Let me start off, this is my dream school! I have some backups that I’m really interested in as well but after researching this school I fell in love.
Well here is what I have and I’d like to know what I could do over the summer to help my chances.
From Idaho
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4.2 GPA
PLAN to score 800 on math 2
PLAN to score about a 1500 on SAT
In school Orchestra, City Youth Philharmonic, and school chamber orchestra.
Volunteer teaching viola lessons and teaching math
Probably a nation merit commendation but idk
I ski a lot and can do sick trix (is this even worth putting on? lmao)
Won some teachers pet award last year (sophomore)
Play Soccer for club
Self taught programmer in programming club (Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, React, Java)
Really into music production and I produced fire (fuegs) rap beats for kids at school
I have a summer job in food industry
Confirmation for the catholic church (took a lot of time but I’m an aethesit, is that worth putting down?)
Beyblade club lit it rip
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So I should probably volunteer some more yeah? I never have been the type to count up my hours cause I ain’t a prude but I’m starting to regret that. Also I plan to do more politically involved stuff around school.
Yo thanks a lot friends this means a lot to me and I’d love to go to this school because it is so beautiful and I love the creed.
EDIT: I’m looking at the IME because I love science and molecular engineering is one of the coolest fields IMO
Expending effort to get confirmed in the Catholic Church when you are, in fact, an atheist isn’t exactly demonstrating wise use of time or respect for a belief system. Unless of course you feel that you actually did receive something meaningful in the process. If so, put it in an essay (you will be writing several).
Well yeah I did learn a lot about the community and I had to do some volunteering but I’ve forgotten what volunteering. Also it did make me more spiritual but I probably won’t write an essay on it. Is it something worth putting in the activities section of the common app?
It’s not going to hurt you to put it. It will be viewed as religious instruction unless you were a small group leader or something (in which case it’s an example of leadership). Definitely include your Christian service hours if you can remember what you did.
I think it would make a more interesting essay than a bullet point on your activities list, to be honest.
You realize you can’t just plan to do well on standardized tests, right? It doesn’t work that way. You can study and sleep well and do all sorts of things to maximize your chances of doing well but you can’t guarantee anything. In any case, I wouldn’t worry too much if you don’t hit 800/1500 - gotta be careful not to fall into the trap of missing [the forest for the trees](Diversity or Merit? | MIT Admissions).
Why is your high school giving out teachers pet awards? That doesn’t sound much like an award. I’m impressed you managed to become teachers pet while also running a bayblades club, teachers don’t tend to like small distracting toys.
Anyways, college admissions is all about branding. You want your application to summarize itself up in a way that your regional admissions office can pitch you to the committee easily. Admission is a multiple round process - the general way it works (at nearly every school, though nuances vary) is that someone reads it and then presents you and your application to the committee. Then they vote. Write your application so you’ll both convince your initial reader to like you and so they can very easily give a three minute elevator pitch on why you should get in. You might not get in here but you’ll have a much better chance of hitting above your weight. You’ve got a lot of interesting stuff in there, all you need to do is to organize and present it well. Listing a million disparate activities is actually detrimental - you don’t want anything to distract from your core message.
Ok thank you. So you mention a ‘core message’ but that kind of scares me. Of course I’m not going to write some boring list for admissions and I’ll try to show who I am in my essays but I honestly don’t know if I could answer to what my core message is.
Also, thanks for linking that MIT article. It should really help.
Re Core message. Another way to think it is that you want to put together a set of essays that, if someone who knew you well and liked you read it, their reaction would be “yeah, that’s what I love about ghoul!” In essence, the challenge is to capture and distill what makes you a fun, interesting, admirable, and/or distinctive person and one that a college would want to have in the mix. And you need to do this by letting your readers see the world through your eyes rather than by telling them about yourself.
I don,t know whether that makes the task more or less daunting, LOL! OTOH, you don’t need a unifying theme. OTOH, you have to have a pretty good sense of what makes you an attractive person. And, in the absence of a unifying theme, it does probably help to have a memorable image in one of the essays – i.e. shorthand way of identifying you as a candidate. This, I think, is a variant on HydeSnark’s elevator pitch theme.
AP’s and 5’s on AP tests help a lot…do you have them?
Leadership positions? (very important for any top school)
Really good recommendation letters are also very important for UChicago. They really care about who you are, not only your numbers.
I’ve read some mixed messages about taking a lot of AP classes and getting 5’s on them. Quite a lot of people on CC say that it’s really not that helpful. I think what I hear is that you choose a rigorous curriculum at your school and show that you challenge yourself and love to learn. My D did not really have much in terms of leadership. Not that she was a slacker but that just wasn’t her thing. I know it sounds corny but try to show who you are as a person. And don’t have a dream school. Find places you’d like or love to go to in all the categories of safety, match and reach.
AP’s are helpful. There is no doubt. They are college-level subjects, and having an A and a 4 or 5 on the test is the best proof of your readiness for college. But, obviously it depends on the school and how many AP’s it offers. If the school offers 30 AP’s and the student took only two, his/her chances to get into a top top school are pretty low. On the contrary, if the school does not offer AP’s at all, and the student is in the top 5% of the class his/her chances could be better. Every application is unique, because every student comes from an unique world and background. That is why there are no formulas to get into an specific school. My daughter just graduated from HS this year and seeing the kids and their acceptances was an eye-opener. I agree with you: the students have to show who they are.
Also, don’t have a dream school. That is the best way to find the perfect fit. Not every school will work for every student, and sometimes the student idealizes a school that is not for him/her. It is very accurate to say that the AO’s know better…
If you have the availability of a local University you could take a few classes at, this will substantially help you in the long run. My son and now daughters find it much easier than your typical AP test and I’ve never been a fan to hang an entire year on a single day.
Every school he was accepted at mentioned the University classes, including Uchicago.