Official University of Chicago RD Decisions Thread - Class of 2014

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
141

<p>Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Objective:
• SAT I (breakdown): 750 CR, 800 Math, 780 Writing (took once and was done)
• ACT:N/A
• SAT II (if submitted): Math 2: 800, US History: 770, Biology (M): 780, Chemistry: 780
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.94/4.0; 4.48 weighted (9-12)
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 4%
• AP (place score in parenthesis): US History 5, Chemistry 5, Biology 5, English Language 5, Art History 5; this year: Calc BC, Macro econ, Physics B, Enviro Sci, English Lit, Spanish, Government
• IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
• Senior Year Course Load: 6 AP’s
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): State Science Fair, State Science Olympiad, National Merit Finalist, International Space Settlement Design Competition Finalist
Subjective:
• Extracurriculars: Science Fair 9 to 12 (awards at county, state); Science Olympiad 4 years (awards at regional and state); Neurobiology Research ~2 years; will be published this summer; Model UN 4 years; United Way club ~3 years; Medicine Club President and member ~3 years; International Space Settlement Design Comp. Team ~3 years (qualified for international finals past two years); School magazine writer ~2 years
• Job/Work Experience: Volunteer/Community service: ~200 hours this summer volunteering in India, ~50 hours/year since freshman year
• Essays: Strong
• Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): Never saw, but I would think Strong
• Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): Strong, she’s chill with me
• Additional Rec (only if you saw it): Had a professor from UCI Medical School do it; researched in her lab
• Interview: Good
Other
• Three Areas of Interest Listed: Biology, Economics
• State (if domestic applicant): California
• Country (if international applicant):Technically I live in the US, but I had to apply as an international thanks to the #$%^ing green card backlog
• School Type: Public (highly competitive, southern California)
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: Male
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): I guess I didn’t have any, otherwise I would have been accepted?
Reflection
• Strengths: Scores, research, science awards, outside rec from med school dean of research
• Weaknesses: International seeking FA; wasn’t able to compete in Intel or Siemens because I wasn’t a citizen/permanent resident of the US <-if I had, might have changed things
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was an international student, who technically wasn’t an international. I guess I fell through the cracks. haha
General Comments: To those accepted, I congratulate you all and wish you good luck. To those rejected, it’s chill. Honestly, there is no reason to take this game personally. In the end, colleges are also under a lot of scrutiny and there are so many factors which go into admissions that they can’t be fully fair or just. Accept it. Where ever you will go, you will be happy. I am probably going to Cal, since I got accepted there. I am perfectly content.</p>

142

<p>Does anyone know if any numbers are out yet as to the acceptance rate early/regular/overall?</p>

143

<p>EA acceptance rate was about 28%
RD acceptance rate was about 11%
Overall, it stands at 18%. Will probably be boosted to 19% after they use the waitlist.</p>

144

<p>** WAITLIST **</p>

<p>** Stats: **
SAT I 2300 SAT (800 Math, 780 CR, 720 W)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 800 Physics, 790 Chemistry
Other: 5x AIME, 3xUSAMO, 1xUSChO, 1x USPhO</p>

<p>Subjective
Teacher Rec (Sciences): I really don’t know, we had a fairly substantial argument (about the best way to solve a perticular Linear Algerbra problem) the day after a asked him to write it…
Teacher Rec (Non-Sciences): Haven’t seen it, but I know it’s quite good.
Con Rec: Quite effusive…
Additional Rec (Music Teacher): Her letter touched my heart…</p>

<p>** Essays **
Common App: Used the UChicago prompt on games as retrospective of my time in high school. It made the headmaster well up but the more I think about it it has far less effect if the reader goes in without a basic knowledge of who I am.</p>

<p>Why UChicago: Standard, which means it’s probably quite poor by Chicago applicant pool standards (I’m a mathematician and musician not a writing/humanities type)</p>

<p>Music: I poured my soul into this essay, but as it is about certain piece of music (the opening of Mahler 9) if the reader has no familiarity with the music it is a lot less effective.</p>

<p>Uncommon Essay: Question 5 - “In this life, you can either shut yourself up in a country house and stare into the newt-tank, or you can be a dasher with the sex. But you can’t do both.” Using that quote as a starting point I argued that intellectuallism and fun are not mutually exclusive thus disproving the “where fun to die.”</p>

<p>** Ethnicity ** </p>

<p>Race: White (Italian)
School Type: Large Private school, sends about 12 to HYPSC each year on top of 65 to Oxbridge.
Location: UK</p>

<p>** Awards and Positions **
ASCAP Mourton Gould Award (National music award)
5x Hall Cup for Composition Winner
Awarded “colours” (equivalent to a Varsity Letter) for rowing [actually coxing but…]
Awarded the Gowers prize for top Mathematician in the school
House Captain
House Music Captain
House Academic Captain</p>

<p>** Reflections **
If it wasn’t in the cards then it wasn’t in the cards… And to those of you who were accepted you should be honoured and should make a promise to those of us who didn’t get in that you will use this amazing opportunity to the fullest.</p>

145

<p>^ you sound outstanding…</p>

146

<p>^ Appearantly not outstanding enough… Oh what I would trade to have been a fly on the wall then… But still, I have other nice places that have accepted me and I’m not disheartened about HYPB come April 1st. It is what it is no more no less…</p>

147

<p>and you have such good spirit…</p>

148

<p>i never realized how random and confusing the decision process is until now…HYPB are all great schools (obviously), and i’m sure you’ll be more than content there!</p>

149

<p>^What is the B in HYPB. (Isn’t it usually HYPS)</p>

150

<p>probably Brown</p>

151

<p>mine is like PBDPC haha</p>

152

<p>TYIL! I didn’t know you applied to UofC. I can’t believe they waitlisted you. You should have included “Awesome CC poster” on your app.</p>

<p>They waitlisted one of my ridiculous friends too. The disparity between EA and RD is crazy.</p>

153

<p>[ size=+2][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Waitlisted[ /b][ /color][ /size]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] SAT I (breakdown): N/A
[ *] ACT: 32 (English: 35, Math: 34, Reading: 34, Science 24) <– (Science sucked… it was a 32 on a different ACT, but Chicago doesn’t superscore, so there wasn’t a point to sending both ACT scores)
[ *] SAT II (if submitted): N/A
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[ *] Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable): There’s too many to name… let’s just say I’ve taken 15+ honors & AP classes
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 24/335
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 in European History, U.S. History, Psychology, Microeconomics
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Literature & Composition, French V, Anatomy (and study hall)
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A
[ /list][ b]Subjective:[ /b][ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis):
Future Business Leaders of America (4 years, State officer, President, Secretary)
Yearbook (4 years, editor for 3 years)
Key Club (3 years)
Mathletes (4 years)
Mu Alpha Theta (2 years)
Science Olympiad (1 year, treasurer)
Link Crew Leaders (1 year, leader)
[ *] Job/Work Experience: N/A
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: 1 year @ Froedtert Hospital
[ *] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): I don’t remember my short answer…
[ *] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): It was decent. I wrote about trying to identify myself as a Chinese-American
[ *] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): Didn’t write
[ *] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): It was bad. I wrote it hours before the application deadline
[ *] Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): #1, I think? It was on losing my best friend and dealing with the changes. The essay was bad; i wrote it hours before the application deadline.
[ *] Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): They were just okay. Two of the had horrible grammar until I asked them to fix it, and one of them basically just listed all my achievements.
[ *] Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): N/A
[ *] Additional Rec (only if you saw it):N/A
[ *] Interview: It was awkward. My interviewer was awkward.
[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *] Three Areas of Interest Listed: Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): Wisconsin
[ *] Country (if international applicant):
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: Chinese
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): N/A
[ /list][ b]Reflection[ /b][ list]
[ *] Strengths:
[ *] Weaknesses:
[ *] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My first semester grades were very poor (several Bs and even a C), but my class rank was bumped up and I bonded with my interviewer (even if it was awkward)
[ /list][ b]General Comments:[ /b] Good Luck!!</p>

154

<p>^^ Thanks Millancad… Yeah I applied to UofC although less for math and more for the amazing Composition dept, Student Composer’s alliance and the fact that Geoffrey (which I’m sure I spelled incorrectly…) Ballet is close by (my sub-specialty is writing music for ballet/modern dance). As for including being an “awesome CC poster” thanks and you aren’t a bad CC poster yourself.</p>

<p>Also to those who questioned the B did stand for Brown, I know HYPblahblahblah doesn’t usually include Brown but saying HYP and Brown seemed off especially as I’d attend Brown over Princeton.</p>

155

<p>Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2270 (800 W 770 M 700 CR
[</em>] ACT:
[<em>] SAT II (if submitted): 800 physics, 780 Chem, 760 Math II
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8
[<em>] Grades in AP/IB/honors classes All A’s in IB courses. 92 average.
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): none. Top 2%
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): predicted 39 with all 6’s, math a 7 and 2 extra points
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: harder than yours :stuck_out_tongue:
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis): Stuff :stuck_out_tongue:
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Not much :stuck_out_tongue:
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: Stuff int he community. Accumulated 500 hours.
[</em>] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): It was okay.
[<em>] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): It was okay
[</em>] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): It was good.
[<em>] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): Pretty awesome.
[</em>] Extended Chicago Essay : How did you get caught? It was good. I liked it personally.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): Mediocre
[</em>] Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): didn’t see it, don’t WANT to see it.
[<em>] Additional Rec (only if you saw it): None.
[</em>] Interview: Didn’t get to schedule one. They were full.
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Three Areas of Interest Listed: Chemistry.
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant):
[<em>] Country (if international applicant): Canada
[</em>] School Type:Public
[<em>] Ethnicity: Korean
[</em>] Gender: Male
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.):
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: lolwut
[<em>] Weaknesses: probably everything
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I"m an international wanting aid, competing in a pool with the greatest number of applicants ever, and they have limited funding because of the recession. I give 5 guesses.
[/ul]**General Comments: Expected. ** Good Luck!!</p>

156

<p>Decision: Accepted Yay!!!</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 800CR 750M 790W
[</em>] ACT:
[<em>] SAT II (if submitted): 800 BioE + Math II, 740 USH
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.86-3.87
[<em>] Grades in AP/IB/honors classes (if applicable)
[</em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5% of 500ish
[<em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 5’s English lang, Stat, USH, 4 World History
[</em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[<em>] Senior Year Course Load: 6 honors, 4 of which are AP
[</em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF?
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership and number of years participated in a certain activity in parenthesis): not much - didn’t do anything freshman year. :frowning: I did submit a bangin’ art drawing portfolio.
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: 11h/week
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: 220h total or so…
[</em>] EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): pretty bad
[<em>] Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): better and original. Reviews from CC ranged from awesome to mixed.
[</em>] Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it):
[<em>] Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): did its job.
[</em>] Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did #5 - and personal opinions on it): was a weird combo of “how you got caught” and outgrowing prompts - about my finicky taste in writing utensils. It makes me cringe now… I wrote it in one day during Christmas break.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): good I guess
[</em>] Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): very enthusiastic, he likes me
[<em>] Additional Rec (only if you saw it):
[</em>] Interview: nope
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Three Areas of Interest Listed:
[</em>] State (if domestic applicant): NJ
[<em>] Country (if international applicant):
[</em>] School Type: large public
[<em>] Ethnicity: AZN (Chinese flavored)
[</em>] Gender: F
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): only thing that came close to being unique was my art portfolio.
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: nice test scores, quirky essays
[<em>] Weaknesses: lack of ECs and initiative… but I got in!!!
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: who knows with the sub-20% admiss. rate this year? I’m just really really glad that I did get in. Now I’m not sad that I didn’t apply EA (and somewhat less sad about getting rejected from Penn ED)
[/ul]General Comments: So excited… still waiting on others but Chicago is definitely on the top of my list, and I’ve been admitted to some pretty cool schools already… :)</p>

157

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:
* SAT I (breakdown): 730 CR, 740 Math, 800 Writing
* ACT: 33
* SAT II (if submitted): Math II 780, Lit 730, US History 720
* Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.96
* Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4
* AP (place score in parenthesis): Lit 5, Calc AB 5, US History 5, Chem 3 (taking 3 this year)
* IB (place score in parenthesis): Math 5 (taking 5 this year)
* Senior Year Course Load: All IB courses
* Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None, unless State Acadec Silver Medalist and journalism stuff (NSPA, CSPA, ASNE) count </p>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: Newspaper (EIC, 4 years), Asian Club (President, 4 years), Key Club (Treasurer, 4 years), CSF (4 years), Fencing (11, 12), Acadec (10)

  • Job/Work Experience: Essay grader for an old teacher
  • Volunteer/Community service: around 400 hours at library and park
  • EC short answer (subject and personal opinions on it): the newspaper family; C+ because it was corny
  • Common App Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): the changes in my perception of a journalist’s role through experience; B as it was sincere and well written but a bit sentimental
  • Optional Favorite Things Essay (subject and personal opinions on it): literally a list; F for lack of creativity
  • Why Chicago (details in the essay and personal opinions on it): Chicago’s academic philosophy, rep as the oddball school, urban location, career opportunities; B- because it was somewhat trite though practical
  • Extended Chicago Essay (subject - if you want, include essay prompt if you did - and personal opinions on it): The game of slug bug between my lunch bunch; B+, I loved this one; it was simple and only slightly pretentious haha
  • Teacher Recommendation (only if you saw it): Nope
  • Counselor Rec (only if you saw it): Nope
  • Additional Rec (only if you saw it): No additional rec
  • Interview: I loved my alum. He was in his late 30s and to-the-point. We talked about the IB curriculum a lot and how Chicago’s curriculum is a basically an extension of IB
    </code></pre>

<p>Other
* Three Areas of Interest Listed: International relations, economics, sociology
* State (if domestic applicant): CA (northern)
* Country (if international applicant):
* School Type: Private (non-denominational)
* Ethnicity: Asian
* Gender: Female
* Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Geographic location? Norcal is kinda disadvantaged </p>

<p>Reflection</p>

<pre><code>* Strengths: Definitely interview, maybe essays

  • Weaknesses: ECS
  • Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I have no clue. I thought I was a very average applicant. Maybe they needed some average people to outweigh the amazing ones? I guess I was genuine and didn’t try anything gimmicky.
    </code></pre>

<p>General Comments: This has really boosted my confidence after being waitlisted by WUSTL. I do love Chicago and if financial aid permits and I don’t get into Columbia, I will definitely attend. To future applicants, good luck and don’t be discouraged by all the superheros on CC.</p>

158

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2300+ (superscored) will update after other colleges post decisions
[</em>] ACT: will update after other colleges post decisions but it was pretty high
[<em>] SAT II: Sent in 4 around the 750 range
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1%
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): 7 AP tests taken, all 4s and 5s
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): not offered
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: It was a pretty easy load… Full AP schedule but lots of “easy” AP courses
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none… FAIL
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): school publications
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: Not much.<br>
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: At least 200+ hours, this was a pretty strong part of my application.
[<em>] Summer Activities: Mostly online/distance learning courses.
[</em>] Essays: very good imo
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: ok
[</em>] Counselor Rec: ok
[<em>] Additional Rec: Didn’t send.
[</em>] Interview: forgot to request one… oops
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
[</em>] Intended Major: Economics
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): will update after other colleges post decisions
[</em>] School Type: Middle sized public, pretty competitive.
[<em>] Ethnicity: will update after other colleges post decisions
[</em>] Gender: will update after other colleges post decisions
[<em>] Income Bracket: Applied for Financial Aid
[</em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: essays
[</em>] Weaknesses: no major awards, easy senior year course load, no interview, not that much leadership
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: College admissions process is a crapshoot. I think my essays did it. [/li][/ul]General Comments: Good Luck!!</p>

159

<p>Rejection…stings. Thought we had a future U of C, but I guess we weren’t meant to be…</p>

160

<p>My daughter got rejected from UChicago while being accepted in Stanford (ED), MIT, Caltech, Brown, Duke (and a few more I think). Any idea WHY? </p>

<p>She was a sort of a strong candidate: perfect scores, good recommendations (at least she was accepted into other good schools with those recommendations), essays were good (in her opinion, I did not read them), USAMO qualifier for the last few years, etc.; potential weakness: international and applied for fin. aid.</p>