U of Chicago Admission Officers' Corner

<p>For a transfer applicant, how much does U of C focus on the college classes taken, as compared with those from high school? How does U of C factor in serious medical problems that might in fact have a causal relation to a decrease in grades over high school, but a significant change in college classes? Over what sort of time period of consistent positive change would it be noted, if so?
And as an economics major, would Calculus III with Differential Equations and Linear Algebra suffice for math requirements? Sadly, the college I go to is a community college, and is lacking in prospects beyond the basic macro/micro economics courses, although there is a honors program at the college.</p>

<p>Instead of taking AP Chemistry my junior year I decided that I am going to take genetics and independent study: anatomy. So anyways... does genetics and independent study look worse on a college application in compairison to AP Chemistry? When I apply I am planning on sending all the data that I collected throughout my rigerous study. Do you have any advice for making my independent study more impressive and/or prove how intensive it is going to be?</p>

<p>Ultimately I am planning on taking 4 AP's throughout high school (my school offers 8)... is that enough to get into highly competitive schools (ie University of Chicago)?</p>

<p>Sorry... I forgot to add that I have a serious passion for science and I truly feel that an independent study is the best way for me to cultivate this passion. I also wanted to add that I would take more AP's but I seriously don't have time... I have artistic roller skating practice for about three hours everyday (I travel a bunch for the sport too), I want to continue my other ec's, while having time to do all my homework on top of that.</p>

<p>The online application blog for this year will be <a href="http://uncommonapplication.uchicago.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://uncommonapplication.uchicago.edu&lt;/a>. We will launch the application soon, and the blog will be the first place we will announce it.</p>

<p>This thread is mainly for my announcements... you can ask me questions on the "Watch out, it's an admissions counselor!" thread, where it will probably be answered by another user before I can get to it.</p>

<p>HI, i would like to ask if i'm doing the IB well (40 or above) be relatively weak in SAT 1 (or maybe under 2000). Do I still have the chance to be accepted(e.g economics)? And also, is there any help in doing the SAT 2 maths?</p>

<p>Sat 2 not needed at Uchicago and won help in any way?</p>

<p><a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=79%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level2.asp?id=79&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Confirmation that SAT II's are not needed.</p>

<p>I believe Libby Pearson said in a past post that standardized test scores were never a determining factor in admissions, whereas essays, recommendations, transcript, etc. were. If that is the case, your SAT II scores would not help you gain admission.</p>

<p>--edit:</p>

<p>In post #295 of the "Watch Out, It's an Admissions Counselor!" thread, Libby wrote:</p>

<p>
[quote]
I have never seen anyone's decision hinge on their SAT score, whereas I have seen it hinge on the interview, recommendation, transcript, essay, etc.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Thanks unalove!</p>

<p>I'm applying early to U Chicago but was not in time to get an interview. Does this significantly hurt my chances of getting accepted?</p>

<p>No. Interviews are not required and many applicants do not have them because there are no alumni available in their area.</p>

<p>I had no idea that this was the first year of the "Uncommon Application". It simply works so well!</p>

<p>I don't mean to be sycophantic, but the University of Chicago seriously does make the application process much easier than any other school. Not to mention that the essay topics are not tedious, nor vague! The admissions office, including you, Libby, was genious in requesting essay topics from previous students. It was the one application I felt like I didn't have to struggle through. </p>

<p>Thanks for that. Really. It was so nice to write interesting essay topics for once.</p>

<p>It's definitely not the first year of the Uncommon Application, actually... I remember applying with it back in the day (...last fall). It is still cool, though.</p>

<p>would questions from prospective International Students for LLM be entertained here Miss Pearson?</p>

<p>so far, its really tough to find posts on Post-Grad Studies or maybe im just lost. :)</p>