Decision: Accepted ED
These are for my son
Objective:
[] SAT I (breakdown): 1510, 770 Math, 740 Verbal (SuperScore)
[] ACT (breakdown): 34 (36R, 36E, 32S, 32M, 12W)
[] SAT II: did not take any, none of the schools he was considering seemed to put too much emphasis on it
[] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (School 4.0=A or A+)
[] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 1% of 520ish
[] AP (place score in parentheses): World Hist (5), US Hist (5), Eng Lang (5), Chem (3),US Gov (5), Calc AB (5)
[] Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics NM, AP Calc BC, AP macro econ, AP Comp Gov, AP Lit, AP Psych
[] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NM Semifinalist, 2 time State Medalist in Track and Field, AP distinguished scholar, RPI medal, other local HS level Major Awards
[/list]Subjective:
[] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Cross Country (4 time letter, 2 time Captain, 2 time team leadership award; Winter Track (4 time Letter, 1 time captain,4 event state qualifier, 2 time state medalist); Spring Track (4 time Letter, 1 time captain, 2 event state qualifier); 4 years drumming at School of Rock, multiple concerts; 3 years writing for local newspaper (two times cover story).
[] Job/Work Experience: Soph-Junior summer Dishwasher 25 hours/week: Junior-Senior Summer: 35 hours/week volunteering at local charitable thrift store
[] Volunteer/Community service: See above
[] Summer Activities: See above plus Cross Country Camp and USNA Summer Seminar his Junior-Senior summer
[] Essays: I believe he thought they were good. I think the key was how he would make a positive impact in the world in the Common Ap or Why UChicago. He wrote his Uncommon essay on what is his “armor.”
[] Teacher Recommendation: I didn’t read any of them, but all three he asked wrote personal notes (no form letters). He prepped each with what he thought UChicago would be looking for in a student and asked them to write them on how he fit that need. I do know that his best friend, who is a year ahead, had one of the same recommending teachers and was accepted to Stanford ED last year. He really thinks this could have been a strength for him.
[] Counselor Rec: 6-7/10 He goes to a very large, well funded public school where 95% go on to university, so his class’s guidance counselor has a hard time knowing all the students individually, so I would suspect that he got a basic reco here.
[] Additional Rec: 10/10 Included above in Teacher. His APUSH teacher who is also his Track Coach.
[] Interview: did one off campus. He thought it went very well. It was more the interviewer telling him about how great UChicago is and how to be successful.
[] Supplementary Material: none
[/list]Other
[]Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes, against my best judgement, but my wife talked us into it. Got nothing, as predicted.
[] State (if domestic applicant): PA
Country (if international applicant):
[] School Type: 1500+ public high school
[] Ethnicity: Of European Heritage, but at least 5th generation White American
[] Gender: M
[] Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate): too high to qualify for aid evidently
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Recruited Athlete, received pre-read and likely letter[/li]
[/list]Reflection
[] Strengths: Recruited Athlete, Great Recommendations, Academic stats well within range of class,
[] Weaknesses: He worried about his essays in that “Were they Chicago Quirky enough?” He probably didn’t put as much effort into them as he did everything else.
[] Why you think you were accepted: An Athlete that can contribute immediately and focused on learning.
[] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Received a Letter of Assurance from the USNA, withdrew application upon acceptance at UChicago. Did not apply anywhere else, however, if UChicago fell through would have applied to Colgate.
[/list]General Comments: I have two that have went through this process, though both not at UChicago. My oldest focused on himself in his essays was deffered and later accepted at UMich and GTech, where the UChicago student focused on how UChicago + himself could have a positive influence on the future world. Not in all three, but in two of the three.
Why did he pick UChicago for his ED? I think his summer visit made a big impact on him. He and I attended one of the Open House events. First UChicago person who greeted him as he walked up to the Rockefeller Chapel was James Nondorf. That made a very big impact on him. Not that Nondorf is a great and famous person, but that he went out of his way to greet the prospects. The rest of the day just went up from there.
Why UChicago essay was super researched. For the common app essay I chose my own prompt and wrote it in my usual writing style, which is very flowery and not really admissions-essay style.