<p>Congratulations to everyone who was accepted! To deferees and rejected applicants, I wish the best of luck to you, and I'm sure each and everyone of you is a top student.</p>
<p>But to those who got in, what do you think tipped you into the "YES" category?
My transcript is decent (mostly low A's, a few B's here and there), SAT scores were good but nothing special.
What I think got me in was my essay. In my humble opinion, my Why Chicago essay was brilliant. Nothing fancy or creative, no gimmicks, just straight forward, honest, and profound prose. However I did get a little more creative with the required extended essay (I made my own prompt hehe :D)</p>
<p>I really think the teacher recs and ECs (youth orchestra, math circle, student senate, quiz bowl) did it for me. My grades are great, but no different from any other applicant’s. My common app essay was really good, but my supplemental ones left much to be desired.</p>
<p>Nondorf is also from my area. Couldn’t have hurt.</p>
<p>My scores (nothing to sneeze at!), my devotion to Latin (I have SO MUCH LATIN on my app, it’s insane. I plan to major in it. I think that helps- a defined interest), my recommendations (the one from my gifted ed teacher was AMAZING), and, to a lesser extent, my essays. (I didn’t do the optional one, lazy as I am. But my Why Chicago essay ended with asking them if they were serious about the cookies they promised, and hoping they were math shaped. The other one I started off talking about a spleen. I feel I showed my unique Freznow-ness in my essays, which solidified my admirable numbered stats.)</p>
<p>My overall balance as a student couldn’t have hurt, either.</p>
<p>I’m only ranked 33rd out of about 400 with an average (no GPA - out of 100) of 94/95, so I was certain I wouldn’t be admitted. But I had carefully written and edited essays, all exceeding the suggested lengths and on the philosophical end, and I had an on-campus interview and corresponded with several profs. My SATs were pretty good, and I had two AP 5 scores despite my school not offering AP classes. I imagine my rec letters were pretty good, and I had some decent ECs (tho not as extensive as others) - editorial editor on school paper - and I included a writing sample from this - and I attended a seminar on classical philosophy for a week over the summer. Probably essays/demonstrated interest/standardized tests/recs. I also play an obscure musical instrument; pretty sure that got mentioned somewhere on the app.</p>
<p>I sent them 5 really good essays that told good stories and had my voice in them. I also probably hit a demographic sweet spot (IB diploma candidate, debate captain, 4-year football player). my grades (3.56 UW, Full IB, 8 APs taken when applying) were less than remarkable, but my essays were very good.</p>
<p>same, my sat/act were not very good. i mean, i was in the range and all, but def on the lower end. anyway, i really think my essays were a MAJOR contributing factor… plus many awards for piano (ie international-level)</p>
<p>For my son, the SATs were good enough, grades were very uneven, lots of B’s including B-'s in Latin, but rank was decent - just on the wrong side of 5% (thanks to A+'s in orchestra and weighting for honors and AP). I really think his essays and his teacher recommendations got him in. All of his essays really did have the “strong voice” mentioned in the acceptance letter. He took some risks with them, and it paid off. He’s a smart, quirky kid with an inquisitive mind. He saw his recommendation letter from his math teacher and it sounded to me like it said all the right things - it talked about how he really learned the material and didn’t just memorize it. He didn’t see the other letter, but from all the questions the teacher made him answer before he wrote it, I suspect it was good. He also had two interesting outside of school ECs (making and selling origami earrings) that he wrote about in his main Common Application essay) and a job organizing the neighborhood association’s archives which he also squeezed into the Common Application format.</p>
<p>Things that helped a lot
Test scores. 1560/1600 with 3 subject tests 2360.
Optional “favorites” essay. Wrote about something very original, also showed my creativity. Very well-polished, memorable topic.
Very unusual ECs that show my resourcefulness, initiative, creativity, maturity. They were very memorable (not the typical NHS/UNICEF/etc)
Main supplemental essay. Wrote about something very original and memorable. Well-polished, and decently written.
One of the most rigorous courseloads at a respected BS and a nice, very consistent upward trend. My GPA only dipped once, and that was a .04 decrease.</p>
<p>Things that probably helped only a bit
The regional rep visited my school twice in two days (my school had its own visit and then also hosted again for students from the whole county). I went both times.
5 other ppl from my BS applied, which probably made sure that Chicago knew about how competitive my BS is, and how hard it is to get involved in ECs.</p>
<p>Things that probably didn’t help
My why essay. It was alright, but I wrote it the day of the deadline. I had previously written a very detailed one but I scrapped it for being too impersonal and wrote a more personal if less memorable one.</p>
<p>Things that definitely didn’t help
Class rank/GPA. My school doesn’t report rank, but my GPA kinda gives it away b/c Chicago knows my school. I was in the top 20% but not top 10%.
Being Asian.
Being priviledged enough to not need FA. Unless they assumed I was going to be full-pay b/c of my zipcode and the BS that I went to.
My freshman and (somewhat) my sophomore year. Yuck. GPA solidly in second quintile.</p>
<p>My grades and test scores were pretty good (4.43 wGPA and 35 ACT), but nothing spectacular compared to many applicants. Two things probably got me admitted: </p>
<p>1) My essays. I write…differently…to say the least. I think my quirky style played to the quirks of the school.
2) My supplemental materials. I sent in a copy of the literary magazine I am EIC of with a nice cover letter talking about my responsibilities and role in the publishing of the magazine (quite impressive for a teenager). I also marked the pages that I had work published on. When an admissions rep came to my school, he sought me out to comment on one of my pieces of artwork in the magazine. I was stunned that he remembered my application! I think that this was the biggest thing to get me in.</p>
<p>I think it was my stats, recs, and maybe my essays. I don’t think that my Why Chicago essay was very special (though it was very sincere). For the extended essay, I chose the one about games and tried to write in a style that Chicago would like (according to successful essays that I’ve read). It was a little weird, and it was a narrative more than an essay. I kind of felt like I was copping out by trying to give them what I thought they wanted, but it came quite easily to me, so maybe Chicago and I were meant to be.</p>
<p>S2 says essays, essays, essays. I will add the rigor of course schedule and stellar test scores helped to offset his GPA at a very, very tough program. We also think a supplemental rec sent by a teacher with whom S has three classes this year was very helpful.</p>
<p>No sports tip! Coach asked for transcript, which S sent, but he has been too busy w/schoolwork to send the DVD.</p>