<p>Sorry it’s me again, as I’m really anxious about getting into UChicago–my top choice!</p>
<p>How much would a failing grade in Chinese speaking in Year 11 affect my chances? I got an “F” in speaking in Chinese on my Year 11 transcript, but my overall Chinese grade was a pass (like a C or D). Later, I got an overall B in Chinese in the HKCEE (a Hong Kong public exam after 5 years of secondary education), with As in reading and writing, C in speaking, and E (still a pass) in listening–my grades in different components of the Chinese exam were very uneven. Now, as I’m doing the IB, I have a 7 in Chinese–the highest grade in the system. If it makes a difference, Chinese is my native language.</p>
<p>Returning to the question, how much would that Chinese speaking F on my Year 11 transcript affect my chances?</p>
<p>shootastar, grades are just one aspect of our holistic review process; acceptance to UChicago is, however, a very competitive process, and the majority of students we admit fall in to the top 10% of their high school classes, with many As or A-equivalent grades in high rigor.</p>
<p>simpleton, don’t worry-- I was in your place not too long ago. We do not have an official date set yet for EA decisions. I will certainly let you all know when we will be releasing decisions once we know for sure.</p>
<p>echacha, there are many different reasons that schools do not look at the SAT writing score; from our admissions perspective, we tend to feel that the score is much less helpful than the writing you send to us through your application. We see plenty of writing from students through the Common Application and supplement-- work that you have put a lot of time, thought, and effort in to making your own and editing well-- and feel that these essays are representative enough of a student’s writing skill to not need to consider the SAT writing score.</p>
<p>Continuing with my last question, I was definitely in the top 10% (I was in the top 3-4%, actually) in my previous high school. The F in Chinese speaking in Year 11 was something of an aberration (and actually quite a number of us failed it that year). As for now, my current thigh school does not rank students, so I’m not sure what percentage I’m in, but I’m placed on the Honor Roll. My latest progress report (Year 13) indicates I have 40 points out of 42 (IB, only the 6 subjects without the Extended Essay and ToK).</p>
<p>Now with more context, do you think the F in Chinese speaking in Year 11 will have a serious impact on my chances?</p>
<p>Thanks, and sorry to pester you with such questions!</p>
<p>Grace, I didn’t receive an email with a UChicago account for applying early. Did I fail to apply successfully? (The reason why I waited until now is because our school sends the transcripts by mail and it’s difficult to ascertain when the mail will arrive and be read).</p>
<p>Do campus visits by applicants factor in to the admissions process? (Sorry if this is terribly obvious; we are new at this.) We visited the campus informally; would it somehow demonstrate greater dedication or interest if we came back and had a formal tour before applying (we are HS class of 2013)?</p>
<p>MomofNEA–whether or not a student has visited campus is not a factor in our decision-making. The benefit is meant to be yours; there is quite a bit of interaction with current students and admissions counselors in an official visit, which could be very helpful to a student in determining if and/or why we might be a great match for them; if you feel like you or your student might benefit from this, by all means visit, but it is not necessary to do simply to “check a box” for having done so.</p>
<p>According to UChicago website, merit based scholarship winners will receive notification of their awards on a rolling basis through the end of April. Does this mean EAs will be also notified whether they get merit based scholarship at the EA decision time.</p>
<p>snow2008, some merit scholarship decisions will go out with EA acceptance letters, but it is possible (and common) for EA admitted students to hear about a scholarship at later time, up to and including April. Our merit committee meets several times during the application process and often decides to award merit to EA students after they have been admitted. So, just because a student does not receive a merit offer at the time of admission does not mean an offer is out of the question.</p>
<p>Does UChicago have conditional acceptances or something of that sort? For example, if I had below par grades due to serious family obligations albeit decent standardized test scores, good recs, essays, etc, is it possible to be accepted on the basis I maintain a certain GPA?
Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Okay I am going ahead and going to be the obnoxious person who asks when will the early action decisions come out??? What does “mid-December” mean???</p>
<p>@panickedforever, I have literally googled and asked like everyone I know what “middecember” means and I still don’t know…It is probably some seemingly clever way to give us an idea as to when to expect decisions but not binding to the college as to give them flexibility</p>
<p>alexkuhn - US schools accept, reject or defer. However, acceptances are always conditional in the sense that just because you got in, you can’t bomb the rest of the year.</p>
<p>alexkuzn, no, we do not have conditional acceptances like you described. Of course, we do expect students to maintain their grades after they have been accepted, but we would not accept a student only if he/she can achieve or maintain a certain GPA.</p>
<p>Everyone else, I’m sorry, we do not have a date set yet. It will be before Dec. 24th. I very honestly do not know when we are going to release decisions, and will let you know when we have a firm date-- as many of you know, we are 25% up in our EA applications this year, and naturally the reading and decision-making process as well as the boring side of things (ensuring our website and your accounts are ready, stuffing envelopes, checking those, etc) takes time.</p>