Chances @ UChicago + Others

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey, I recently applied ED to UChicago and will be applying to other schools pretty soon. I’m not looking for a definite answer to which schools will admit or reject me; I just want to know if the schools on my list make sense and are possible for me to get into.

Bio:
-Citizenship: US
-State of residence: PA (nowhere near Philly or Pittsburgh)
-Income: ~$130,000
-Race: White
-Gender: Male

School:
-Type (Public/private & size): public school, pretty rural and small (only 110-120 students per grade), kinda crappy tbh
-Graduates (How many go to Ivy’s/top 20): Two recruited by Cornell the past few years, other than that no one. A few have applied to top colleges but almost all of them got wait-listed/rejected. Most go to local or state schools.
-AP’s Offered: 8 offered, I have taken all of them

Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 3.9-ish, mostly A’s
-Weighted GPA: 100.4, between a 4.4-4.6
-AP’s: 10th grade - Bio (3); 11th grade - Chem (2), Calc AB (5), Lang (4), CSP (3); 12th grade - Lit, CSA, Gov and Politics
-ACT: not submitting
-SAT: 1550 (750 CRW 800 M) (one sitting)
-SAT II: only submitting to Princeton, but Math Level 2 (700) and Literature (680)
-Rank: 2/~115
-Course Rigor: hardest at my school; no one else in my grade has the same course rigor as I do
-Current Courses: AP Lit, AP CSA, Economics (no honors available), AP Gov, Psychology/Sociology (placed into these not by choice, no honors available), Honors Physics (signed up for AP Physics C, but class was cancelled due to lack of students), Gym/Health (required), Calculus 2 (dual enrollment at local private university)

EC (In order of importance/commitment):
Explained in Additional Information section that my extracurricular involvement has been affected in certain ways beyond my control, and that for the extracurriculars I did I put as much effort into them as I could. Have participated in around thirteen extracurriculars total, but the seven I listed are my most important ones.
-Captain of Quizbowl/Scholastic Team (officially since 10th grade, but involved since 8th)
-Work (typical minimum-wage job, not providing details for privacy reasons)
-Marching band (10, 11, 12)
-Editor/Writer for School Newspaper (11, 12)
-PJAS (12)
-Web Design
-Contributor for online political liberal publication (not sharing for privacy reasons)
In addition, I might be working with a senator for my congressional district, but that’s not set in stone yet, so I just mentioned in in the Additional Info section.

Honors:

  • High Honor Roll (9, 10, 11, 12)
  • Qualified for a national Olympiad (11) but it doesn’t really matter; it wasn’t the USAMO or anything
  • Top 5 Individual Players at a few quizbowl competitions
  • AP + PLTW Student Achievement in Engineering
  • Chosen as Student of the Year for my school

Schools I’m looking at:
In order of importance to me
-UChicago (ED)
-Columbia (RD)
-Princeton (RD)
-Penn (RD)
-George Washington (RD)
-American (RD)
-Northeastern (EA)
-U of Pitt

Intended Major: depends on the school, but social science related (like international relations or anthropology)

Strengths: good enough stats (GPA and SAT), decent extracurriculars (especially considering what’s offered at my school and my area), essays (Common App excellent, and all the supplements will be just as good), recommendations, overall personality (I guess, I really don’t know), maybe doing so well for such a small and not-that-good public school

Weaknesses: AP scores, SAT II scores, didn’t cure cancer or win an international Olympiad or anything

Thank you so much for reading this!!! I want an honest opinion to what you think. I understand that only an admissions officer can admit/wait-list/reject me, but I will consider your thoughts while applying. Thanks again!

2

I think you have a decent chance at UChicago since I think they like ED applicants. Your profile is solid besides a few AP scores and the subject test scores, which could be made up for if you write amazing essays

3

@doorrealthe Thanks for looking at my profile! I do know that those AP and subject test scores can affect my chances, but hopefully not by much. And regarding my essays, I’m a pretty good writer. The ones I’ve written so far (only three of them) are all well-written and interesting, so I feel confident that the rest of them will be awesome as well.

4

Would anybody else be willing to chance me? I’d really appreciate it, and if you want I’ll try to chance you back.

5

For the most selective schools on your list, I think you’d be better off not self reporting the 2’s and 3’s. With a 1550 SAT the schools will conclude you have strong talents and will wonder why you received an A grade in HS in an AP class where you only received a 2 on the exam. That might make them wonder what all those A’s in your other classes really mean.

6

The AP and SAT II scores are a little weak, probably partly because of the school. I am sure you have the talent. I would apply to schools between the top 4 on your list and the bottom 4. You can probably take out Princeton, and you may not get into an Ivy.

7

@tdy123 I’m not reporting those AP scores to any of my colleges except the 4 and the 5, so that won’t be a problem.

@sattut Yeah my AP and SAT II scores were definitely weak because of the school I go to. Even if I studied really hard for them I probably still wouldn’t have done all that well on them. And I’m keeping Princeton and the other two ivies. I understand that I most likely will not get into them, but you never really know unless you try. Do you have any recommendations for other schools to apply to? I have no problem applying to more, but I can’t really think of any that I have a decent chance at.

8

Google top 500 colleges average SAT maybe you Rochester Lehigh Davidson Emory Case Western there is a big gap between the top four in the bottom 4 I would send the SAT iis as they’re not that bad it isn’t ideal being from rural PA it would be better to be from an underrepresented state or an URM.

9

@sattut I’ve looked into a few of those schools you listed, but none of them interested me. A few of my schools say that SAT IIs are “optional” so I’m not going to worry about sending them there (especially since they aren’t that good). And I’m not super worried that being from a rural part of the state will not help me much. I just want colleges to understand that I don’t have access to the opportunities that large public schools or suburban/urban schools, and I’ve done the best that I can.

10

How about Tufts, Emory, and NYU? Would any of these be possibilities for me?

11

I’d say that the Ivies and UChicago are all high reaches for you, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you got into one. The one noticeable quality on your application is your national level achievement in an Olympiad. While you seemed to downplay it here, it will help you stand out in the admissions process. I think you have a better shot than most at all your schools, but beyond that, I can’t really say.

Feel free to stop by my most recent thread and chance back.

12

@FreePariah Thanks for saying that, that’s all I was hoping to hear! And trust me, the Olympiad I qualified for is not really a big deal. All I did was take a test that qualified me for it, and I couldn’t even attend the national competition because of financial reasons (which I mentioned on my application). It wasn’t a really prestigious or well-known one, so it probably won’t help much.

I’ll check yours out later when I can.

13

bump

14

Yeh, Tufts. Emory, and NYU are the level of schools I would recommend applying to.

15

Your first four just look too reach heavy -UChicago, Columbia, Princeton, Penn and your last four look too safe. I think you need to look at some “in betweens.” I think you do have a good shot at UChicago though. As said if you do not get into UChicago ED, for RD Emory and Tufts (great IR programs, one of the best in the country) would be two really good choices for “in betweens” and NYU may be one too but it is slightly on the safer side. Other “in betweens” I would consider are Georgetown, Cornell, WUSTL, USC, and maybe Dartmouth.

16

Strong applicant. Just wanted to say, American and GW are often underestimated. About 4 kids got rejected from American last year. They all had 4.4+ and great test scores. I’m very confident You’ll get into NE.

Also, I saw some people saying ivies as “in betweens” They’re reaches for everyone.

17

Also, apply to the schools you want to apply to. Please don’t listen to people on CC telling you to take schools off your list. Just apply if you can.

18

@Bjklw2a The in betweens you mentioned don’t interest me. I absolutely hate rural regions, so Dartmouth and Cornell are automatically taken out. And Georgetown requires me to send literally all of my test scores (including both 32s and all my terrible subject test scores). But I get what you mean, and I’ll make sure to add a few more schools that I have a good shot at.

@justliviglife I do plan to apply to most of my colleges anyway. I was just trying to see if there were any I could immediately take out so I don’t have to waste time and money. And I most definitely will get into Northeastern, since I know two people who got into the Honors program with scholarships there, and I have a better app than both of them. I also think everyone is underestimating GW and American. Their IR programs are both awesome, which is why I’m applying, and therefore they must be at least slightly competitive.

19

@summerhazed

Why didn’t you apply to Princeton SCEA and UoC EDII?

20

@18YearsASlav because UChicago is my #1 choice. I do love Princeton, but I decided to go with my clear first choice and do ED. Besides, based on last year’s results, UChicago tends to favor ED1 applicants, and ED2 seems to be pretty competitive there.

Why would you suggest applying SCEA to Princeton?