Do you think I can get in?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>I'm currently a junior. With some luck, my unweighted GPA will be 4.3 by the time I want to apply and my SAT is already 2250</p>

<p>Of course, there are plenty of people out there who have much better scores then me and would still get outright rejected. But I do have a relatively interesting story. I was born in Turkey and lived there until I was 4, when I moved to the states. I stayed in the US until 2 months into my freshman year, and spent the rest of my freshman year in Turkey. I decided I didn't like the Turkish educational system, so I told my parents to send me to an international school in Spain, where I've stayed and will be staying until the end of my senior year. So over the course of my high school years, I have been through the educational system of 3 countries, so it's safe to say I'm a pretty cosmopolitan guy </p>

<ul>
<li>I know 4 languages and I am more than fluent in all of them:</li>
<li>English ( easily my best language)</li>
<li>Turkish</li>
<li>Russian ( My mother is Russian, and I have a Russian passport in addition to my Turkish passport)</li>
<li><p>Spanish (I'll have spent 3 years in Spain)</p></li>
<li><p>SAT 2 Spanish: 800</p></li>
<li><p>SAT 2 Math Level 2: TBD</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-Extracurriculars: I play on an American Football team here in Spain, and we actively travel through all parts of the country, Portugal and France to play other teams. Europe doesn't really have the school teams that exist in America; if you want to play sports in Europe, you have to join a club.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>This summer I'll be going to Africa to help construct houses and teach English and Turkish in one of my dad's schools ( he's an architect for this international school)</p></li>
<li><p>I regularly do community work here (not actually sure of the hours.</p></li>
<li><p>My Course load this years</p></li>
<li><p>Spanish</p></li>
<li><p>Biology</p></li>
<li><p>Trigonometry</p></li>
<li><p>AP Econ</p></li>
<li><p>AP World</p></li>
<li><p>AP Euro</p></li>
<li><p>AP Literature</p></li>
</ul>

<p>That's most of what my application may look like, barre a few details.</p>

<p>My question is, should I bother applying? I know how ridiculously hard it can be to get into this school and there probably are people out there with more interesting applications and higher grades. My biggest thing is the fact that I have been exposed to such a wide array of views ( seriously, my mother comes from a formerly communist, and atheist, Russian family. My mother still owns an apartment that was given to my grandfather by Stalin after WW2. My father, on the other hand, comes from a highly conservative Muslim family.), so maybe if UChicago is looking for that type of student I might get accepted.</p>

2

<p>Esat936, I have lurked on these forums for a while now but never really bothered signing up… until now. Your post got me off the fence.</p>

<p>You should apply. Don’t even think twice about it. From what you posted above, you seem like a strong student, which makes you competitive in the applicant pool. All you can do is put your best effort into the application. Your application should be your vehicle to expressing yourself and showing who you are and who you want to become. It’s not up to you to decide if you’re “interesting” enough. You just play the hand you’re dealt in life, and make the most of it. I’m sure you’re plenty a interesting person to be around.</p>

<p>If it gives you any comfort, I consider my “stats” weaker than yours. I won’t post them because I hold the view that people these days, parents and applicants alike, obsess too much over them. Indeed, they’re only part of the equation for a holistically-based application process such as UChicago’s.</p>

<p>Last fall, I poured myself into my application, and holy moly I got into Chicago. I didn’t think I would. But as you can see, you never know! It’s really late here, so if this post doesn’t make any sense, let me know. Best of luck on your application, and take it easy!</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your comment. I’ve never actually worried about my stats too much, as I’ve always been a strong student. It’s just that I’ve moved around so much that I haven’t been able to do as many ECs as I would have liked. </p>

<p>How were your essays? </p>

4

<p>Well, it’s better to do a few ECs and be invested and successful in the few that you do. So, the number of ECs isn’t concerning; what you’ve done with the ECs you participated in tells the story.</p>

<p>And I guess my essays were strong. I haven’t yet worked harder on any writing assignment in my lifetime. I would like to think that I successfully and genuinely presented who I am and who I wish to become in my essays. I’m not exactly sure what you mean</p>

5

<p>There’s a widespread misunderstanding about admissions that it is affected by the number of extracurricular activities you can list. Similarly, while scores are not unimportant, no one cares about a few extra points here and there, and 3.98 instead of 4.00 GPA makes no difference. Whether you are cosmopolitan, how many languages you speak, and whether your relatives are religiously conservative, isn’t important in any direct way.</p>

<p>Schools have various emphases. Some schools are looking for leaders of society (class presidents, head cheerleaders, etc). Others are trying to see who is most likely to get rich and send money to the school in future (academically mediocre atheletes are more likely to get rich than nerds.) . UChgo isn’t immune from wanting more money, but it does genuinely seem to be looking primarily for people who are academically gifted, have broad interests, are intellectually curious, show innovative and original thinking, are driven to excel, etc. This is measured only partly by SAT scores. You can put your nose to the grindstone and get high SAT scores, but that isn’t evidence of real intellectual chops or lasting ambition. </p>

<p>Extracurriculars, letters of recommendation, etc and other aspects of your application that are evidence of intellectual prowess, drive, creativity, out-of-the-box thinking etc.draw a clearer picture than how many soup kitchens you volunteered at. Every admissions officer knows about all those ECs that are there only to ‘improve’ the college app.</p>

6

<p>The fact is nobody knows…and everybody is speculating. Even the guys posting long erudite emails are simply offering their baseless opinions. Just do your best, apply and chill !</p>