Good god another "what are my chances"

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>Any advice on how to improve my chances would be greatly appreciated. University of Chicago is definitely my second choice as I already applied early decision to Rice. Rice was a serious reach though and I feel like I have a better chance at UC.</p>

<p>4.05 GPA currently ranked 2/214
AP U.S. History=5
Currently taking AP Literature and Statistics and self studying for psychology
U.S. History SAT II= 800
Literature SAT II=700
ACT=27 English=28 Math=24 Reading=32 Science=23 Essay=10
I took it again on the 22nd but I am waiting to see my scores</p>

<p>Amazing letters of rec
Very unique background growing up in Alaskan wilderness
Awesome essays</p>

<p>I hold a true passion for leadership and service:
Key Club treasurer
Key Club vice president
National Honor Society Vice president
Senior class vice president
Student Council member
Several hundered hours of community service since Freshman year</p>

<p>Several academic awards including three student of the month</p>

2

<p>did you take the regular SATI? You might want to try it if you haven't... the ACT and SAT prove differently sometimes.</p>

3

<p>Actually I took the old SAT at the start of Junior year and I only scored an 1110 on it. As a result I decided to focus my energies on getting a decent ACT score.</p>

4

<p>If Rice is a reach, Chicago is also a reach. Just think I should add that Chicago is not really an easier school to get into.</p>

5

<p>I think Chicago is a reasonable reach if you can improve your ACT score a bit. If you ACT score does not improve, you may also want to look at some of the SAT Optional schools such as Bates and Bowdoin.</p>

6

<p>Actually Rice is about a million times harder to get into than University of Chicago. Rice has a 19% acceptance rate and University of Chicago accepts about 45% of applicants. Rice is even harder to get into than some of the ivy league schools. Also the average ACT for Rice is about 32 while the average for UC is from a 28-30. So when you do the breakdown there is really no comparision for difficulty. I was actually surprised at how many people are accepted by University of Chicago. I mean it is actually harder to get accepted into a lot of the University of California schools than UC.</p>

7

<p>pilebay, </p>

<p>I think you better look at the ACT statistics for University of Chicago again:</p>

<p><a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Your current ACT is in the bottom quartile of applicants. I do think that you have a shot at Chicago due to your excellent class rank, but I don't think it's a sure thing.</p>

8

<p>Also look at Carolyn's recent post about online vs. handwritten applications - the head of admissions at Chicago doesn't think much of online submissions. If you're looking a small ways to make yourself stand out, an carefully crafted paper Chicago app, sent by snail mail might be a good thing. They really want you to tailor your app to their college, and they don't like it when student's use essays that were taken from a common application prompt. Read her link. Thread: "Online application debate"</p>

9

<p>Oh I know my ACT scores suck. They pretty much put me in the bottom quartile for all the schools I am applying to. Of course they are not that far below the lowest 50% range of UC which is a 28. Its not like I am dealing with a 20 or something. Thanks for the link to the site though. It was interesting to see the distribution by region. It is not really high for the west coast and most of those are coming from CA and WA. I bet less than five people a year will apply to University of Chicago from Alaska. Very few of our graduates even leave the state and if they do it is usually to WA or OR. Also I noticed that University of Chicago places greater significance on things other than standardized tests.</p>

10

<p>pilebay: please do not be misled by the high acceptance rate at uchi. most of the acceptees are probably ivy worthy students who rely upon uchi as their safety school or "2nd choice" school. this is bourne out by the low yield rates of uchi. the high acceptance rate does not mean that it is easier to get into if you don't have the proper stats.</p>

11

<p>Here is the link to the article ASAP mentioned -</p>

<p><a href="http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/11/02/online%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://insidehighered.com/news/2005/11/02/online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

12

<p>So basically University of Chicago is just filled with rejects that were unable to get into ivy league schools. Please tell me again why this is a good thing?</p>

13

<p>it's a good thing because it's still better than community college.</p>

14

<p>I wouldn't doubt it.</p>

15

<p>So don't ****ing apply...what do you want to hear?</p>

16

<p>
[quote]
it's a good thing because it's still better than community college.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Good grief, BlacknBlue. Don't you ever get tired of saying mildly 'shocking' things? I either smile when I see your posts or throw tomatoes, depending on the mood I'm in.</p>

<p>Pilebay -</p>

<p>I can't agree with BlacknBlue's statement that "most of the acceptees are probably ivy worthy students who rely upon uchi as their safety school or "2nd choice" school." That is true of some students.... not others.</p>

<p>My son spent four weeks in biology classes at Chicago last summer. Part of his reason for going there was to find out more about the school, as it was one of his two top choices for undergrad (the other is Brown). He made a point of talking to a number of students at the University to find out why they had gone Chicago, how they felt about the school, and just how heavy the workload was. The one thing he definitely learned is that each student had a different reason for being there. As BlacknBlue said, some were at their second choice school; they had really wanted to go to an Ivy. But an even larger number had applied to Chicago as their "dream" school. Some had turned down offers from Ivies to go to Chicago, while others had simply never applied to any Ivies because they weren't interested or because their test scores were slightly lower (say in the 1300s....on the old SAT). </p>

<p>The thing to remember is this. It is possible to get into Chicago with slightly lower SAT or ACT scores. However, the thing you absolutely must have is a literate and imaginative essay. It doesn't matter if you score 2400 on the SAT. If you can't write with verve and creativity, you are not going to get through the door at Chicago, no matter what your SAT or ranking is. </p>

<p>As to where my own son will end up, I don't know. He loved Chicago last summer and has applied EA there. No matter what happens, he'll be sending out at least a few other apps in the spring, including an Ivy or two. After the air clears, he'll make his final choice. </p>

<p>However, I will say this. Chicago is an extraordinary school--some would call it unique, and many of the students who are there truly love it. I can't think of another university that is so well respected by other scholars and scientists. It takes a certain kind of undergraduate to grow and thrive in that environment, which can be incredibly intense. But if you're that kind of student, then you should go for it and let them see that passion in your essays.</p>

<p>One last comment...the Rice acceptance rate can be deceiving. There is a huge discrepency between the out-of-state and in-state admissions figures. Out-of-staters are accepted at Rice at a much higher rate than in-staters, (In fact, I think the out-of-state rate may be almost double that of the in-staters.) Since you are out-of-state for Rice, there may actually not be much of a difference between the admission percentages for Rice and Chicago. In-state would be another matter...</p>

17

<p>my only question to cami's post is: what happened to the 65% who are accepted and choose to go elsewhere? uchi is unique, it is extroadinary, but noone can tell me that having made the effort to write the uchi essays that they would then reject the school because of its reputation for being rigorous. i submit that they probably had a better offer. as a sign of my respect for uchi, my premise is that the better offer usually comes in the form of a more desirable (in prestige) school such as an ivy league school. no, this is certainly not an absolute statement, but uchi, by this measure, has problems attracting a large portion of their acceptees. there are certainly some students at uchi who, after receiving an acceptance at an ivy or stanford would choose uchi for a whole host of valid reasons, but your citing the "higher number that applied to uchi as their dream school" doesn't quantify whether they had the credentials to even consider a more selective school. their numbers may have self selected uchi as their dream school because to dream is wonderful, but to be unrealistic is fatal. </p>

<p>another measure of my respect for uchi and its people, simply is the fact that i am here. the debate is lively, the uchi people certainly are blinded by their love of the university and that makes most of my statements, which i do not deem as particularly provocative, seem "shocking" because there is the "chip" on the uchi shoulder where the ivy's are concerned.</p>

18

<p>Thank you Cami215. Your post was very insightful and actually helped me. I would have to say that some of the posts on this this thread have actually offended me and others have been down right infuriating. Rice's acceptance for out of state is double in fact it is about 40% so you are correct in saying that it is very similar to University of Chicago. I honestly do not know where I stand with either university considering the fact that I an incapable of doing standardized tests and as a result my scores are much lower than average. I am just hoping that my ACT scores will go up (I find out in 4 days). Thanks again.</p>

19

<p>Looking at just the numbers one sees little difference between most of the top schools, Chicago's SAT scores are slightly higher than Brown's, for example. I think each school has its own criteria for admission which Cami215 expressed nicely. Each admits for different purposes, and students decide for many reasons. At Chicago, academic requirements play a huge role as does financial aid, which is not as generous as some, in making one's final decision. As noted earlier, a survey of why Chicago admits did not choose Chicago found those two items to be the biggest reason for not attending, most did not go to a higher rated school, but, conversely, to a so-called lower-rated school. Speaking to the second, the University, through a separate funding drive, is raising an additional $100 million for financial aid, so perhaps this will be less important in the future.</p>

20

<p>the analysis concerning the sat's are not necessarily cogent here. one must remember that brown recruits athletes and for the most part, they bring down an sat level. if you remove the sats of the jocks, then the sats of the "scholars", so to speak, would be considerably higher. regarding financial aid, i don't know if uchi is stingier or not, but uchi gives merit scholarships to lure better candidates. brown does not. also brown does not have a particularly large endowment and usually is not known for giving the best aid package, yet applicants flock to brown. they have to beat them back with a stick. i don't know why such a preponderance of applicants leave their uchi acceptances in the circular file, i have my theories, but i wouldn't think that financial aid is the main reason.</p>