<p>@LoremIpsum</p>
<p>I actually have been looking into Northwestern, since having had made this thread. You are correct about going for a wide range of admission rates, so I’ll probably look into some more schools. By chance, do you know of any between Vandy and NYU that are good for PolySci? Georgetown looks like it’s between the two, so I’ll go for that. I was looking into U Michgan, as well, as that seems to be good for PolySci.</p>
<p>Debater, here’s a list of top poly sci programs by acceptance rate. The acceptance rates are way high and probably 10 years out of date – more than a few are half of what they used to be (read it and weep!). Nevertheless, the quality of their programs should be the same and the relative sequence of selectivity should be close:</p>
<p>[Top</a> 20 Political Science programs in America](<a href=“http://www.america.edu/top_20_political_science_programs_in_america.html]Top”>Top 20 Political Science Programs In America - America Education)</p>
<p>Hopefully this will help!</p>
<p>That resource is awesome. Thanks! But yeah, I don’t think that U Chicago has a 38% acceptance rate. </p>
<p>I think I’ll start looking more into Northwestern, U Chicago, UCLA, Rice, and Emory. Notre Dame and Georgetown are both religious institutions, and as an atheist, I would be uncomfortable going to them.</p>
<p>You should also check out George Washington (33%). It’s like the lesser cousin of Georgetown, but it’s still a better school than purdue and uiuc, imo. It’s very politics-heavy, and it’s in DC so you’ll be able to make use of what you’re learning instead of just getting a degree. Also, if you ever become interested in International Relations, which is fairly close to poli sci, their Elliot school is ranked top ten. [The</a> Top Ten International Relations Undergraduate Programs | Foreign Policy](<a href=“http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/03/top_ten_international_relations_undergraduate_programs?page=0,8]The”>http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/03/top_ten_international_relations_undergraduate_programs?page=0,8)</p>
<p>I would love to read your essays. Seriously!</p>
<p>That would require me to write them, first. Like I said, I’m going to start sometime after June 8th, and have drafts of each common app question, as well as supplemental questions for other schools, done by the end of July.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt : not sure
NYU: Match
U of I-Champaign: Low match
Colgate: Match
Purdue: Match
U Chicago: Reach/High Reach</p>
<p>@blee</p>
<p>Thanks. If you have a chance thread that I haven’t already done, just give me the link.</p>
<p>Match for all but Chicago (reach) and Vanderbilt (low reach). At least that’s what I think. Make sure as you say that you convey your interest in debate in a passionate way
Thanks for chancing me!</p>
<p>First of all, thanks for chancing me so quickly! You’ve got a great looking profile all around. I certainly agree that starting to participate in new clubs and stuff seems super paddish to colleges. But then again I started my math club near the latter portion of my junior year. One surefire way to improve your chances while also not looking as if you’re padding is to overload on local volunteering. I seriously suggest picking one or two charitable organizations and devoting any time that you can during your probably very busy school schedule.</p>
<p>Chances:</p>
<p>Vanderbilt ED - low reach
NYU - match/high match
Illinois - match
Colgate - match (sadly I don’t know much about Colgate, I’m sorry!)
Purdue - low match/match
Chicago - reach/high reach (easily improved if you focus on some unique ECs)</p>
<p>@slamdunkz24</p>
<p>Thanks! The volunteering has already commenced, and a lot of it will be local stuff. I think I’ve said, but I’ll easily get 40 to 60 more hours by the time that I apply. You seem to be knowledgeable, but would EA at U Chicago help my chances? I assume that it would make it a solid reach, as opposed to a high one. I am also retaking the ACT. How would say a 35 (my new goal) increase my chances at U Chicago? </p>
<p>@elnamo</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Chicago’s one of those schools that seems to place a fair amount of importance in grades and scores. I have a friend who got admitted just this year with virtually no ECs but had an unweighted 4.0, all 5’s on his AP tests, 800/790/740 on 3 SAT II tests, and a 2370 on his SAT. I think EA is a fantastic idea (I’m thinking about doing it myself) especially if you can grab a 35 on your ACT which solidifies that score importance for Chicago. But still never forget that Chicago is a school that loves quirky people with quirky talents and passions!</p>
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<p>Statistically, yes – but perhaps not enough. Acceptance rate keep plummeting at UChicago; who knows if it will dip to 6 or 7% overall next year?</p>
<p>Do you have a risk-taker personality? Then rolling the UChicago EA dice is for you. But a less stressful option is to EA at a school that’s a reach but only a modest one. An acceptance will take the waiting burden off of you as you pursuit other even more elite schools during RD – it’s nice to know you already have a quality acceptance in hand before the rejections start to roll in!</p>
<p>It looks like a large majority of U Chicago’s freshman class comes from EA. And since I have some schools I’d fall back to (UIUC, NYU), it could be a good idea to apply EA. It seems like a prudent idea to apply to U Chicago EA, only if I get the ACT score that I want. Then I could do Vanderbilt ED II, depending on the results of that.</p>
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<p>My younger son got a perfect 36.0 score on the ACT twice (the second time required for his Illinois school junior year as a graduation requirement). He gave me a list of time-saving tips which I posted here somewhere a couple years ago. I also have it somewhere in a text file. Would this be helpful to you? If so, I will try to look for it and PM it or post it here.</p>
<p>If you could, that would be awesome! I’ll try to find it myself, as well.</p>
<p>Thanks for chancing me…</p>
<p>Like you with my schools, I’ll chance you only on what I’m familiar with</p>
<p>Vanderbilt (ED)- low reach
NYU- match
UChicago- reach</p>
<p>I think it is very likely for you to accepted into those schools. Maybe just not Chicago. Yeah, I agree with the other people here. You should spread out your EC a little bit more. Maybe find a summer job/intern related to your major?</p>
<p>Thanks! Hewsonjew, if you have a chance thread that I haven’t yet done, just give me the link.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about your schools, but I’d say you should improve on your ACT a little bit to eliminate any doubt surrounding Vanderbilt. Even so, I think you’ll do fine as you are right now. I kind of wish we had a debate team at my school. I took it as an elective freshman year and ended up getting the 2nd highest individual score in 15 years. The class was full of druggies though, so it really isn’t that impressive lol</p>