<p>All of the “top schools” have different cultures (so they’re not all looking for the same thing, and not many of them overlap with CHicago at all), which by being his or herself, a student will surely be perceived by right for some place.</p>
<p>Much of the time, “fit” is gauged through the Why X School question, meaning that your child will be able to tailor these essays to their perceptions of particular academic institutions. To some extent, writing a good fit essay is merely symptomatic of being a good fit – one will like a school more if they think it’s a good match, and therefore be more motivated to write a careful and sophisticated essay.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that some schools don’t care about fit, including really excellent places which are just large enough to offer “something to everyone.” In this case, the application only has to convey that there are at least one or two things for the applicant at the school in question.</p>
<p>@dynamicsemantics - I totally agree with you. “tailoring to meet the perception” and “to some extent…of being a fit” do make sense. It is a question of expressing through writing to match the perceptions of the reader at the end…</p>
<p>Thanks for the insights it certainly will help in the next four remaining apps.</p>
<p>I was accepted. 35 ACT, but only 3.35 UW and 4.4 W. I think they’re looking at more than the numbers; it’s pretty impossible to place a formula on any admissions office.</p>
<p>I was accepted and my academics aren’t great (2070 SAT, my ACT should be at least a 30 when I get the results in Dec, 3.63 GPA but all honors since the beginning of high school, ect ect), but I did have a LOT of hooks, including being flown in for an overnight visit (which UChicago just doesn’t do), being an URM, doing JAX SSP12 and therefore able to talk passionately about premed/neuro, pretty good essays (okay, I liked them and a lot of people at my school liked them, but they pale in comparison to a lot of CC people’s), and one BA favorite things essay (I made UChicago a music playlist). </p>
<p>And at the statement of "You got rejected or deferred because you didn’t fit the school. "- eh. With 10k applicants and an already low acceptance rate, even those who are UChicago material (in academics AND personality) are going to get deferred/rejected. Honestly, for the next couple of years unless things change, getting in EA at UChicago is going to be a matter of how lucky you are once you surpass the certain “qualified” threshold. That’s just college admissions life in this century. We already see the effects of a large and highly qualified applicant pool competing for barely any spots on many other top institutions.
But yeah, personality really is important and each school has its own culture, even with its desire to build a diverse and talented class.</p>
<p>I wonder how much time an admissions officer puts into each application though, to see if you really are the right fit. Seems like your application would have to blindingly shine out of the pile of thousands for someone to think “Ah yes, their personality will tie in just nicely.” I think schools take the time to do a holistic process, but not too much time.</p>