<p>Hi, i'm going to be a senior this year and I was wondering if anyone could help me see if I have a good chance of getting into UChicago. I go to a public school in Michigan that is a pretty bad school except for our band, our average ACT is 17 and we had to shut off half of our lights because my school couldn't afford to pay the electric bill. No one from my school has ever gone to a school as good as UChicago and I was wondering if I have a chance.</p>
<p>GPA unweighted: 4.0
ACT: Math 35, CR 33, English 33, Science 28(ran out of time) composite 32
will be retaking before I apply
classes(my school offers a few APs and no honors courses)
9th grade
Band(our band is nationally ranked and just won the dixie classic national competition)
Anatomy and Physiology
Algebra2a(junior classes skipped 2 grades in math)
Algebra2b
Biology
English 9
Gym/Health(required to graduate)
10th grade
Band(got 1st chair sax)
AP Calc(skipped pre-calc)
AP US
AP Euro
Intro Chem/Physics
Chemistry
English 10
11th grade
Calc1 at private college(didn't accept ap scores)
Calc2 at private college
Band(still 1st chair won dixie classic national festival again)
AP Gov
British Literature(hardest english class at my highschool offered at the time, skipped english11)
Spanish1
Spanish2(school only offers 2years of spanish)
Summer between 11th and 12grade
Physics1
World History
12th grade(that i'm scheduled for)
Band
Calc3 at private college
Differential Equations at private college
Freshmen Biology at private college
AP English Lit (1st year offered)
AP Physics
Advanced Composition(like "honors" course)
I've taken every AP class at my school
ECs
Disk thrower for varsity track for 4 years(3rd in league this year, projected to go to states next year missed it this year by 5f)
Basketball for 3years
Football for 2years
Jazz Band for 3years(1st tenor sax)
Harvard Model Congress 3years(only sophmore ever allowed to go from my school)
Tutor children from low income families for free 3years
President of Club International(welcomes the foreign exchange students, helps them with being in US and we learn about their culture from them)
NHS
Pit Orchestra 3years
Studen Gov 2years
NYLF forum on Medicine summer sophmore year
Head server at Catholic church
Volunteer at local SIREN shelter
In the mentoring program at my school(very selective to get into)
Volunteer at a local childrens' hospital
Captain of my schools Relay for Life Team 3years(1st person to not be a senior,raised $10,000 this year)
Just got on the Committee for Relay for Life(huge leadership role, 1st kid still in highschool to get put on the Committee)
Worked on the campaigns for Rick Jones(State Rep who won and this year is running for the State Senate, worked on both campaigns) and for Cheryl Haddock(running for Rick Jones seat now that he has been term limited) both said they would write very glowing reconmendations
Thanks to all who comment</p>
<p>I applied to Chicago RD and was accepted to attend this fall. Now that my decisions are made and I know what college I will be attending, I can be more clear-headed about the whole admissions process as I look back at it now. So hopefully, I can be of some help.</p>
<p>You have a pretty impressive resume and certainly show balance, as demonstrated by your athletic and academic abilities. UChi will really appreciate that. In my opinion, provided that you use the common application to your advantage and really take the time to perfect it, you certainly stand an excellent chance. As previously mentioned, University of Chicago really does place a lot of value in their essays. Even though they switched to the common application, they still kept the quirky/clever prompts that are so incredibly unique to the university. I would highly suggest taking your time with the essays and having them read/proofed quite a few times. If the essay doesn’t “feel” right, change it. There are several prompts to choose from and even an option to design your own prompt. The one thing that you cannot be afraid to do is approach the essay from a non-conventional approach. People often cite that essays should be “creative” and I agree; but there are several different ways to be creative and you should stick to what you are comfortable with. Another student from my school applied to University of Chicago EA and she was first deferred and then rejected. Even though she had similar stats as me, I realized as I was browsing through her essay that she was just not a good writer and that was probably her biggest downfall in the admissions process. As you can imagine, her writing score on the SATs reflected this weakness as well. </p>
<p>And now I have to tell you something that people often told me when I was applying and I most certainly hated hearing: there are many things in the college admissions process that you honestly can’t control. Your race and region play a respectable role in the admissions process and literally, everything about you presented in the application process is considered by the committee. But on the bright side, if you really take the time and show genuine interest in the University, the committee will certainly keep that in mind as well. Trust me, they know when the student is faking it. Even though I was accepted/waitlisted at many top 20 universities, I was flat out rejected by some of my safety schools (ranked MUCH MUCH MUCH lower) that I applied to out of necessity and begrudgingly rather than with enthusiasm. </p>
<p>My final piece of advise is to really take time filling out ALL your applications. You never know how the cards play out. Although I know that colleges say that they weigh ACTs and SATs the same, I always had a feeling from previous profiles etc that colleges were a little more partial to the SATs…but then again, it’s just a gut feeling and probably has no logical backing to it. Regardless, if you can, I would suggest taking the SATs to see how you fare on them (prepare as well).</p>
<p>I’m glad to see that you are thinking about applying EA, as I believe it is a fantastic decision if UChi is a university you are seriously considering. Not applying EA anywhere was probably one major mistake that I made.</p>
<p>Good luck with everything and I hope I helped.</p>
<p>Yeah UChicago has been my top choice for about 3 months now. I love their math program & just everything about the university. I will be getting help from the AP English teacher with my essays because they are so important. Thanks for the help</p>