<p>Alright, so I want some others opinions on my chances of getting into University of Chicago. My primary choice is NYU for Early Decision, then U of Chicago and Cornell as my backups. Here's my basic stats:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.5
Class Rank: >15%
ACT Composite: 32</p>
<p>ACT Individual Scores:
English 32
Math 26 (my definite weakness)
Reading 34
Science 34
English/Writing (the essay portion) 33</p>
<p>Some other tidbits:
-Ive taken three A.P. courses (English 3 & 4, Psychology)
-I got a three on the A.P. Psychology test (Im dual majoring in psychology and sociology)
-Ive been in a few clubs (Student Council, Spanish Honor Society, etc.)
-Ive got limited volunteer hours (somewhere between 50-150 total)
-Oh yeah, I also skipped sophomore year. Surprise.</p>
<p>So lets start with skipping a grade. Ive been in private school all my life up until high school, so I excelled in academics. I started taking high school math (All Pre-A.P) early. I took Algebra 1 in 7th grade. Then Geometry in 8th, Algebra 2 in 9th, and finished my math with Pre-Calculus in 11th grade. I also started Spanish courses early. I took two years of Spanish in 6th and 7th grade, but they werent high school courses. I took Pre-A.P. Spanish 1 in 8th grade, then Pre-A.P. Spanish 2 in 9th and Pre-A.P. Spanish 3 in 11th (I had to stop after Spanish 3 due to lack of required credits needed to graduate).</p>
<p>The downfall to skipping a grade was the increased workload I was nowhere near prepared for. The transition from minimal workload as a freshman (though I was enrolled in all Pre-A.P. courses) to the large amount of workload as a junior (I was in A.P. and Pre-A.P. courses) was definitely rough on my GPA. I went from a solid 4.00 UW GPA at the end of freshmen year down to a 3.5 UW current GPA. Two classes, A.P. U.S. History and Pre-A.P. Calculus were definitely my weak points. I got a 65-70 for both of these first semester, and dropped them. I took regular courses second semester and managed to bring my yearly grade up to a B+, but Im not sure how thatll look. Im hoping they realize that this was a tough time for me, but I have a feeling theyll see me as lazy.</p>
<p>Thats about all I can think of including. Let me know what you think !</p>
<p>The reason why U. Chicago and Cornell are my backups is because NYU has a stronger psychology and sociology department. U. Chicago is #2 because of the lower cost and higher meeting of financial aid compared to Cornell, along with the urban location (Cornell is sort of far from a large city).</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure on the GPA part since I skipped a year and got a high ACT score. I figured that would make up for it.</p>
<p>I didn’t see a Chances forum. I saw others post relatively same things using this forum section (and on other colleges under similar sections) and posted it. My apologies if that’s wrong.</p>
<p>I think NYU is a match for you if you apply ED.</p>
<p>The reason that people are questioning why you have Chicago/Cornell as backups is because Chicago/Cornell are much harder to get into. For you, Chicago is a high reach and Cornell is a mid reach, while NYU is a match. You need safer “backups.”</p>
<p>Also, let me add that you shouldn’t make a choice for undergraduate education based on the strength of department, especially in a field so widespread as psychology. But in any case, I don’t know where you got your information, but NYU is actually not the best for psychology or sociology. Take the US News rankings, for instance:</p>
<p>Psychology:
17. Cornell
23. Chicago
29. NYU</p>
<p>Sociology:
5. Chicago
14. New York University
17. Cornell</p>
<p>So Chicago is better than NYU in both psychology and sociology, and Cornell is better in NYU in psychology and barely lower than NYU in sociology.</p>
<p>I agree with phuriku. While there’s nothing wrong with having a preference for NYU over UChicago and Cornell, there’s no justification for having those two schools as backups when they’re more selective than your first choice.</p>