<p>Anyone got any stories of people with great essays/ECs/recs who got in with either a low GPA or a low SAT (I'm guessing this is probably or and not and..)?</p>
<p>Um…not sure if this situation applies to you but I know someone who applied through Questbridge and got in with a 3.44 out of 4.3 GPA and a 1640 SAT I. However, from the same school, someone with a 4.21 GPA and a 2240 got deferred.</p>
<p>Bottom line: don’t lose hope</p>
<p>My school doesn’t do 4.0 GPA, but I had a 94, 95ish average and got in with intensely philosophical essays. Then again, my SATs were 1500/1600 (2300/2400), but they say high SATs don’t make up for non-top-notch grades; at least 50 people in my year (class of ~400) have 97+ average.</p>
<p>^ Um…you definitely don’t count as “not so great stats”</p>
<p>My SATs were 670M, 560CR, and 660W. However, my ACT was a 31, my SAT IIs were 770 Math II, 740 Japanese, 740 Physics, and AP 5s on Physics C, Calculus BC, and Statistics. So the latter probably brought up my SATs. This was about 3 years ago, though…</p>
<p>With a projected 15,000+ applicants, it is very likely UChicago can find enough students with great stats AND great essays to fill its entire incoming class. They may not even need to choose between low-stats/great-essays and high-stats/weak-essays.</p>
<p>“Stats” include GPA/rank, class rigor, test scores. In addition to “stats”, there are EC’s and LOR’s to consider. For elite colleges that claim to evaluate candidates holistically, one area of weakness is generally allowed for unhooked applicants, but the weakness must be made up somewhere else, i.e., at least another area must be exceptional. Not all weaknesses are the same - a low GPA/rank is the most difficult weakness to make up.</p>
<p>^ Not what OP was asking…</p>
<p>How low do you consider low? My son’s SAT scores were fine - 790 CR, 690 M. He sent in his 790 US Hist score and his 730 Bio score. He had 5s on 3 APs and is taking 3 more APs this year. But his unweighted GPA was 91 and if you threw out the orchestra classes it was 87. He had B-'s in Chemistry and Latin, and lots of B+s in various courses. However his weighted GPA put him in the top 6% of the class. (One advantage of going to a huge school with a fair number of low performing students.) We assume he had great recommendations. I think he wrote very good, clever, funny essays. He got in EA which we did not expect at all, though our schools Naviance data showed that Chicago was certainly not an unreasonable reach. A handful of students with similar stats from his class had been accepted before.</p>
<p>On numerous occasions Chicago admission officials have stated that they do not put much weight on simple GPA. It is more important that one has challenged oneself with the best curriculum available and performed reasonably well. That and recommendations are on equal of better footing with essays. S1 had a 3.41 when he applied to Chicago, and by mid year it was a whopping 3.46. He did, however, show he plunged head-on into difficult courses and reach beyond high school for other learning experiences. He also wrote outstanding essays. He did not take the SAT. His ACT super score (which Chicago does, or at least did at that time) was 35.</p>
<p>I heard Susie Shoreland did.</p>
<p>Oh yes, I should add S1’s class rank was 185/405.</p>
<p>A 35 super-score is a very good score.</p>
<p>idad you’re an inspiration and so is your son : )</p>
<p>One must remember that getting admitted with ‘not so great stats’ is more of an anomaly than anything else. However, if one has certain desirable intangibles then surely statistics can be overlooked since, mind you, they’re admitting people, not statistics. One must also note that they can only accept so many of these people every year so as to not drag down their average statistics too much.</p>
<p>I had a 3.67 GPA weighted and an SAT of 2010. My extracurriculars were 4 years of running, but nothing else besides that. I had no community service hours, awards or any of that stuff.</p>
<p>But what I did do was take serious pride in my essay, and tried to convey who I am beyond the grades. </p>
<p>I would assume it worked seeing that I was accepted EA this year.</p>
<p>Do not count yourself out because of grades. The essay is the only part of the application that shows any personality, and Chicago understands it to mean much more than numbers.They have a desired student, and those are the ones that Chicago knows will work hard. They are the ones that deserve a chance to succeed.</p>
<p>Brabble- Lucky!</p>