<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2360 (800M, 800CR, 760 W)
[</em>]SAT II: 760 Math II, 750 US History
[<em>]ACT: NA
[</em>]GPA: 3.97 UW, 4.65 W
[<em>]Rank:top 5%
[</em>]Other Tests: IB diploma candidate, APs-3 taken, all 5s, with 7-8 this year
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: I really loved my "pick 5 objects and write a story" essay. It was about choices and I poured my soul into it.
[</em>]Teacher Recs:Good, they liked me.
[<em>]Counselor Rec:Good, she liked me too.
[</em>]Supplementary Material:Nope, even though I should have made a piano recording
[<em>]Hook:NA [/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location:SoCal
[<em>]High School Type:large, class of 709
[</em>]Ethnicity:Chinese
[<em>]Gender:F
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid:No [/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars:Piano-playing Beethoven's 4th concerto with Orchestra, Key Club President, lots of community service
[</em>]Awards:National Merit Semi, a bunch of piano awards, National Latin Exam-Gold, etc
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:to all those who got in- yes! we did it! Now life will be so much easiler the next few months. For those who were deferred/ rejected- college decisions are so fickle, it could even come down to an admissions officer being too tired or something. There is always hope and tons of other schools, which might not be your first choice, but are just as wonderful in their own ways.[/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 2190 (730 M, 720 CR, 740 W)
SAT II: 770 u.s. history, 740 literature, 720 math IIC
ACT: 32
GPA: 4.4 W
Rank: 1/114
AP Tests: 5 U.s. History, 5 English Lang, 4 Calculus BC</p>
<p>Subjective
Essays: I did the table essay and wrote about eating big dinners at my house with my dad and his crew of south africans (he's a farmer). I wrote about Of Montreal for my favorites one and my one about why I want to go there was pretty specific. I talked about how a well rounded education would help me as a writer. </p>
<p>Recs: My AP lang teacher from last year/forensics coach wrote a really good one. And my calculus teacher from last year wrote one and talked about how I did the BC test and taught all the material to myself. I also have a rec from the editor of the local newspaper that talks about my writing internship there this summer. It was very good. </p>
<p>Supplementary Material: I write a weekly column for the local newspaper so I sent in one of those. It was about fear. I also sent a short story.
Hook: I'm from a rural town in Colorado?? Not really a hook, but yeah.</p>
<p>Personal
Location: Colorado
High School Type: public
Ethnicity: caucasian
Gender: Female
Applied for Financial Aid: Yes, and it had better come through.. SCARED!</p>
<p>Other
Extracurriculars: Editor in chief of school newspaper, forensics club, school play, knowledge bowl, community service of making a newspaper with elementary kids
Awards: NCTE achievement award in writing, state speech champion my freshman year, some newspaper awards, some more, less exciting awards.
Advice? Commiserations?: I'm terrified of not being able to afford the school. I'm trying not to get too excited yet.</p>
<p>Woo!!!! I got ACCEPTED!!!
This is so exciting. I want to go to the Admissions Office and send a bouquet of flowers to each counselor! Although I do feel like I deserved it.
I'm not sure how to work the fill in the blank form, and it would take me a long time to post everything, but I had a 2240 SAT one time only with M770, CR680 and W790. I would say my essays were really good. Hook: Can't think of one that fits that criteria. Advice: Essays DO matter, especially for above average students who do not have perfect numbers. High school career also matters. Make a commitment to yourself. Work hard, even if you think you're smart enough to get by without hard work. When I was younger (pre-high school), I always envisioned getting into a top school was unreal and only something that happened in the movies. This is a dream come true for me. Good luck to you who are applying; congrats to those who got in; don't forget you still have a chance if you got deferred, and my sympathies to those who got rejected.</p>
<p>Deferred. I'm not sure if I want to go to a college which is so 'weird and wacky' that they defer people like Kate25 with her valedictorian/2400 stats, anyway. I know I wrote kickass essays and would succeed in Chicago because I have the intellectual ability drive they seek (probably the main reason I was interested in Chicago.)</p>
<p>im sure many other colleges defer people with 2400/val stats. harvard and mit have special reputation for doing so. i think a second tier or lower college fits your not-weird-and-wacky criteria.</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2240 (700 W, 740 M, 800 W)
[</em>]SAT II: 690 USH, 670 BIO
[<em>]ACT: --
[</em>]GPA: 4.0 UW, 5.42 W
[<em>]Rank: 5/360
[</em>]Other Tests: Bio 4, English Lang 4, Chem 3, USH 3
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Good essay, needed more substance i think.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: One excellent, one good.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: No clue, but probably good.
[</em>]Supplementary Material:
[<em>]Hook: --
[/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: TX
[<em>]High School Type: Noncompetitive Public
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: M
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: Y[/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: Drum Major of 2nd best band in the state, President and founder of school business club, Vice President of NHS, Board member and district representative of local interact club, city orchestra principal chair, and elected member of a variety of school clubs
[</em>]Awards: Honor Roll, All-State clarinetist, decorated soloist, etc
[*]Other Comments: I'm honestly disappointed... I thought I was a good fit, but obviously not. Maybe they'll accept me RD, but I'm a bit discouraged. UGH.[/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT:2140
CR: 720
M: 750
W: 670
[</em>]SAT II: Literature: 740; U.S. History: 800; Math Level II: 750
[<em>]ACT: never taken.
[</em>]GPA: in the range of 3.9 to 4.0
[<em>]Rank:8/617
[</em>]Other Tests: (AMC, AP, IB): U.S. History, English Lang., Chemistry, Psychology, self-studied World History and European History, and got straight 5s. AP scholar with distinction.
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: I did the Borges prompt, and it's one of my prouder works, which must be pretty good, since I'm generally a good writer. It follows the idea of myself as me and myself as the writer, presented through my nom de plume for my fictional works.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: The one from my chemistry teacher is good, and the one from my favorite English teacher/UIL Lit. Crit. coach is great.
[ <em>]Counselor Rec: Fairly good, but definitely not as personal as the ones from the teachers.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: (research abstracts, music recordings, art slides): none
[<em>]Hook: (recruited athlete, cured cancer- only major ones that actually would have made a difference, please) Probably the essays. [/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: Texas
[<em>]High School Type: public, large.
[</em>]Ethnicity: Chinese
[<em>]Gender: Female
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: Yes.[/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: UIL Lit. Crit, Yearbook, Choir (school varsity choir, pop ensemble, church youth choir, praise team), book club, NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, ESL teacher's aide.
[</em>]Awards: National Merit Scholarship Semi-Finalist, all-region choir, various awards in UIL Literary Criticism.
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:I'm ecstatic that I got in! It's been my first choice since my freshman year.[/ul]</p>
<p>While I agree that "chances" threads are just plain stupid, there is a very significant trend that is emerging from the results posted so far.</p>
<p>1) SATs don't matter, at least if you manage to superscore above 2100 or so
2) Weighted GPA does not matter
3) UW GPA matters somewhat
4) The biggest predictor of success is class rank for unhooked candidates. Top 5% is a great chance, and outside top 10% is the kiss of death.
5) Hard to say about ECs. Most things people post here feel like absolute BS to me, but perhaps I have become too cynical with age.</p>
<p>This is mostly consistent with what the admissions office says are their priorities. Of course, they couch it in more politically correct terms ("high school record, yada yada yada") but my sense from looking at the rank data is that it is largely a numbers game.</p>
<p>Of course, this does not take into account intangibles such as essays. Having seen essays of accepted candidates posted here and elsewhere, I would argue that essays actually are used to rule out candidates rather than accept them. This is the only way I can explain results such as kate25 - my heart goes out to you, girl...</p>
<p>Best of wishes to the newly accepted, unfortunately my D is not among them. She seems to be taking it well, at least externally. We always realized that Chicago was a reach for her, but it seems that pretty good essays cannot overcome a solid but not spectacular transcript, despite what people here tend to think.</p>
<p>P.S. Before people start nitpicking on the rank observations and pointing to the post above as proof to the contrary, they should note that I am talking about trends, not specific cases</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2200 (Reading - 720, Math - 720, Writing - 760)
[</em>]SAT II: Math II - 740, Spanish - 720, US History - 710
[<em>]ACT: N/A
[</em>]GPA: something around 4.2 weighted, 3.85 unweighted
[<em>]Rank: around a 28 or 29 out of 500
[</em>]Other Tests: I'm not sure if my APs were listed on my transcript, but: European History - 3, Spanish - 4, Calculus AB - 5, US History - 5, Computer Science AB - 4, Calculus BC - 5, English Language - 5
[/ul]</p>
<p>Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Not bizarre or strange, but I was still pretty proud of them. I wrote my table essay about my interest in politics (more creatively, of course), and wrote my favorite things essay about Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: My US History & English teacher said she had "SO much fun" writing my letter, so I assume it was great. My calc teacher has had lots of experience writing them in the past (he's written a total of 5 for UChicago, and all 5 of those students have been accepted), and he thought I was a really hard worker (and smart).
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Fine.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: None.
[li]Hook: None. [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: San Diego, CA
[</em>]High School Type: Public high school--very competitive, I would say... which would explain my GPA and ranking. My school also tends to not weight certain classes nearly as much as other schools. 4x4 system.
[<em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[</em>]Gender: Female
[li]Applied for Financial Aid: Yes.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: Co-President of Leo Club, Secretary in FBLA, Fundraising Director in Peer Counseling, Young Democrats, Link Crew, Girls Water Polo Team, National Honors Society. I also put Food Not Bombs, though I'm not sure that would be considered an extracurricular. In the additional comments section, I said that I was taking Math 205 - Calc 3 / Multivariable Calculus & Analytic Geometry at the nearby community college.
[</em>]Awards: My school never gave out awards.
[li]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I told myself to expect a deferral so I wouldn't get my hopes up... but this still really sucks. I did have an interview in August and I think I've shown that I would really fit at Chicago in terms of challenging academics and open-mindedness to learning about anything. I'm just going to really, really, really, really hope that I get in regular decision and am going to try to do everything within my capabilities to convince the admissions counselors of my commitment.[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 720M, 750CR, 770Wr
[</em>]SAT II: 800/770/730
[<em>]Rank: 1/87
[</em>]Other Tests: AP - 4,5,4,5
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: weird, but their prompts were strange so i just ran with it.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: one good, the other probably more run-of-the-mill
[<em>]Counselor Rec: who knows....
[</em>]Supplementary Material: none
[<em>]Hook: no
[/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: LA
[<em>]High School Type: Private
[</em>]Ethnicity: White
[<em>]Gender: Female
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: no [/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: 3 varsity sports, state runner up V bball team, captain of track team, but not good enough to compete collegiately. newspaper. internship with congressman. blah blah
[</em>]Awards: nothing major
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: [/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2090 [W:610 M:730 W:750)
[</em>]SAT II: Math2:740, Bio: 560, Chem: 680
[<em>]ACT: 33 (32 E, 34 M, 31 R, 35 S, 30 E/W, 9 Essay)
[</em>]GPA:4.2 (W)/4.3 (my school does GPA wierdly, an A in a regular class is a 4.3, but in an AP or Honors class is a 5.0, then they go down .3-.4 each step, so like an A- is a 4.0 i regular and a 4.7 in AP/Honors)
[<em>]Rank: 2nd Decile
[</em>]Other Tests: (AMC, AP, IB) Not Reported (but AP Scores are 5 on Calc AB, 4 on Chem, and 3 on Bio)
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: Table, I think this is what kept me "in the running"
[</em>]Teacher Recs: One should be great, one should be average
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Should be wonderful
[</em>]Supplementary Material: None
[<em>]Hook: None[/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: NJ
[<em>]High School Type: Very Competitive Public (~5-8% go to Ivy Leagues, ~15-25% go to top 25 schools)
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: M
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: No[/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: Viola, Piano, Photography
[</em>]Awards: Just AP Scholar and Cum Laude awards
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Was actually expecting a rejection letter due to a relatively low GPA/rank, but was pleasantly surprised by the deferral, although an acceptance would have been much nicer. I think the interview definitely helped, and it also gave me an insight on UChicago that I hadn't really seen much of since my interviewer was a relatively recent graduate (class of 2000)[/ul]</p>
<pre><code>* SAT: 2250, although i think i got 2300+ in dec
* SAT II: 800/800/780/750
* Rank: does not rank, GPA: 3.77?
* Other Tests: ACT: 34 AP (6 tests, all 5s)
</code></pre>
<p>Subjective</p>
<pre><code>* Essays: lol. in the style of james joyce. nough said
* Teacher Recs: eh. no idea, should be the standard fare
* Counselor Rec: (see above)
* Supplementary Material: supplementary rec from a jpl/csula prof
* Hook: asian, male, likes science. i say no
</code></pre>
<p>Personal</p>
<pre><code>* Location: Southern California
* High School Type: Public, Competitive
* Ethnicity: Asian
* Gender: Male
* Applied for Financial Aid: yes
</code></pre>
<p>Other</p>
<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: 3 academic teams, yearbook, track and field, eh and other stuff
* Awards: quite a few for them academic teams
* Advice? no worries man
</code></pre>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2270 (740M 780CR 750W)
[</em>]SAT II: MathIIC, Bio - 800; Spanish - 780; USH - 730
[<em>]ACT: none
[</em>]GPA: 4.0UW (school doesn't weight)
[<em>]Rank: 1/800ish
[</em>]Other Tests: AP (CalcAB, CalcBC, Spanish, USH, Bio - all 5) IB (Physics SL-6, Spanish SL-7)
[/ul] Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: really liked my long essay (Borges y Yo prompt), thought it was a good amount of quirkiness and also revealing - talked a lot about art and dance; I went a little more risky for my short essays and I'm so unbelievably thankful they seem to have worked: for Why Chicago, I compared UChicago to a dessert (had tons of fun describing it); I went majorly stream of consciousness on the Favorite Things essay... it was loads of fun :)
[</em>]Teacher Recs: didn't read them but I think they're good :o
[<em>]Counselor Rec: same, didn't read, but my GC was genuinely interested in doing a great job, so I trust her :)
[</em>]Supplementary Material: mailed a CD of art slides... about 16 pieces I think?
[<em>]Hook: none[/ul] Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: Southern California
[<em>]High School Type: Large competitive public
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender: F
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: no [/ul] Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: dance team, art, mock trial, vp of youth club, piano (there were others, but these are the ones I've done for a loooong time)
[</em>]Awards: won $500 in a national art contest, physics award at school, national merit semi,
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul] I'm so ecstatic! :) Congrats to everyone who got accepted; to those deferred - don't give up just yet! oooh I'm worried about paying for tuition but I'm not going to let that dampen my mood right now :)</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2400 (2nd try)
[</em>]SAT II: 800 Math II, 730 U.S., 800 French
[ <em>]ACT:
[</em>]GPA: 4.38 (or 4.35? I don't even remember) out of 4.5.
[<em>]Rank: 4 of 324
[ ]Other Tests: (AMC, AP, IB)
[/ul]
**Subjective[ul]
[</em>]Essays: "Why UChicago": serious, factual; "Favorites": exaggerated and (I hope) funny, focused on 1 favorite (a poem); Main Essay: create-your-own, unique and discussed my values, but possibly somewhat moralistic/boring.
[<em>]Teacher Recs: (who knows?!)
[</em>]Counselor Rec: (same)
[<em>]Supplementary Material: two sample issues of the independent student newspaper that I started at my high school
[</em>]Hook: none [/ul]
**Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: CT
[</em>]High School Type: public
[<em>]Ethnicity: Hispanic
[</em>]Gender: male
[<em>]Applied for Financial Aid: yes [/ul]
**Other*[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: a bunch (mostly the aforementioned newspaper^)
[<em>]Awards: only a few minor ones
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I'll never know how they took my essays, whether being Hispanic was a factor, or whether the strength of my SATs/GPA pulled me through. So, let me know if you number-crunchers find any trends, but I'm going to hazard a guess and say that it's not gonna happen. [/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2140 (M 730, CR 720, W 690)
[</em>]SAT II: Math II 770, USH 760, Spanish 610
[<em>]ACT: 34
[</em>]GPA: 5.2 W
[<em>]Rank: 1/500
[</em>]Other Tests: APs: Language, Human Geo., USH, Calculus AB, Biology, US Gov all 5, 4 on Music Theory and World History- National AP Scholar
[/ul] Subjective[list]
[<em>]Essays: I thought it was really good, I wrote about how my title (drum major) doesn't make sense, and I was able to fit in some bits of leadership here and there.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: great, both from department heads (one w/ Doctorate if it matters). Basically said I was one of, if not the, best student they ever taught.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: didn't see it, must have been good.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: none
[<em>]Hook: not sure [ /list]
*Personal[ /b][ list]
[</em>]Location: South Carolina
[<em>]High School Type: public
[</em>]Ethnicity: white
[<em>]Gender: male
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: yes/list]
**Other[ /b][ list]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: marching band (drum major 2 years), youth symphony, Youth in Government mock trial, volunteer with Obama campaign weekly
[</em>]Awards: National AP Scholar, NM semi-finalist, etc.
[]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[ /list]</p>