Chances for UChicago ED II?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

Got deferred from Princeton SCEA, but I also loved UChicago so I figure by applying ED II I can get denied by them a month early. Here are my stats:

Hispanic male, family income is around 70k a year
Prospective major: Chemistry
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 5.6/6.0 weighted
Class Rank: 22/391 weighted 1/391 unweighted
SAT - 1550 (790 M 760 R&W)
SAT Essay 7/6/7
SAT II: Chem 800 Physics 790
AP Tests (all fives): World History, Chemistry, Calculus AB, English 11, Physics 1, Physics C: Mechanics, US History
Senior year workload: AP English 12, AP Econ macro/micro, AP Calc BC, Wind Ensemble, level 300 and 600 chemistry classes at a local state university, 2-credit internship program as a researcher at a local state university.

ECs:
Vice-President, Student Government Association, 2018
Captain, Science Bowl, 2017-2018
Marching Band, 2015-2018
Varsity Indoor Track and Field, 2015-2018
Varsity Lacrosse, 2017-2018
Captain, JV Lacrosse, 2015-2016

Academic groups/activities:
Seven-week Chinese Cultural Immersion Program, 2017
National Honor Society, 2017-2018
National Mathematics Honor Society, 2018
President, National Science Honor Society, 2018
President, National Chinese Honor Society, 2017-2018
President, Chinese Club, 2016-2017

Honors:
National Finalist, United States National Chemistry Olympiad, 2018
Top Student/Certificate of Excellence, University of Virginia STARTALK Program, 2016
Top Student Award, Office of the Sciences, 2018
Top Student Award, Office of World Languages, 2017
Semi-Finalist, Maryland State Science Bowl, 2018
Presenter at Symposium on the Chemical and Biological sciences at UMBC, 2018
Team Spirit Award, Varsity Lacrosse, 2018

I attend a highly ranked public school in Maryland, and am also currently an independent researcher at a local university in a chemistry lab group. Trying my best to get a publication out but may not in time.

Recommendations:
Counselor: Pretty good, she’s new this year but knows me better than many students due to communication over the summer.
Chemistry teacher: Honestly hit-or-miss on this one, we have a love-hate relationship where he encourages my learning and likes my company but can sometimes get annoyed by my energy.
English teacher: Very good, we have a great friendship and I thoroughly enjoyed his class. He promised that he would give me a great recommendation.
Chemistry professor/research mentor: This is going to be very good, she believes very firmly in my ability and says she will do her best to help me get into UChicago/other selective schools. She has been my research mentor and I’m currently enrolled in her inorganic chemistry class.

2

One thing I’m not seeing is any connection to your Hispanic heritage but I do see a lot of connections to a Chinese heritage…

3

I am Hispanic, but I didn’t want to take Spanish because my family speaks it and it would be an easy A. Plus, I have super pale skin and blue eyes - I don’t look very Hispanic anyways.

4

Last time I checked, learning another language and culture was a plus, @CU123 are you suggesting that Hispanic candidates are obligated to discuss their “heritage” on their application? What if it’s simply not the most important thing about them? OP’s credentials are excellent as presented.

5

@JBStillFlying if you want the full advantage being a URM gets you, then yes. This is especially important for Native Americans due to the fact they are the most widely diluted group, but generally true for all URM’s. If you have no cultural connections to your heritage then what diversity are you really bringing?

6

“If you have no cultural connections to your heritage then what diversity are you really bringing?”

Excuse me??? How about thought and intellectual diversity, among other attributes?

Are all “Hispanics” considered to be “URM”? That’s a bit broad . . . .

7

I would have thought that the mere fact of being URM - regardless of whether it is accentuated in one’s application - would in provide the edge if what the University is trying to achieve is recruitment of kids from these groups. Is Admissions going beyond that objective to favor a kid who not only has such a background but makes a point of it beyond the mere mention of it in the application? As against a kid with such a background who makes the case for admission on more traditional grounds? I hope not. The OP’s frankness is something I would have thought would be very appealing to Admissions.

8

Yes @JBStillFlying . Legally, All Latin American Hispanics are URM - even someone like Gisele Bundchen or anyone who is 100% Caucasian in their family tree, as long as one of their ancestors made a pit-stop in a country located Latin America.

And all Asians are ORM, even though really only a few “national origins” account for the “overrepresentation”, and some Asians are barely represented in top schools at all.

This is why URM admissions, to me, is such a weird topic.

I actually applaud the applicant for checking the box, but showing that he has made the effort to reach out.

9

@FStratford - colleges have outreach to under-represented Asian groups (Hmong, Cambodian, etc.). You changed the terminology by adding “Latin American”. What about Cuban?

Totally agree that OP has made good choices. The box should be checked but using the opportunities to expand your horizons will always be viewed favorably by adcoms. Nor should different standards be applied since applicants of, say, Greek or Norwegian heritage simply aren’t required bring that up in their essays.

10

Cubans are both Latin American and Hispanic American. They are from the North/South American continent and they are also Latin (French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc) and Hispanic (Spanish, Portuguese). They are part of the URM group

11

@FStratford - and yet those Americans who are of Cuban heritage are NOT truly “URM”. Cubans overall (US and foreign-born) have a notably higher education rate (defined as earning at least a Bachelors degree) than US Hispanics as a group. US-born Cubans are more likely to have earned at least a bachelor’s degree than the US population overall!

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/15/hispanics-of-cuban-origin-in-the-united-states-2013/

So painting all who identify as “Hispanic” with the same brush is a bit inaccurate, wouldn’t you say?

12

Wonderful-a debate as to what constitutes the definition of URM. Doesn’t help the OP with his original question.

I think debates are not allowed according to CC rules.

13

MODERATOR’S NOTE: Yes, debates are not allowed. Please move on.

14

I think you are a strong candidate. A recommendation about recommendations, I know it’s too late for you, but not so for future readers.

This is based on my personal experiences with two kids going through this process. Just like you write essays and supplements for a university, try to pick teachers that can recommend you in the context of the schools you are applying too. You don’t want “Joey is a great kid” recommendations. You want “Joey has demonstrated an amazing and mature approach to learning. On project ‘X’ he knew what was required to get a perfect score on the assignment, but it was obvious that he just dove into the subject and tried to learn as much as he could about it. It wasn’t the process of getting a great grade that drove him, but his pure desire for learning the subject…”

You only get a few vehicles to show that you + UChicago = The World a Better place. The recommendations in my opinion are the best place to get that done. Obviously, you can’t tell them what to put into them, but you can coach them a little. My son sent handwritten cards thanking the teachers for taking the time to write the recommendation after they said they would, but before they actually did. In that notecard he seeded things like “The University of Chicago is looking for people who are intellectually curious, if you can think of a time that I exhibited that trait and write about that, I think that would really help…” Obviously, this will be really tough if you are applying to 20 schools. So choose wisely where to target these. My son, currently a first year at UChicago, did that at only UChicago and Navy. This was my second child to go through this process.

The first is currently a Junior at UMD. He applied to seven schools, was deferred and wait-listed at GaTech (his first choice at time of application), defererred and accepted at UMich (his second choice at time of application), accepted EA and offered a decent merit scholarship at UMD, and accepted at the other four schools he applied. He did what I would have done, he verbally asked three teachers if they’d write a recommendation for him for college applications. They all agreed and he entered their email address into the common ap or Naviance, I forget which program our school used for recommendation management. His favorite teacher, who liked him and DS thought would write the best recommendation sent a Form Recommendation that didn’t even include my son’s name. I don’t know how DS actually saw it after he started at UMD, but somehow he did and he was blown away. To this day he believes that his recommendations are what led to his deferment at both GaTech and UMich.

It was son #1’s experience that drove son #2 to approach these differently.

15

^BB, did your older son choose not to waive his FERPA right to see the rec letters? You have the right to see what they wrote after you turn 18 and out of HS for a certain amount of time (usually by the time you are in your first year of college). Mentioning this because if you don’t waive that right, the teachers can end up writing something pretty bland so as not to be held liable or fired due to writing an honest letter. Not saying your son’s teacher would have written a poor letter, of course, but the he/she might have been extra cautious with the kids who forgot or chose not to waive their FERPA right. Most GC’s advise the students to waive it.

16

He did waive his right to look at the letters. He said he saw his whole admissions file at UMD.

17

Thanks for the advice! I tried my best to demonstrate those qualities that UChicago is looking for in my essays, so hopefully that does come through.

18

For anyone watching this thread, I was accepted!

19

@wrturner3 Congratulations. Hope your FA package also works out too. Welcome to 4 years of intense learning and intellectual journey.

20

Yep! Odyssey scholarships makes net cost ~9k a year - very doable.