UChicago Questions? Ask an admissions counselor!

<p>@perfect36: we are looking for the same kinds of things in our transfer applicants as we are in our freshman applicants-- strong students interested in attending UChicago!</p>

<p>@college1123: no, if you are applying here EA and to other schools EA we will not know; we participate in unrestricted early action, so you are apply to as many schools as you would like to EA. HOWEVER, if you are applying restrictive Early Action (where you are asked to only apply to one school) or Early Decision to another school, please respect the restrictions placed on those types of applications and do not apply here Early Action. </p>

<p>@flufflypandas101: we will be happy to receive an explanation of why your grades may have slipped should you choose to include one. We evaluate transcripts in the context of the student and their school, and do not have GPA cutoffs for students-- we realize many different schools operate under different systems (4.0, weighted, unweighted, out of 100, smiley faces or frowny faces…) so the transcript itself is what is really important to us, not the number on top of it. </p>

<p>@ca2012: AP exam results are not required for admission so, no, it should not be a problem.</p>

<p>I have a question regarding how you evaluate transcripts and grades generally.</p>

<p>You see, I attend a relatively grade-deflating school that uses a weighted grading system to calculate class rank. Because of the grade deflation, my unweighted GPA is low by CC terms - about a 3.8 - but my rank is around 6/350, which seems to be significantly better. Given this I am not too worried, but for my coming (senior) year I want to take several college classes at my local university (graduate level chem classes taught by my science research mentor, advanced math, and advanced econ theory). My school pays the tuition, but the problem with taking these classes is that my school uses a weighted grading system, and for some reason college classes taken through their postsecondary program are not weighted (and no, I cannot change it - I have already gone all the way to the school board; they rejected my petition). Taking them would kill my class rank, as they would be weighted as if normal classes, and my unweighted GPA would still be relatively low due to the grade deflation, so everything would look bad. </p>

<p>I have three options:</p>

<p>Take the classes for a letter grade and let my class rank drop like a rock on Saturn</p>

<p>Take the classes pass/fail, at which point I look like I’m lazy</p>

<p>Not take them (which I really don’t want to do; I’d be bored out of my mind senior year without something intellectually stimulating)</p>

<p>What should I do, for application purposes? I think that as it stands I’m probably a competitive applicant (2400 SAT, placed @ ISEF, etc), but this issue has been worrying me this entire summer. I really like Chicago, and I don’t want something like this to kill my application.</p>

<p>@snipersas-- this is a tough one! I’m not sure I’m the right person to help you make this decision; I’d really encourage you to talk to your high school or college counselor (if there is one available to you at the school you’ll be attending for these credits) to help you choose the right option. What I can say is that we’ll be evaluating your application in the context of “you”, so, we’ll be aware that the courses you took were challenging and on a different grading scale from the transcripts you provide us.</p>

<p>I have been receiving a lot of questions on essay length, so I figured I’d post here to give everyone the information! It is a good idea to keep your essays around 500 words (per essay, don’t worry, you don’t have to spread 500 words across three separate pieces). Less is totally fine, so long as you feel you’ve accurately represented yourself in those words; please be cautious with longer essays. While a little bit over is acceptable, for our sanity while reading (and the sake of showing us that you can edit and be brief-- a very important UChicago skill), please try not to greatly exceed the 500 word suggested limit.</p>

<p>Does interest ever play a role in a student’s admission decision?</p>

<p>Hi Grace, I just have a question for you. So I know if you apply Early Decision to one school, some schools will still let you apply EA. Is this true for UChig as well? For example, I know someone who applied to Brown ED and UMich EA. Got into Brown so then she withdrew her application to UMich. Does that work in here as well?</p>

<p>@KathyLis, we are interested in students who have shown an interest in us, definitely-- but this does not necessarily mean by visiting campus, as we know not all students have this option; interest can just as easily be shown by writing a very personal and specific-to-us “Why Chicago” essay that shows that the student knows about our school and is interested in us specifically.</p>

<p>@Kingheat85: You may apply to us EA and another school ED, although we do request that if you are admitted ED to a different school that you withdraw your application to UChicago.</p>

<p>In regard to showing interest, our student visited UChicago this summer and there was no signin for the tours. Do you keep track of attendees?</p>

<p>Hello MaterS, when a student pre-registers for the tour/information session, this is logged in their file; we also have a very quick walk-in registration process.</p>

<p>Hi Grace, will the university of chicago superscore my act scores? If they do, will they superscore all three of my test scores or just two scores? And is it true that colleges like the university of chicago don’t like people who take the act four or more times because I was planning on taking it again for my fourth time</p>

<p>Hey Grace, Does applying to UChicago as an Quest Bridge finalist for the national college match gives an extra edge to the students? Or, is it regarded same as applying EA/RD independently?</p>

<p>Hey Grace,</p>

<p>I was wondering about IB. I know that UChicago accepts IB scores, but since IB scores don’t come in until June, and tests until May, how do we report what tests we’re planning to take?</p>

<p>Ms. Chapin,</p>

<p>Hello. I was wondering if you knew how important one’s “Academic Interests” (from the common app) are. How exactly does UChicago look at them, and would you recommend putting some vague ideas (i.e. mathematics, chinese, neuroscience, or “Liberal Arts and Sciences, general studies, and humanities”) or simply leaving all three “undecided.”</p>

<p>I know that SAT and SAT II scores need to be sent directly from the College Board. But do you need to do that for AP scores or can you just self-report them on the application?</p>

<p>Hello Grace,
I plan on applying EA, but I’m not sure until what month does UChicago consider scores. I know some schools will look at scores no later than November and others even earlier. I plan on retaking the SAT in October and SATII in November, so would UChicago look at those scores?</p>

<p>Hello Grace,
Can you please tell me how many students are admitted into CCIB & CCIB: Financial Markets every year? What is the admit rate into these programs. Where can I get the graduating student statistics/profiles (i.e. where they are employed, what kind of salary, how many are going into law/medicine etc.). Are these available for computer sciencemajor? I am interested in majoring in CS.</p>

<p>My second question is for admission into U of Chicago, is SAT writing considered or not, in the web site, only SAT scores out of 1600 (Reading & Math) are listed in incoming student profile, so I was wondering.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Hello Masterclass, students applying through the Questbridge program are evaluated in the same fashion as students applying to the College through EA or RD, just on a separate time frame.</p>

<p>Hello Anotherday, we will accept IB projected scores if your teachers are able to give them, otherwise we will just know you are taking an IB curriculum and will see the courses you are taking (and therefore exams you may plan to take) from your transcript.</p>

<p>Hello Numbergenerator, we know that students are often undecided or have a variety of interests; you should just feel free to select options that you find interesting to give us a little bit more context and information about you, but of course we don’t require or expect that many high school seniors will have firm plans about their prospective majors, so undecided is completely fine, too.</p>

<p>Hello Student23832, you are welcome to just self-report AP scores from exams you have taken previously on your common application.</p>