<p>I'm a really smart guy relative to people in my school, I know that or else I wouldn't be applying to the University of Chicago. My SAT score is the University's average and I'm the president of two major clubs at my school. But some how, I really feel incompetent and that there is going to be a major learning curve when/if I go to the University of Chicago. It is just a feeling; is there anybody else here on the same page?</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>I fully expect to be better than most students at any university I go to.</p>
<p>j10cpc5000, I feel exactly the same.</p>
<p>Ahh, I know. Everyone assumes I will get 4.0 without trying, just like HS. Not the case. I am afraid of getting B's! Plus, there are a lot of particularly brilliant kids in the physics department. I just don't want to get swept under the rug. I worry that I should have taken a lesser school where I will be top dawg. However, I know that I will probably have less knowledge, considering my high school, but I can learn fast and am intelligent. My thinking is, what's the point of going to college if it just like high school?</p>
<p>Good point, jerew. As for being nervous, I'll admit I'm a little anxious myself. But it's important to remember that if you are accepted, it is for a reason. The last thing Chicago, or any college for that matter, is a student body who isn't up to the challenge and drops out or transfers. Another thing I think about is that all kinds of people go to Chicago. There are kids at Uchicago who have gone to random public schools in Kansas with APs, there are kids who have gone to progressive schools in big cities with no APs (me!), there are kids who've gone to swanky private schools, there are sophisticated kids, there are kids who've never been away from home, kids who have Phd parents, kids who are the first in their family to go to college. And they all make it, truly succeed, somehow, and for some it is indeed more difficult than others. I too fear getting bad grades, or not keeping up in a class. But at a certain point, challenging yourself to go to a place like UChicago is going to be an edifying experience, even if you have difficulties. I have to believe there is something in the fact that we all chose to go. It should indicate something about us and what we're ready for. At least, I hope it does.</p>
<p>i hope that a good proportion of the chicago will have gone there for some reason other than that it is the easiest top school to get into. if you do go there because you think that its a good fit, then you ought to be up to the challenge that'll face you when you get there. you'll realize that college isnt merely a stepping stone to graduate school or employment. if you have a wholistic approach to your time there, then you'll get some b's, have fun, learn something special ...</p>
<p>Well, I'm not worried.</p>
<p>I like at it this way: firstly, my HS preparation was very good. My current courses have work that is close to the college level, in terms of the critical thinking and effort required (since I'm in an enriched program, and lots of my teachers have taught at the university and grad level).</p>
<p>Also, statistics show that 10% of the kids in college HAVE to be in the top 10% of their class. So why not me?</p>
<p>I don't think I'll tear it up with 3.8s and 4.0s...but I would expect 3.4+, which would be good for Chicago.</p>
<p>dd has this kind of cold feet too, thinking she'll be working all the time to keep up with everyone else and getting graded harshly. Ug I wish we could talk to some UChi students. </p>
<p>But I agree they picked you because they think you can do the work. Her GC said she is absolutely prepared to do the work.</p>
<p>Also remember the average GPA is 3.4, so yeah, you'll likely get some B's.</p>
<p>you sure the avg gpa is 3.4? that sounds awfully high. i thought i heard a stat that chicago was the only place where the gpa of the football players (3.33) was higher than the overall avg (3.26).</p>
<p>anyone know the true avg. GPA @ Chicago?</p>
<p>I read 3.4 overall and 3.3 for athletes. I'll try to find that.</p>
<p>In some ways it will be weird not being on top (although who knows, maybe I still will be...or at least I hope to be in at least some small sector) but has anybody else gotten awfully tired of it?</p>
<p>It gets old always being on top in math and science. I would assume that it's worse than if you were int he same position in English or something simply becasue or the nature of the class. Being at the top in math and science means that not only are you setting the curves on the tests, but you are the person that people want help from. It's easier to provide help in those subjects becuase there are very direct methods ("do this problem") while that kind of help from other students is not as expected in English. You might have someone look over a paper, but you usually dont see students actually teaching each other how to write a paper. As it stands there are other people at the same level and we can give mutual aid in the math/science region but there isnt anyone above us except the teacher.</p>
<p>I guess it might be nice to have a peer who I can get help from rather than give help to (and there will always be somebody in 12100 physics or some easy math class that I can help out). I guess we will all find out next year if we stay at the top :).</p>
<p>i think it was the harvard dean of admissions, in an address to the class of 08's parents, saying something along the lines of "dont worry if your kid doesnt graduate in the top 10% of the class. for 90% of the kids here, that's the reality, and the first time in their lives that its happened."</p>
<p>I expect to graduate 4.0.</p>
<p>Graduating with a 4.0 at Chicago is as hard/rare as winning the Rhode Scholarship. Good luck with that. </p>
<p>Anyways, I don't feel I am inferior to anyone else, no doubt. However, I live in a really small and sleepy town and my parents are immigrants who never went to college so I feel that I might not know as much as people who spend 12 years at a prep school. Right now, I'm known as this major smart guy in school but if I get accepted to Chicago, I'm going to have to pick up the heat. </p>
<p>I really think people who feel a little incompetent are more ready for Chicago than people who feel absolutely secure. The latter will be shocked and the former will be ready.</p>
<p>ps. I think last year, nobody got a 4.0 and 2 years ago, 2 people got 4.0's. Last year, two Chicago students won the Rhode scholarship, i'm not sure how many won 2 years ago.</p>
<p>pshh the prep schools just prep them for things.</p>
<p>You could learn just as much or more if you take the right classes in high school.</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that I'll do well at Chicago. I'm not at the very top of my high school class, but I come from an extremely competitive school. The kids in most of my classes are either going to places like MIT and Harvard or they're getting prestigous scholarships to second tier schools. I figure that if I can do well when I'm competing against these kids, I can do well at Chicago. Nevertheless, I've accepted that I'll have to really invest myself in my education if I want to end up at the top of Chicago's 09 class.</p>
<p>ps: jpps1, isn't it a little bit haughty to assume that you're better than most of the students at a university where you were deferred?</p>
<p>Jp10, my dad went through the same sort of thing. He graduated from an absolutely terrible hs and went on to college with basically the same kind of academic preparation as some of us had in sixth/seventh grade (no exaggeration, he has told me several times that the amount of work I had to do in middle school was both greater in quantity and in difficulty than most anything he was assigned in high school). He said that it was insanely difficult at first (and even if he had gotten a better hs education, the first semester of college is not going to be easy), but that he got by off of motivation and worked his butt off to catch up with his peers. From the end of freshman year on, he got stellar grades and ascended to the top decile of his class. From what I've seen in your essay and your circumstances, I think you have the motivation and discipline to succeed at any school despite the perhaps subpar preparation you received at your high school. Seriously, you pushed yourself to work in a factory for an entire summer. I think you'll be able to push yourself just as hard at Chicago, esp. since, instead of manual labor, you'll be doing something you enjoy.</p>
<p>Thank you for your encouraging words!</p>
<p>i want to go to a college that makes me feel incompetent.</p>
<p>im really not gaining much by sleeping through highschool.</p>
<p>i look forward to a challenge and peers who are smarter than me. i think it will help me grow.</p>