate and academic team (up to state level).
AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Community Service:
Probable 60 by time of application (I know that it sucks)</p>

<p>Recommendations:
One from debate coach (probable 10/10)
One from other debate coach (probable 9 or 10/10)
One from APUSH teacher (probable 8 or 9/10)
If a guidance rec is necessary, it won't be bad, but not too specific.
If I need one more teacher rec, it should be 8/10. </p>

<p>Essays:
Should be excellent. I know that it is a stretch to assume this, but the prompts look like they cater well to me.</p>

<p>I know that my few extracurriculars probably seem off-putting, but I can talk endlessly about them, and they take up a lot of my time. Debate especially would qualify as a passion. Any and all essays about them will be fantastic. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Your application should be very competitive. Your objective scores look about as good as they come. I’m not sure weather the Illinois residency is a help or a hindrance. I think Chicago residency helps some.You obviously have a passion for the school which should shine through in your essays. Good luck with your essays and with your application in general.</p>

3

<p>The one state that UChicago accepts the most from is Illinois, but then again it’s also the state from where the most apps come, so it shouldn’t statistically affect your chances. 117 acceptances out the 1479 nationally for '17 were from the Greater Chicago area, including suburbs and such, so you’d be in good company if you’re accepted. Your scores and GPA are also at the mid-upper end of accepted applicants, so you have nothing to worry there. I also personally believe that Quiz Bowl participation, especially as extensive as yours, may be a special plus for UChicago admissions if you intend to participate in college. I don’t have actual data or reports for that, but UChicago boasts the top or one of the top college Quiz Bowl programs in the country, and will be taking arguably the top two quizbowlers from the graduating high school class of '13. There was also an uncanny number of people at the High School National Championship Tournament (HSNCT) wearing UChicago apparel. </p>

<p>From the admissions site:

I’d reconsider only having one “actual” teacher rec from your APUSH teacher, unless one of your debate coaches was a teacher for another class you had. It would also be beneficial to have the second teacher rec be from a math/sci teacher, because you will have to take a number of those courses in the Core curriculum. I believe you will have to send a guidance counselor rec, so it looks like sending two debate recs may be excessive unless there is a critical reason for gaining recs from both of them.</p>

<p>Overall, your chances are solid, and if you crank out some killer essays I wouldn’t be surprised if you were seen on campus in autumn '14. Best of luck =]</p>

4

<p>Agree with above posters. </p>

<p>More importantly…top students from Illinois who have Chicago as their dream school should be applying EA to get any “benefit” against those applying from other states…DO NOT WAIT FOR REGULAR ROUND…</p>

<p>…it is human nature for admissions officers to prefer accepting TOP local students over other students from different regions…since they may be more likely to MATRICULATE there…</p>

<p>…this is also true for top Massachusetts students who should be applying to Harvard SCEA if Harvard is their dream school…and top students from California should be applying to Stanford REA if their dream school is Stanford…so on and so on…</p>

<p>…there are local/regional PREFERENCES practiced by all the top schools whether you like it or not…</p>

<p>…after the decisions come out in December, you can decide if you are DONE and relax or if you want to apply to other schools in the regular round since you got nothing to lose…</p>

<p>…hope this helps.</p>

5

<p>Thanks to both of you. That did help a ton. </p>

<p>I also see that I had some inconsistencies with syntax. I meant that I had awards up to the state level, but not specifically from Academic Team. The state level awards are actually from debate, with academic team being slightly lower. But still, I consider myself good at quiz bowl, and was bumped up to varsity before the typical level (became as a sophomore, when it’s usually only junior/senior). I have been captain for four years, and am not lying about that at all.</p>

<p>And I thought that I might be a bit excessive for getting 5 or so recommendations. I’ve decided that I’ll still get recs from both, then submit different recs to different colleges. </p>

<p>Again, thanks. This has helped a ton.</p>

6

<p>@debater good luck! you and i have scarily similar stats/ec’s I’m doing EA also</p>

7

<p>you’re effectively a lock, assuming you write as well as you think you do and your high school has a solid relationship with the college. for the record, sixty hours of community service doesn’t suck. i was accepted this past spring with a lower unweighted gpa and about fifteen hours of community service.</p>