Official University of Chicago RD Decisions Thread - Class of 2014

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
181

<p>Decision: Deferred —>Rejected</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take…
[</em>] ACT: 34 Composite (twice); Superscored 36
[<em>] SAT II (if submitted): 800 Math II, 760 US History, 720 Physics
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 16/1100 (top 2%)
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 5’s in Euro, US History, Comp Sci A, and Eng Lang & Comp. Taking 6 more tests this year
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: All AP’s, but taking regular English
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NSHSS Member, IMEA All State (Violin), AP Scholar w/Distinction… nothing too special
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Orchestra (1st Violin Section Leader), Violin, Urban Arts Club (Recruiter/Promoter), Movie Production Club (founder/head Editor).
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Math Tutoring, Working at a grocery store
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: Public Library work, volunteering at soup kitchen
[ <em>] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): decent. Talked about the Urban Arts Club I’m in
[ *] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it):very good, one of the best I have ever written. Talked about my volunteer coordinator as a role model and how he influenced me.
[ *] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): n/a
[ *] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): pretty decent
[ *] Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): Picked my own topic and talked about a pressing global issue. But it was a very generic essay (this proly killed me).
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: pretty good
[<em>] Counselor Rec: didn’t read, but proly generic
[</em>] Additional Rec: n/a
[<em>] Interview: Didn’t sign up for one
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
[<em>] Intended Major: Finance
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): IL
[<em>] Country (if international applicant): USA
[</em>] School Type: Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Asian (Indian)
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Income Bracket: $100,000+
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): None, if anything anti-hooks for being affluent and asian
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Test scores, essays, recommendations
[</em>] Weaknesses: Lack of interview, somewhat generic EC’s, Grades are a little inconsistent
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: From my school, the acceptances were very random. There were people with better GPAs rejected, while kids below the top 5% got in. I’m guessing that they put a lot of weight on the essays. But w/e I got into NU so I will proly go there. [/li][/ul]**General Comments: Start your college search in the summer. Stay organized and also make sure you have a clear idea of what the schools are looking for. If your time and money are going to be invested in completing these apps, you might as well make it the best damn application you can. Also once you send in your applications stop worrying and focus on the other things in your life. Being paranoid and worrisome will not affect your decision. You will know your decision in time, so there’s no use in fretting over it. **</p>

182

<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 800/800/790 (R/M/W)
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] SAT II (if submitted): 800/780/770 (US History, Literature, Chemistry)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), US History (5), Calculus AB (5), Biology (5), Chemistry (5), English Literature (5), English Language (5), Chinese (5)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C Mech, AP Environmental Science, AP Government, Honors British Literature
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National AP Scholar, National Merit Semi-Finalist
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis): Bellevue Youth Symphony (7 years, concertmaster, assistant concertmaster), Seattle Youth Symphony, Academy Chamber Orchestra, school orchestra (assistant concertmaster, performed in Carnegie Hall); National Honor Society (4 years, treasurer, secretary); Key Club; Environmental Club (3 years); ballet
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Summer internship at ChinaHRD (a web-focused HR firm) in Beijing
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: volunteer work at local library, Instructional Materials Committee
[<em>] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): Probably something about music. I don’t remember much detail, except the angst I experienced trying to cram everything into the word limit.
[</em>] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): About learning ballet. A lighter topic for me, but one of my most polished essays.
[<em>] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): N/A
[</em>] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): Not as strong as some of my other “Why _________?” essays, but still decent. I went into a lot of detail into the quirkier side of Chicago and what differentiated it from other schools.
[<em>] Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): I did the “how did you get caught” prompt, and wrote about cross-cultural experiences. It might not have fit the prompt as well as it could have (I tried to go for the “caught between cultures” angle) but it was definitely one of the strongest out of all of my essays- well-written, and extremely personal.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): N/A
[<em>] Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): N/A
[</em>] Additional Rec (only if you saw it): N/A
[<em>] Interview: I thought it went very well. My interviewer was a doctor and a professor, and we did the interview at his hospital, so it was rather intimidating. But we got along very well, and he actually told me several times throughout the interview that “The University of Chicago would be a perfect fit for you.”
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] Three Areas of Interest Listed: I honestly do not remember. But economics was one of them.
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): WA
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): N/A
[<em>] School Type: Mid-size public
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian-American
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): None I can think of.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Test scores, grades, dedication? Probably my recommendations.
[</em>] Weaknesses: I personally can’t see any overwhelming weaknesses in my application, but I guess my essays could be a relative weakness. Also, I never visited the campus- although that shouldn’t matter too much.
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Hard to say. I was actually a little surprised to be waitlisted, since I was under the impression that U of C wasn’t as super-competitive as some of the other schools I applied to. But I guess this was a tough year.</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]General Comments: Write your essays early. Really early. Over the summer, actually, if you can. Do your visits as soon as you can, and make sure you know what sort of culture and campus you’re looking for- only apply to the schools that feel right to you (not the most selective or most famous schools!).</p>

<p>And when it’s March, and you’re waiting to hear your decisions, and maybe you’re nervous, and maybe you’re worried- relax.
You will find the right school for you. You definitely will.</p>

183

<p>Decision: Accepted (Brother)</p>

<p>Objective:
ACT: 33 C 35 SS
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable): A’s
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/101
AP (place score in parenthesis): none
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: 0 APs
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing really
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis): President basically of everyclub.
Job/Work Experience:Medical office assistant 30 hours a week
Volunteer/Community service: 100 hours of volunteer service
EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): nothing special
Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): very good wrote about my passion to become a doctor :slight_smile:
Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): very good
Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): very different
Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): I wrote about how i used to love video games and now i love to read… <---- weird.
Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): he said phenomenal
Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): didn’t see
Additional Rec (only if you saw it):
Interview: didnt have
Three Areas of Interest Listed: medicine
State (if domestic applicant): IL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: small
Ethnicity: Asian lol
Gender: M
Hooks: work? ACT?
Reflection
Strengths: ACT
Weaknesses: average ECs, no special awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I don’t know he was accepted cuz hes not that special</p>

184

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 690 CR 670 M
[</em>] ACT: 30
[<em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
[</em>] Grades in AP/honors: As, some Bs, 1 C
[<em>] Rank: Top 5%
[</em>] APs: APUSH- 4, APFrench, APChem
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: (APs) Lit, Lang, Calc, Stats, Gov
[</em>] Major Awards: athletic awards mostly</p>

<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars: Athletics, State Math League,
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: typical HS summer jobs (camp counselor, etc)
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: 500+
[</em>] Common App Essay: so-so, boring topics
[<em>] Optional Favorite Things Essay: really liked it, about my media preferences
[</em>] Why Chicago: talked about econ and the city, very good
[<em>] Extended Chicago Essay: loved it
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: saw 1/2- your standard rec</p>

<p>[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Areas of Interest Listed: Econ
[</em>] State: Midwest
[<em>] Country: USA
[</em>] School Type: USNWR strong public
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: M
[li] Hooks: recruited Athlete</p>[/li]
<p>[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: recruited Athlete, essays
[</em>] Weaknesses: ACT/SAT
[/ul]General Comments: Happy to attend!</p>

185

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2090 Verbal: 780 Math: 620 Writing: 690 (Yeah… I didn’t send these scores)
ACT: 34 breakdown: English: 36 Math:35 Reading: 36 Writing: 36 Science: 27 (What?)
SAT II (if submitted): US History: 790; Spanish: 780; Reading: 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7
Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable): As in everything except math and physics
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank, thankfully
AP (place score in parenthesis): English lang (5), Spanish lang (5), US History (4), Spanish lit (5), English lit (5), European History (4), BC Calculus (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): I’m taking all of them this month. x_x
Senior Year Course Load: IB: Physics, Chinese, Spanish, English, History, TOK (first semester); AP: BC Caluculus; Comparative Relisions (Second semester)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nada</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis):
~Theater (4 years; technical director this year)
~Environmental Club (2 years; president this year-- my school receive a $2000 award for its environmental progress)
~Model Congress (2 years; co-president and founder)
~Chinese Honor Society (3 year; co-president this year)
~Spanish Honor Society (2 years)
~Ad Idem, a foreign language literary magazine (3 years; Editor in Chief this year)
~Dragon Boat (2 years)
~National Honor Society (2 years)
~Button Farm Living History Center-- docent (2 years)
~Piano (12 years)</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience:
~ Piano teacher (I have four students)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:
~Over 250 hours, includes volunteering in Xi’An, China (which I know is the clich</p>

186

<p>Decision: [color=orange]Waitlisted, then Accepted[/color]</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): CR 760, M 720, W 730 (2210)
[</em>] ACT: N/A
[<em>] SAT II (if submitted): Lit 750, Math 1 660, US His 730
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): approx. 3.75-3.8
[<em>] Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable):
. AP English Lit/Writing and Composition (hybrid course) A+
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% maybe–grades are not really publicized in my school
[<em>] AP (place score in parentheses): none
[</em>] IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load:
. Jewish History III
. Public Speaking
. Holocaust Studies
. Spanish III
. US History II
. Pre-Calc/Calculus
. Advanced Biology
. English IV (in addition to a full course load of religious studies, an additional five or six subjects)
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parentheses):
. Yearbook (Editor-in-Chief, 12)
. After-school amateur sports (11, 12)
. Student-Teaching honors program (11, 12)
. Opinion magazine (faculty liaison, member of editorial board, 11 [We actually started this magazine.])
. Debate (11)
. School production (10, 12)
[</em>] Job/Work Experience:
. Studio Ballet Teaching Assistant (12)
. bunch of summers as camp counselor and office assistant (10-12)
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service:
. At-home assistance of sick child for Chai LifeLine (10)
. Tutoring for community service (9, 12)
[</em>] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): I wrote about tutoring and how difficult yet fulfilling it is. Pretty standard.
[<em>] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): I wrote about identity and being religious in the real world. It was pretty good, I think. Very honest.
[</em>] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): I really geeked out. :] I wrote about fantasy and fiction books, my strange tastes in music (showtunes/oldies), movies (Monty Python to Finding Nemo), my obsession with crosswords, etc. Cute, quirky, and, also, very honest.
[<em>] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): This one was weird. I’m very undecided as to major, so I just wrote about how I love passion in teaching and how I know I’ll find it at Chicago.
[</em>] Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): I wrote about how I’ve outgrown high school. Very tongue-in-cheek, clever, I think, and neatly working in my extra-curriculars.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): Didn’t see it, but I think it was good. This teacher thinks I’m basically the smartest kid since Einstein, so probably glowing.
[li] Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): Didn’t see it, but also probably very good.[/li][</em>] Additional Rec (only if you saw it): See above.
[<em>] Interview: Applied, but never had one.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>] Three Areas of Interest Listed: Undecided.
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): NY
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): N/A
[<em>] School Type: private, religious
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Um… no real hooks, but I’m probably the most religious Jew who applied.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Pretty interesting essays, probably incredible recommendations, my correspondence with the school showed tremendous eagerness. I come from a semi-interesting background, I think, and my course load was the absolute hardest one can take in my school. Literally.
[</em>] Weaknesses: In comparison to everyone else, my course and extracurriculars probably looked pretty lame, though I’ve done pretty much every thing I could possibly do. I took the only AP offered, and the most difficult courses given, but in comparison they’re not much. Also, my summers are very generic. Volunteering in Ghana and such was out of my budget.
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was surprised to be waitlisted–I expected a flat-out rejection, but I demonstrated extreme interest in my letters to admissions, which is what I think pushed me over the top. I think my application, overall, was pretty standard, but I have some interesting background and rather clever essays, which made a difference. Plus the recs. Can’t forget the recs. :][/li][/ul]General Comments: Taking a gap year, but dancing in prep for Sept. 2011. Can’t wait! <3</p>

187

<p>[ size=+2][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): N/A
[ *] ACT: E-32 M-29 S-27 W-29 T-29
[ *] SAT II (if submitted): US History-650 Spanish-580 Literature-680
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7
[ *] Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable) Honors Freshman English-A, Honors World Geography-A, Honors Algebra 3-4-B, Honors Pre-Calculus-B, Honors World History-A, Honors Biology-A, Honors Sophomore English-A, Honors Chemistry-A, AP Calculus-B, AP Language-B, AP Psychology-A, AP European History-A, AP Macro Economics-A, AP US Government-A,
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 70/680
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): Didn’t take any.
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP European History, Honors Humanities, Advanced Dance, Advanced TV Production, AP US Government/Macro Economics, AP Psychology
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): School and district awards, nothing big.
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis): Dance (at a studio and at school, dance captain, 9,10,11,12) Speech and Debate (9,10) Model UN (12) CDSTV (a highschool broadcast that has won national awards, Event Coordinator, 12) STAND (9,10,11) Philosophy Club (12) Lacrosse (9,12)
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Babysit every Saturday night for an ASU professor for 4 years
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: Teaching kids to dance at an elementary after-school program, little thing here and there for NHS
[ *] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): I wrote about CDSTV and how it was a great experience because my schedule was always core, honors/ap classes with the same group of students and CDSTV has such different structure than a typical core class and has such an odd mix of people creating a weekly broadcast that I grew so much.
[ *] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): I wrote about a siginicant experience. I started in a very competive high school dance program as a beginner (we had five levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, junior company, and dance company) and i worked really hard at private studios (sometimes 12 classes a week, would literally fall asleep in my late classes) and how my family couldn’t afford classes so right when i turned 15 i found job two days later and worked in the studios cleaning and my hard work sophomore year landed me in the company class skipping a level.
[ *] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): I wrote about a non descript book about the holocaust I bought at a book fair in six grade and how it has been my favorite ever since and started my love for history
[ *] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): I wrote about the famous chicago phrase “where fun comes to die” and how many see it as a warning but i belong at chicago because i see the self-deprecating humor and mine is so similar.
[ *] Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): I chose the outgrown philosophy prompt and wrote about how I always saw my dad as an almost superman figure but when i was 9 after he broke a big promise i realized my dad was very human.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): Didn’t see it.
[ *] Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): I was pretty smart and got to know my counselor (who has about 500 students) and she adores me, so I’m sure it was fantastic.
[ *] Additional Rec (only if you saw it): My school dance teacher that I had for four years that helped me improve wrote it so I know it was probably the best one!
[ *] Interview: Didn’t have one.
[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *] Three Areas of Interest Listed: History, Political Science, International Relations
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): Arizona
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: Large, Competive Public (Has about 2,800 students and sends a few students to Ivies and other highly ranked schools)
[ *] Ethnicity: African-American/Caucasian
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): first generation (dad didn’t even graduate high school, low income
[ /list][ b]Reflection[ /b][ list]
[ *] Strengths: My essays! I worked very hard on them! Maybe my huge involvement in dance?
[ *] Weaknesses: My ACT and SAT scores, my grades in math, my rank and GPA. All very low.
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I really think my essays were what got me in because they were very unique in topic, showed who I am as an individual and showed heart (my extended chicago essay made my mom and counselor cry). I also think my ethinicity (half white, half black) and being from a family that makes less than 60,000 didn’t hurt either!
[ /list][ b]General Comments:[ /b] I was VERY shocked when I learned I was accepted, especially looks at the stats of the class of 2013. After I sent in my app, I looked at those I was convinced I was going to be a rejection. It was my reach school and I got in! Now, looking at all the aspects I brought as an applicant, I think that Chicago really focuses more on the subjective parts (not that GPA and such aren’t important!) because my stats will show that I wasn’t the best in my class. All I can say to the next class is really work on making yourself unique and then showcase it every way you can, interviews, teacher recs and essays. I got a nice scholarship so I’ll be there in the fall! Can’t wait to meet the rest of the class and good luck to everyone else, seeing your accomplishments I’m sure you all got in terrific schools!</p>