<p>well, I think we will have fun in college regardless of where we go. unless of course everyone who gets rejected from their dream school ie u of c chooses to be mopey and negative nancies for all four years...then there is nothing that I or anyone else can say to soothe you. I would be surprised if that was case with you guys because you all seem bright and intelligent and that's not a bright and intelligent way to go about your life. cheerio!</p>
<p>"It's all guess work, of course, but if I were the admissions office I would give even more consideration than in previous years to EA applicants who produced tangible evidence of their knowledge of and commitment to UChi, such as having attended summer programs at UChi."</p>
<p>Henge, I hope you are right for my daughter's sake! She fell in love with U Chicago this past summer.</p>
<p>however, I
don't think the admissions people will really consider all that because for the most part, only priveleged people can afford to do all that summer program stuff.</p>
<p>I don't think they're just talking about summer programs, but knowledge about the University, specific reasons why you want to go, etc. </p>
<p>At least that's what I'm counting on.</p>
<p>i think that knowledge about the university and having good reasons why you want to go all help a lot. i don't think they care if you've done the UC summer programs. they're looking for committment to the university, but also committment to something you're passionate about. show those two things in your application, and you're in good shape! </p>
<p>best of luck.</p>
<p>I think U of C will inevitably have to pay more attention to test scores. Obviously, they're not going to focus as much as ivy league schools do, but they'll have to look at them a little more as applicant numbers surge.</p>
<p>Awww, but I love them for the fact that they don't focus on test scores! Because I don't think standardized tests can accurately measure your intelligence in the grand scheme of things.</p>
<p>Re test scores:</p>
<p>This great line from a Yale admissions person, which I'm fairly certain applies to Chicago, too:</p>
<p>"People are always asking how much attention we pay to test scores. The most honest answer I can give is: Less than you think we do, and more than we say we do."</p>
<p>If you look at the scattergrams from various high schools, Chicago rejects very few applicants with ultrahigh test scores. That's not a sign of not paying attention to test scores. It may accept a decent number of people with lower test scores, too, but that doesn't mean the admissions staff doesn't pay attention to the scores.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's all guess work, of course, but if I were the admissions office I would give even more consideration than in previous years to EA applicants who produced tangible evidence of their knowledge of and commitment to UChi...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I would think that they always pay attention to that, but I agree, this year they may be xtra careful</p>
<p>
[quote]
...such as having attended summer programs at UChi.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Let me guess, you attended such a program :-) Well, I have bad news for you. IMO, attending a summer program at U Chicago does nothing to show commitment to the school. It could demonstrate commitment to scholarship or parental ambition, depending on the circumstances, and will certainly be a positive factor in the admission decision, but no more so than in prior years. However, the same can be said about attending ANY summer program, even if it is in a community college in North Dakota. I think that all that attending Chicago's specific program shows them is geographical proximity to Chicago and/or abundant financial resources. They know the former from other data in your application, and the latter supposedly is not taken into account for admission decisions. Commitment to the school is shown through other aspects of your application, specifically a thoughtful answer to the question "How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future".</p>
<p>On the general topic of how will the surge of EA applications affect the process, I think that it will be pretty straightforward. The typical admit rate for Chicago is around 38%. Every self-respecting school tries to control the percentage of admits to an approximately fixed level. To first order, I expect that the EA admit rate at Chicago this year will be around 30% = 38%/1.4 plus a few percentage points as a conservative attempt to account for an EA yield depressed by about 5-10%. Note that last year Chicago admitted an unusually large class, so the admit rate this year would have dropped anyway. I expect that the AO will want to err on the side of safety and defer more people than usual to RD. This is certainly not good news for academically solid but not over-achieving applicants such as my D (ACT=33, GPA=3.9, top 10%, solid ECs). Hopefully her great answer to the "Why Chicago" question will help her achieve some distinction in the mind of the person who reads her application. We shall see, I am probably more nervous about this than her.</p>
<p>Again, far from an admissions expert here, but I do think your application will be considered on its own terms. Libby posted on the blog about how they don't feel compelled to admit or reject a certain number from any given high school, and I think that's because they just want to know who you are.</p>
<p>I'm sure if you have high scores, that helps you, if you have scores in the midrange, that's not a yes or a no, and if you have scores below the midrange, that's also not a yes or a no.</p>
<p>If I could spell out admissions patterns through the people I know, I could say that Chicago likes people who:
-- Did something in high school that they really *enjoyed<a href="whether%20it%20be%20working%20on%20a%20show,%20quiz%20bowl,%20Model%20UN,%20newspaper,%20volunteering,%20etc.%20etc.%20etc.">/I</a>
-- Have definite academic interests, even if not a definite idea of a major
-- Are able to do the level of work here and show a strong desire to do it</p>
<p>That's what I think every Chicago admit has in common with each other. Outside of that, there are many other circumstances considered. One of my friends has a pretty serious learning disorder that interfered with her grades at some point in her high school career (Chicago said yes), another of my friends was homeschooled and got by on reading books by himself and watching educational programs on TV (Chicago said yes), another of my friends was in drug rehab for most of high school and took a year off before applying to schools (Chicago said yes). If anything, that goes to show that your application will be considered seriously, whether blemished or not.</p>
<p>And William Cottrell, ecoterrorist (pulled from Wikipedia):</p>
<p>"According to his mother, who affectionately referred to her son as being socially retarded, and according to other sources, Cottrell had trouble fitting in with his peers during his childhood and adolescence. From a young age, he was fascinated with science, especially math and physics. As a sixth-grader, he submitted a report on quantum mechanics as extra credit. However, the grade he received was an F, for his teacher believed that he had plagiarized the work. This event caused Cottrell to stop excelling in school, and led him to a life as rebel and class troublemaker. However, his love for math and physics never waned, and in high school, he started taking college-level math and physics courses at colleges near home. Despite his poor high school grade point average, he wrote a compelling college application essay. He had written, "I can't really say that I regret my years of rebellion.....If there's one thing that trouble does, it allows one the freedom to question the standards and purposes of the institution by which one's status is defined. It has thereby instilled within me a firm resolution to live by my own set of impermeable standards."</p>
<p>The essay impressed the University of Chicago, resulting in an acceptance for Cottrell as part of its Class of 2002"</p>
<p>An article in the LA Weekly [3] reports that Billy is being mistreated by prison guards who have labeled him a "terrorist". According to the article, he is not permitted to study physics or Mandarin Chinese, is not permitted to teach the other prisoners calculus, and has had his books and papers removed without being given a reason.
A letter in Cottrells defense, signed by Stephen Hawking and other prominent scientists, was distributed to prison authorities and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals at Cottrells October 18, 2006 hearing. "But instead of helping him in prison, the letter seemed only to make things worse: Two weeks after the hearing, Cottrell was mysteriously thrown in the Hole."[3]</p>
<hr>
<p>I guess they are worried about him being the inside book maker for the Triad's derivatives ring.</p>