<p>when a point is well made, i will certainly acknowledge same. if i am wrong, i will absolutely eat humble pie. having been accused going on the attack, i will admit that i do but only when justified. i listen and digest cogent arguments and learn from them, but when someone makes up statistics to back up a position, i find that offensive and feel justified to point out the inaccuracies. at that point, civility takes a back seat. also when one uses minute samples taken from ones backyard to generalize the whole, i find that troublesome also. </p>
<p>with regard to jpps, i may disagree with idad on a whole host of issues, at least he brings a dialogue to the forum, what do you bring besides whining? you don't like my point of view? then don't read my postings. you want to drink the same kool aid idad is drinking, that's fine too. i am not bickering with anyone, i am engaging in an exchange of viewpoints and i think many on this forum are enlightened by it.</p>
<p>First I agree, it is becoming annoying, and as difficult as it may be, I shall attempt to refrain from responding to what I see as misrepresentations of the University. I believe there are many many great schools, and each should find their own fit. Besides, the formal studies show that it makes little difference where one goes to school when student characteristics are considered. It is about what type of experience one wants. Chicago has one type of experience, others have very different experiences. Further, over time, those experiences may change as a student body changes. One should visit and experience each of one's top choices as well as find "true safeties" one can love.</p>
<p>makeyourselfxo: I do not think there is one admission policy for all 8 Ivy schools, each has its own ideals; a student needs to understand what they are and weigh that in the "does it fit?" decision.</p>
<p>As far as my S he did not take the SAT only the ACT, no Sat II's. He had an ACT score that converted to an SAT score between 1470 - 1500 on the SAT conversion table found at that time on the ACT website. His reading score was 36. His essays were not quirky, but well thought out answers to the questions. His answers combined his interests in science and the arts to create a metaphor that led the reader to a clear understanding of the conclusion he was reaching in direct response to the prompt. His personal essays communicated his love for Chicago and why without repeating platitudes concerning the life of the mind. He was also able to inject a little humor into each without sounding silly. His record was one of intellectual and extracurricular diversity. He finished all the calculus the school offered by his sophomore year (Calc BC). He enrolled and did very well in courses from UC Berkeley and other places (which did not count toward his HS GPA). He spent the summer before his senior year studying language in Asia as well. He is an accomplished individual athlete winning national and international martial arts championships and placing second in a major international competition involving top athletes from over 50 countries. He was an accomplished musician (first chair) and played in a community concert band, was involved in a major science experiment and presented at an international science conference with a paper that was accepted with him as sole author. He was the only high school student to present that year. He had a couple of extra letters of recommendation from unusual sources. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>I have not read anywhere in the uchi forum where anything about uchi was misrepresented. however, i have read on this forum gross inaccuracies concerning admit and yield rates of other institutions in an attempt to put uchi in a better light. that, i take exception to. everyone has an opinion and if everyone thought the same way, this world would be quite boring. i appreciate differing points of view. i can accept being wrong, my only issue is when people say i am wrong and use made up stats to support their claims.</p>
<p>For the record, I really wasn't trying to bash the Ivies at all. I'm saying that they are more likely to enroll someone of that caliber (perfect stats but not-as-creative essays) than UChicago is. I was careful in saying "The Ivy's will admit someone" first the word WILL (which is not set in stone) and someONE (implying not everyone).</p>
<p>But again, please realize that when I say that Ivy's will admit someone who attacks school as a matter of grades not passion I am not in any way saying that is the only way. I'm saying that it is most likely a situation, not the ONLY situation, but nevertheless a way of admission. And furthermore I believe that the UChicago does not care about someone who has no passion for anything. </p>
<p>I hope that clears something up? I'm not trying to bash any school.</p>
<p>I agree that there have been gross misrepresentations and misinterpretations of those data, that is why I have chosen at times to respond to certain ascertains that have been made, and why all stats used and analyzed were provided from cited sources. I also understand that the self-selection phenomenon at Chicago can be hard to understand. Its applicant pool is far less than its peer institutions and, as the survey data show (cited earlier), students once admitted, get very nervous about its reputation for intense academics. One can choose to ignore this if one wants, but a reasonable analysis of an individual's competitiveness for admission, and if the school really is a good fit, suggests that probably one should not. Now, I really will try to refrain from posting further on this topic, but I feel new applicants should be aware. And, to a certain extent, as long as the debate is respectful, I agree with BnB, they should be able to handle it, UChicago life is replete with it.</p>
<p>Your word-parsing aside, I still don't see the empirical support for your categorical statements copied and pasted below:</p>
<p>1.The Ivy's will admit someone who formulaicly slides through school with no goal or desire to learn.
2.They will except (I think you mean accept?) someone who doesn't care about the school at all,
3. can't write a decent essay, but can take a standardized test. </p>
<p>Those statements are all inflammatory and either unsupported or, more likely, unsupportable.</p>
<p>All I have to say is you people all need to breathe.</p>
<p>Inflammatory? Okay, your opinion. I think I've made it clear that I was not intentionally bashing any school, so please refrain from looking for evidence to prove me wrong. It is my observation and I don't feel the need to justify my personal thoughts for you. I am not here to convince, nor am I here to persuade.</p>
<p>And please feel free to point out anymore homophone errors or grammar mistakes to invalidate my thoughts; thank you.</p>
<p>the statements made by makeyourselfxo are fairly typical of the postings on this forum by uchi people to attempt to elevate the status of uchi by trying the minimize the qualities of the more selective schools. to say that the ivy's will admit someone who slides through school is fairly ignorant of the caliber of students that attend hyps. there is a book out detailing the stats and ec's of 50 fairly typical harvard admits and compared to the stats posted on these and other forums, are mind boggling. idad's s, ec cv is impressive. take that and add superior gpa's and sat's and you have a hyps admit. i believe that most, if not all hyps admits can write a decent essay if not an outstanding one. i think that a single digit (or close) admit rate with five figure application numbers says a lot more about a school.</p>
<p>"to say that the ivy's will admit someone who slides through school is fairly ignorant of the caliber of students that attend hyps."</p>
<p>I am so baffled at how hard it is to comprehend what I am pointing out!</p>
<ul>
<li>Ivy candidate CAN (READ: CAN. NOT "IS". "CAN".) be a person who attacks school as a formula. Straight As + great standardized test scores + leadership roles/strong involvement = Ivy admission. No, that is not all that goes into it. But I am saying that those are important for Ivy admissions and those three key components ARE vital for Ivy schools.</li>
<li>UChicago admissions allows room for mistakes. Meaning, one of those components of that formula can be missing and IT IS OKAY. </li>
</ul>
<p>Was that not clear? Was that so ignorant of me? Does anybody else feel the need to rip this post apart and show me just how wrong I am? Anybody else want to assume that I'm saying that UChicago is better than the Ivys? Any more assumptions in general? Feel free to take this all out of context, ONE MORE TIME; I give up.</p>
<p>(From my first post on this: "The Ivy's will admit someone who formulaicly slides through school with no goal or desire to learn. They will except ((yes; I now realize that should be "accept")) someone who doesn't care about the school at all, can't write a decent essay, but can take a standardized test. UChicago reviews character and potential and passion. I think that says a lot about the school.")
These words were harsh but I assumed that my second post would clear that up. I think I've explained the formula. By no goal/desire I mean no strong passion. "Can't write a decent essay" is probably the most vague point I make - I mean that it is not a very important aspect in some schools - it can help but there's also cases when a boring essay won't hurt.</p>
<p>As you can see, chicago parents are as fond of a rousing debate as are the students. nanaijuh, I missed the part about your cd in your OP - I think that should help you. I hope that you will be able to participate in the musical community - my son reported that the Halloween concert was very good and a lot of (gasp) fun.</p>