***UChicago RD 2021 Results Thread***

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
21

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1570 overall (new) but didn’t submit I think
ACT (breakdown): 36 composite 35 math 35 reading 36 science 36 english
SAT II: 790 math, 780 literature
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.89 (upward trend - 4.0 junior and first semester senior year)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 8/409 based on weighted, 66/409 unweighted
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), European History (5), Computer Science (5), Mandarin (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Haven’t taken exams yet
Senior Year Course Load: IBHL Math, IBHL Physics, IBSL Biology, IBHL English, IBSL Global Politics, IBSL Mandarin, TOK
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Scholar, debate awards (quarterfinalist in international debate comp, octofinalist at state championship)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Speech and Debate (captain), Model United Nations (chair), science/innovation challenges
Job/Work Experience: paid summer internship in software department @ multinational aerospace engineering company
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at local science museum, founded & teaches speech and debate class at local middle school, taught Model UN skills to students in Afghanistan online, started after school science program for homeless students in city
Summer Activities: internship (mentioned above), summer engineering camp at state university
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App 7/10 - wrote about biracial identity and embracing discomfort. Supplements were kinda out there (probably not by UChicago standards, though) - guess the risk paid off! Interests essay probably 9/10 in terms of unique approach and extended response probably 6.5/10 bc I feel like I rambled a bit, but it was still interesting

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: IBHL Math teacher 9/10, I got to read it and it was so nice
Teacher Rec #2: IBHL English teacher 7/10? very intense teacher, I did pretty well in his class but struggled, had some good moments though where they were impressed
Counselor Rec: 7/10, they know me pretty well but they’re pretty swamped and my school has lots of other high achievers
Additional Rec: none
Interview: I think good! I was slightly awkward but we connected over identity stuff and shared passions

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Computer Science + Economics
State (if domestic applicant): OOS, somewhat rural state
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Biracial (Asian/White)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 50,000 - 100,000 a year but weird assets situation
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Grew up outside of US? + female interested in STEM

Strengths: Test scores, recs (at least #1), essays - i think it helped me stand out / seem creative
Weaknesses: Don’t have any big awards or super standout accomplishments I feel like; GPA/class rank not super high
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?

General Comments: i know some other people from my school were also admitted this year; first year UChi has admitted people from my school in a long time apparently

Other schools you applied to and their decisions: Accepted: Northwestern, Northeastern; Waitlisted: Pomona; Rejected: Washington University in St. Louis; haven’t heard back from others

22

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): did not send
ACT (breakdown): 33 C (34 E 31 M 32 R 36 S); 33 C (33 E 34 M 34 R 30 S); 35 super
SAT II: 760 math II, 750 US history
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1 / 33
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World (5), AP Comp Sci. (4), AP Human Geography (4), AP Chem (4), AP English Lang (5), AP Macroeconomics (5), AP Calculus AB (5), AP US History (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: Japanese II, AP US Gov, AP Eng Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Physics 1, P.E.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): regional awards for debate and outstanding delegate at Harvard Model Congress Asia

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Harvard Model Congress Asia [9-12] [Captain 10, 11, 12] [Honorable Mention 1x] [Outstanding Delegate 2x]
Online Model United Nations [Executive Administrative Officer for Korea] – Organize debates online for students who enjoy MUN around the world. I teach parliamentary procedure and moderate debates, which give me excellent experience for a MUN conference later in the year.

Varsity Tennis [Captain 12] [Most Improved 10] [Far East Tennis 9-12] – Not much to show.
Student Council [Class VP 9] [Class President 10] [Class Parliamentarian 11] [Class Secretary 12]
Hiking – I enjoy hiking on weekends.

Minjoo Party of Korea – Worked for a local representative’s office during the 2016 Korean parliamentary elections.

Seosan Law Firm – internship at a law firm that helped me understand the courtroom better and confirmed my initial interests in the law.

DoDEA Pacific Advisory Council – selected to represent over 10,000 students at an education board that includes the director of our school region.

Global Mission Church – Pianist for the praise team; humanitarian projects through the church.

Job/Work Experience: summer translator job online (Korean-english, english-korean)… did not include.
Volunteer/Community service: through church, NHS…
Summer Activities: some listed above, and if there were a short essay about my summer, I would have written “spent hours perfecting my serve.”
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App – 7/8 : I wrote about how my curiosities dominate my life, and basically used debate and tennis as examples of how the question “why” influences me. It’s very logical, and I tried to reflect my personality as a realistic, concise person.

Uncommon Essay - 5/6 : My essay wasn’t creative. I’m not a very creative person, so I used the portal prompt to show that I wanted to build a bridge to a world without hate (now that I think about it building a bridge to a portal sounds counterintuitive lul… Harvard Princeton plz ignore this and accept me)

Why UC Hicago - 7/8 : Started out with how I was inspired by Bernie Sanders to look up who he was and how I discovered Chicago through him. I talked about how I wanted to emulate the Senator at the university. I talked about the Institute of Politics and the community too.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 7 – APUSH teacher. Great letter. We’re really close, and it showed. I read the letter and it included an anecdote. However, I think the letter might be a little undeveloped. It praises me, but a little more “tell” than “show.” However, it is around 700 words.
Teacher Rec #2: 5 – AP Chem / AP Physics teacher. I read it just yesterday. A lot “tell” than “show.” It’s average.
Counselor Rec: 4 – We are close, but her writing doesn’t show much. It regurgitates parts of my resume and doesn’t add much.
Additional Rec: Nada

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Poli Sci / History / Econ
State (if domestic applicant): Resident of CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Department of Defense
Ethnicity: Asian (Korean)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 60~70K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nope.

23

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 34 (35 math and english, 32 science and reading)
SAT II: 800 on Math II and Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/652
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5: AP World, APUSH, AP English Lang, AP Calc AB, AP Physics C: Mech
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP French, AP English Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C: EM, regular Government/Econ
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Commended Scholar, nothing too impressive

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): president of student council, performing arts (submitted arts supplement), NHS
Job/Work Experience: just tutoring
Volunteer/Community service: Elderly Daycare Program Volunteer, NHS, tutoring
Summer Activities: premed program
Essays (rating 1-10, details): These were fun to write. I would probably do 8-9 for the uncommon essay. The other two were probably 7ish. I feel like those prompts aren’t as thought provoking and thus not as interesting.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: French teacher, has known me for years. Maybe a 10
Teacher Rec #2: Physics teacher who likes me a lot. Probably 10 idk
Counselor Rec: I don’t know her so really generic. And as you can see based on my class size there’s no way it was going to be an impressive recommendation.
Additional Rec:
Interview: requested but didn’t receive

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Physics
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: A lot
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Strengths: Test scores, Essays, GPA
Weaknesses: No major awards
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? They have such a strong applicant pool that it’s just a shot in the dark anyways. I’m really proud of my application and this might sound cheesy but that’s truly all that matters.

General Comments: Congratulations to everyone who got in!

Other schools you applied to and their decisions: Accepted: Purdue, UCI, UCSD, UCSB, UC Davis, UCLA, WUSTL, Waitlisted: UChicago, Rejected: Stanford (EA)

Question: Does UChicago reject students? Because it seems like no one was rejected, just waitlisted.

24

I don’t understand the whole thing at the top but I was Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1330 (690 M 640 E)
ACT (breakdown): 29 (33 English, 30 Math, 29 Reading, 25 Science)
SAT II: 690 on Math II, 620 on US History, and 770 on Spanish. In the low 500s for Biology and Literature.
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP English 4, AP Biology 3, AP US History 3, AP World History 3.
IB (place score in parenthesis): School doesn’t offer.
Senior Year Course Load: AVID Senior Seminar, AP Government, AP Literature, AP Calculus BC, AP Psychology, AP Statistics, and Water Polo/Swim.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Honor.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Water Polo Captain and Swimmer Team Captain. AVID club secretary. Scholar at Nicholas Academic Centers.
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: One Billion Rising Campaign
Summer Activities: Notre Dame Summer Scholars, Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Preject, and Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): My Common App essay was probably a 7 or 8. My long essay was an 9 or 10. My Why UChicago is probably a 6 or 7.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: Well-spoken and I have faith that she spoke well of me.
Teacher Rec #2: Has many high hopes for me and made sure to include that in his recommendation.
Counselor Rec: I don’t know to be honest.
Additional Rec:
Interview: No interview.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
Intended Major: Mathematics
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Mexican-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Low-Income
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): A peanut butter with lettuce and tomato and jelly sandwich.

Strengths: My essays.
Weaknesses: My low scores and lack of opportunities.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? They saw potential in me somehow. And I will do whatever is possible to exceed UChicago’s expectations of me.

General Comments: This is truly my stats. Yes. I know. I don’t look like every other applicant. In fact, there will be one or more person who will say it is because of my race and background. But no. If that were the case, kids with the same situation as me with higher scores and more involvement in my community would’ve gotten in. But they didnt. None of them. So I wanna tell you this, young freshman/sophomore/junior, or even wise senior: college is not only won with numbers. It is also won with words. With connections. With genuine interest. With creativity. With passion. And NEVER feel like you can’t make it. Because as a freshman I thought I was going to a community college, but here I am now with a college acceptance to one of the nation’s best schools. Most of all, do not come on College Confidential. I’m sorry to shame this website, but this really isn’t a motivating environment. People put eachother down for not getting a perfect SAT or ACT score, when in reality 60 or so multiple choice questions in each subject will not define whether you are worthy of a great education. So don’t put yourself down like I did. Because I want the best from every single one of you, and I hope that wherever all you bright scholars end up, you will never feel worthless or not good enough.

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:
Accepted: UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, San Diego State University, Cal State Long Beach, Cal state Fullerton, La Roche College.
Waitlisted: Denison
Denied: Swarthmore
Haven’t heard back from most privates and UC Berkeley.

25

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1480 (700 Math, 780 Eng)
ACT (breakdown): NA
SAT II: Took but did not report, accidentally sent a 540 French and still got waitlisted lol
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School does out of 100: 92.51 (downward GPA trend in HS)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Physics 1 (4) Eng Lang (4) US History (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
Senior Year Course Load: Super complicated to explain why, but 7 online classes (more difficult than AP), and two APs at my school to accommodate a full-time 9-6 job
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Science Olympiad (state and national level), National French Exam Bronze Medalist (2013, 2014), Presidential Service Award (2013, 2014), PEO Star Scholarship

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Until this year: Science Olympiad Team, Student Council (Class Secretary/Treasurer for all 4 years of high school), chosen for Student Executive Board (huge honor, only 5 people juniors per year for a two-year term), Varsity Dance Team (freshman year only), Youth in Government Delegate, trained in a Pre-Professional Ballet Program for 4.5+ hours/day after school
Job/Work Experience: During this year (so my senior year) I danced professionally with a major ballet company after being promoted from the highest level of the academy. For privacy reasons, I don’t want to name the company. 40-70 hrs/week. Have missed all but 16 days of school so far this year. Very unusual and unique situation.
Volunteer/Community service: 200+ hours almost entirely from freshman and sophomore year
Summer Activities: move away alone to train intensively in ballet during the summers (lived completely alone in my own apartment in NYC, Seattle)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): “Why X” essay prompt- one of the best and most creative essays I wrote for college apps, but did not spend more than 1.5 hours total on it. Made two small errors. “Why UChicago” essay was extremely average…basically used the same template for all of them lol

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP US History teacher, one of the strongest recs he’s ever written for a student (10)
Teacher Rec #2: AP Physics teacher, talked about how I refused to give up even though he asked me to drop the class after I failed the first test. We actually didn’t like each other very much but he’s a college counselor and I know he thinks highly of my work ethic. Called me “the most dogged student I’ve ever had,” so I think that means something (8.5)
Counselor Rec: Again, haven’t looked at it but she and I are very close and I trust it is honest and strong. (9.5)
Additional Rec: My boss at ballet. Turned it in VERY late. I’m guessing it was good
Interview: Requested one but was never contacted

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Theatre and Performance Studies, minor in Dance
State (if domestic applicant): Missouri
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: small private non-denominational
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: unsure, but <150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Both grandparents worked at UChicago Med in the 1940s (yes, 40s), unique job

Strengths:
Weaknesses: accidentally sent low score, TERRIBLE attendance, had a major downward GPA trend in high school due to increase in ballet hours/opportunities
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted? I did not spend a whole lot of time on this application and figured I might as well just apply. It’s not one of my top choices, and I was excited just to get waitlisted at a school like this, even though the waitlist seems to be pretty large. You have to remember that CC is a very self-selecting group of individuals reporting their scores and stats and in the end, and if you got waitlisted, you should be proud to even make it this far!

General Comments:

Other schools you applied to and their decisions: Accepted to Loyola of Chicago Honors College with a very large scholarship, waiting on a LOT of other schools (most around the same difficulty to gain acceptance to as UChicago)

26

Decision: Waitlisted!!!

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 35 (35E, 34M, 35R, 36S, 30W)
SAT II: 800 chem, 780 math ii (didn’t send others)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): like 3.6 :frowning: (4.1 w)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): chem (5), us history (4), spanish lang (4, not native speaker)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: ap spanish lit, ap physics c, chinese i honors, english 12, ap calc ab, and ap compsci
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): national spanish exam (silver/bronze/silver, levels ii/iii/iv), science olympiad regional medals (2/5/6/6), national merit semifinalist, a local bowling award, and selected for school athletic leadership team

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
self studying japanese (10-12, at beginner level now)
school critic review team (lead critic junior + senior year; some excerpts and one full review posted online–need to be in top ten of submitted reviews; usually 50-60 per show) from grades 10-12
science olympiad (club head this year–lots of work!!! at my school club heads do pretty much everything: assign events, make sure kids get forms signed and stuff, check in on research, arrange build days, etc. this year we made states for the second time in school history (first time in four years). placed 3rd at regionals in an event–team placed 6th) from grades 10-12
bowling (varsity member; placed second individually at sectionals last year) from grades 10-12
academic team (member, put this on bc i enjoyed it lol) from grades 10-12
a few more but i didn’t put them on my common app

Job/Work Experience: worked as peo (basically ran the voting area and helped people check in) for the election in november 2016
Volunteer/Community service: didn’t list
Summer Activities: attended harvard summer school program–took a linguistics class and a macroeconomics class and got a- in both
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
common app: ok, i guess. nothing super stellar–talked about developing self-confidence though my experiences in the classroom (ap chem and programming)
extended essay: bit of a weird topic? did the how did you get caught prompt and talked about music and sneaking to get midnight snacks :")
why uchicago: creative format (like a fairy tale) but i should have made it more specific :frowning:
favorites: just random favorite things? pokemon professor, time of day, backpack, language, ice cream, and a few other randoms that mean a lot to me (i included a brief paragraph on why they’re my favorite)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: chem teacher, probably very good (she offered to write a letter of rec!! and i’ve had her for honors and ap chem)
Teacher Rec #2: compsci teacher, also probably v good (had him for two years and he knows me outside of school bc his son’s also on the bowling team)
Counselor Rec: hopefully pretty good! i asked him for a lot of help lol
Additional Rec: n/a
Interview: i requested, but didn’t get one :frowning:

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: linguistics first choice, compsci second, east asian languages and cultures third
State (if domestic applicant): ohio
Country (if international applicant): united states
School Type: private
Ethnicity: biracial–asian/white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: too high for finaid
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): literally none (maybe female in stem? but lingustics was my first choice of major though

Strengths: test scores, essays i guess??? my ecs weren’t omg-wow-amazing and neither were my awards
Weaknesses: gpa for sure!!!
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
literally no clue??? i guess they liked my essays yay! i was totally sure i’d be rejected bc of my gpa

General Comments:
i’m shook i expected rejection!!! don’t give up hope guys :") (this gives me a lil hope in the future for some of the other schools i applied to)
definitely accepted my place on the waitlist–fingers crossed i get in :") (@ you kids who get into ivies and uchicago go to an ivy i want your spot please and thank you jk go where you want to go)

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:
accepted: ohio state (honors + merit), northeastern (merit), boston university, umass amherst (merit + for cs)
rejected: ucla (my second choice :frowning: ), pomona, northwestern (not even sad bc waitlisted at uchicgao aww yeah)
waitlisted: uchicago (top choice!)
waiting on: georgetown, uc berkely (lor request), stanford, harvard, columbia, usc (southern california), penn, brandeis, uva, and nyu

27

I was deferred EA then rejected. I am sure I’m not alone. You are probably not seeing as many people post their rejections due to the disappointment they are trying to overcome. On average I bet less people post rejections than those who posts their acceptances or waitlist. @travel2wonderland

28

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): -
ACT (breakdown): 35C
SAT II: 800, 800, 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/400
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Course Load: all AP and IB classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar, Received a 100k corporate scholarship, U.S. House of Representatives Certificate of Special Recognition, U.S. Senate Youth Program
Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Captain of Soccer team, President of History Club, President of business club, Founded a Nonprofit, Founded a for-profit business, play a few instruments, published a academic history paper, internship on a presidential campaign, nationally ranked in speech and debate, raised a few thousand dollars for Save the Children, black belt in karate, and a few more.
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: presidential volunteer service award, prudential spirit of community award
Summer Activities: various projects
Essays (rating 1-10, details): my common app essay made my english teacher cry

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 10/10
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10
Counselor Rec: 8/10
Additional Rec:
Interview: none

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Ya
Intended Major: Econ/PoliSci
State (if domestic applicant): Arizona
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Strengths:
Weaknesses: Not a URM? I didn’t think anything. I’ve worked hard in HS and spent plenty of time on my apps. Apparently I’m wrong.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Beats me, let me know if you have the answer

General Comments: I kept this vague so I can’t be identified. This was also quite a downer. I thought that I was statistically a pretty good match. I may have not come across as infatuated with Uchicago enough, and given their new obsession with yield, this may have been an issue.

29

@STEM2021 thank you for responding. I’m sorry that UChicago didn’t work out and I hope you get into another great school.

30

@cyberzombies012

I meant denied my bad. It was late

31

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I: 780 CR 750 M
GPA: 3.6 UW, 4.2 W
Rank: N/A
AP: Euro (4), USH (5), Lang (5)
Senior Year Course Load: All AP and honors
Major Awards: NHRP

Subjective:

Extracurricular: cross country, water polo, swim, track and field
Volunteer/Community service: Rotary club president, hospital volunteer
Essays:
10/10, Common App, about my ketchup phobia
7/10, Uncommon essay, about arguing
9/10, Why UChi, wrote something along the lines of “my best friend goes here and I miss her.”
9/10, favorites, I read A LOT of philosophy in my free time

Recommendations:
Teacher Rec #1: ?/10 AP Calc teacher, he likes me
Teacher Rec #2: ?/10 Sophomore year English teacher, she runs the bible study I go to every week
Counselor Rec: ??? My first counselor left the school, so I don’t know which one wrote it.
Interview: None

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: They don’t have a cog sci major but I expressed interest in both neuroscience, computer science, and philosophy.
State: CA
School Type: Private Christian
Ethnicity: Half Mexican
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 200k+

Why do you think you were accepted?
I’d like to believe my essays had a strong voice.
Do you know what pisses me off? As I’ve been excitedly telling the people around me of my admission, a common response was that I only got in because I’m Hispanic. I admit, that may have been a factor in the decision. Am I proud that something as arbitrary as my skin color could affect this? No. But I’m also not proud of the fact that this country has provided significant disadvantages to those of my heritage. I have to deal with being called an alien. I experienced the rise in hostility to Mexicans this election. My family here are immigrants, legal and illegal, and we are not rapists. We are not drug addicts.
No one has ever expected anything from me. I wasn’t one of the crazy competitive students at my school. The valedictorian of my grade was waitlisted here. Do you know what kind of hell I have to go through because the Mexican underachiever got in when she didn’t?
Stop devaluing my achievements because of my ethnicity. One day the percentage of qualified Hispanic applicants will be way higher, and race won’t be a factor in admissions decisions. But for now, can you really blame UChi for making up some of the difference?

Other schools I applied to and their decisions:
Accepted: UMich, Northeastern
Waitlisted: UCSD
Denied: UCLA
Upcoming: Berkeley, but I’m starting to think my state doesn’t want me…

32

Decision: Waitlisted
White Male
Applied for financial aid

SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/800/710 on old, 800/800 on new
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): only took once each
ACT (breakdown): 35S/35E/35R/36M/22W (didn’t send)
ACT superscore (breakdown): only took once
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math 2, 730 US History, 710 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.85 by my own calculation, my school only reports my weighted
Weighted GPA: 4.56 as of end of junior year, higher now
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5), Stats (5), USHist (5), Eng Lang (5), Physics 1 (5) World Hist (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): no
Senior Year Course Load: 7 classes, the max at my school, 5 APs, one fine art, 1 post-AP
Number of other applicants in your school: 1 that I know of
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Won some state-wide and local academic contests, NMSF

Extracurriculars: Lots with plenty of leadership but nothing THAT exceptional - I don’t feel like going into detail.
Essays: Good I think, definitely no typos or grammar errors since I proofread well and pretty good content.
Letter of Recommendation: From my Physics teacher, should be super great.
Other apps: Deferred Princeton SCEA, Accepted Georgia Tech EA and Case Western RD, Rejected MIT RD, haven’t heard from Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon.

33

[asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted[/color][/size]

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1510 (M: 770 R: 740)
ACT (breakdown): Did not take
SAT II: Biology; 780 Math II; 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5% No rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at school
IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at school
Senior Year Course Load: Organic Chem, Microbiology, Physics, GIS course
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing major
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Named top STEM student in state, JSEHS finalist regional, bunch of science olympiad medals and some science fair other stuff. community service award from hospital work

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Science Olympiad (Founder and Captain), SGA (Grade President). Science Fair (went to states a few times)
Job/Work Experience: Worked at a University teaching (biggest thing I had going for me tbh)
Volunteer/Community service: 400 hours at local hospital
Summer Activities: Took classes over summer and did research mainly
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: 8/10, Struggles of dealing with a skin condition (pretty deep and like extra)
Parts essay: 7/10, Decent essay about how I lie to people about my identity (was really highlighting a flaw and then making a positive out of it)
Favorites essay: 9/10: Went real basic with this spoke how I like to Google things and then that I like show performances
Why UChicago: 10/10: I believe this is the major reason why I got in; explained how picking classes is always difficult and that I want to try many different fields (really ended up speaking a lot to what UChicago is about)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: (9/10) Biology Teacher - known me for all 4 years was very detailed
Teacher Rec #2: (10/10) English Prof - university professor spoke very highly of me
Counselor Rec: (7/10) - common rec but they wrote that I work hard for “campus culture”
Additional Rec: None
Interview: went well mainly a conversation and just spoke about myself

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: ofc 75K a year aint happening
Intended Major: Biology (research)
State (if domestic applicant): FL
School Type: Small charter school
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 90K -100K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first gen

Strengths: I think I ended up using the essays and common app to show a lot of sides of myself, however, kept what I wanted to do pretty clear which is bio. Also, my why essay made a difference
Weaknesses: Lower GPA/SAT (basically not perfect) and lack of any huge awards
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
As said above

General Comments: Really try to use every space you have in the common app to show who you are. Avoid repeating yourself if not needed and honestly believe in yourself. You don’t need a 4.0/1600 to make her

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:
Accepted: Vandy, Cornell, UF
Rejected: MIT

34

How is that possible when RD results have not posted for Vandy and Cornell yet?

35

@denydenzig must have gotten likely letters

36

@denydenzig @lacazette9 yea likely letters just waiting on UPENN

37

Waitlisted
Statistics
Out-of-state
Male

UWGPA 3.69
ACT 35
SAT 2090
SAT 2 Math 800 Ecology 790 Chem 780
AP Chinese 4 Calc BC 5 Stats 5 Macroecon 4 Physics 1 4
Essays ok i guess
EC: worked on a congressional campaign, saxophone, piano, intern at state assemblymember’s office, political club

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Decision: Rejected
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1540 (770 both M and R, 8/7/8 essay)
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36s except 35 reading, 27 essay ;//)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 790 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/~350 (but my school’s pretty competitive, so there’s about 10 other students tied with me)
AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro (4), Chem (4), Lang (5), APUSH (4), Physics I (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Gov, Orchestra, Debate, Earth Space
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Harvard Book Award (?? prolly not that major lol), US Dept of Education Presidential Scholarship nominee

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): National English Honors Society (Public Relations officer) gr 12 (just got founded this year), NHS (book drive founder) gr 11-12, orchestra (Concertmaster) gr 9-12, all-district orchestra gr 10-12, All-State Orch gr 10, 12, policy debate gr 10-12 (State qualified last year) , piano 5 yrs
Job/Work Experience: Kumon tutor, ACT tutor
Volunteer/Community service: violin tutor, NHS projects, local petting zoo, ~150 hours
Summer Activities: 5 week precollege program at SCAD (art school) for fashion

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common app=8/10, it was very out there and basically was a huge metaphor for discovering my passions, might’ve been too corny
Why UChicago: 7/10; definitely not a bad one, but probably didn’t stand out that much
Uncommon App: 10/10; I really put a lot of work into this one, and every teacher/classmate/whoever that read it really enjoyed it.
Favorites: 8/10; not my best work as I kind of procrastinated lol but I thought it was still decent.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8/10; my math teacher, didn’t know her very well outside of the classroom but she liked me in her class, wrote me a good but not super passionate rec
Teacher Rec #2: 8/10; history teacher, same thing, I suck at making connections with adults
Counselor Rec: 9/10; I see her a lot because I tend to always have scheduling conflicts because I try to fit too many classes into my schedule, so she knows me well and knows how ambitious I am
Additional Rec: 9/10; my gifted teacher, has known me since freshman year, gave a pretty good idea of who I am beyond academics
Interview: 8/10; was with a current grad student (and previous undergrad) who also went to a high school in my area. He was very approachable and there was a pretty good flow of conversation.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: ya
Intended Major: astrophysics
State (if domestic applicant): midwest
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: 4yr public
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: female
Income Bracket: 150K+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): i’m a woman i guess?

Reflection

Strengths: scores, academics, essays
Weaknesses: rec letters, not enough leadership in EC’s, being Asian lol
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I mean, I guess i overestimated myself.
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Minnesota Honors, University of Manchester (over in the UK lol)
Deferred EA from Yale
Rejected: Cambridge

General Comments :
I really don’t know. I really thought I had a shot but I didn’t even get waitlisted. Congrats to everyone that did get in tho, you all definitely deserve it.

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Decision: Waitlisted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1500 (760 r&w, 730 m, 15 essay)
ACT (breakdown): 32 (31 S, 33 R, 35 E, 30 M, 10 essay)
SAT II: 770 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.32
Weighted GPA: still 3.32
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank, prob around 50-60% (???)
AP (place score in parenthesis): None
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Calc 2 (DE), Multivariable (DE), Chinese I/II (DE), U.S. gov/econ, U.S. History, Band, Physiology
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Made a few apps/websites, won regional award for one with 10k+ downloads, attended hackathons at prestigious colleges, volunteer coder at top site with 200M views/year (12), classically trained pianist since age five, musical composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist (9-12), first chair flute in school’s top band (10-12), VP/co-founder of Anime club (lol), recently founded a startup (it hasn’t gone anywhere tho)
Volunteer/Community service: None
Summer Activities: Taking a shit ton of classes (I missed pretty much the entirety of my sophomore year due to illness, I’ve been playing catch up since then)

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common app: 8/10, I accidentally sent my rough draft so it was badly written but the content/message was good. It’s quirky but very distinctly “me”
Why UChicago: 4/10; I wrote about Hogwarts and wanting to do research
Uncommon App: 10/10; I chose the “vestigial” prompt and wrote about how high school is useless - while applying to a school. not one of my wisest decisions but I guess it worked
Letter I sent to admissions counselor 9/10: I wrote this longish note explaining my health issues and the holes in my transcript, updating on ECs about a week before decisions came out so IDK if it was read
Favorites: ?/10; I just listed 3 bullet points, it wasn’t an essay. Made some subtle bad jokes as comments

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 1/10; Chinese teacher, LOL i read it after she already uploaded it and it was basically my resume except in broken English
Teacher Rec #2: 10000/10; English teacher (very good relationship with her)
Counselor Rec: ???/10; no clue
Interview: didn’t have one

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yup
Intended Major: Probably computer science
State (if domestic applicant): California
School Type: Public, competitive
Ethnicity: White+Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 200k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Physically disabled, female in CS

Reflection

Strengths: Everything I wrote was genuine. I thought my supplement was pretty ballsy and looks like the risk might’ve paid off
Weaknesses: I should’ve put more effort into revising my essays. My transcript is also hella ugly (low GPA, I was thrown in special ed for a year and these “modified” classes are marked in my transcript, transferred credits from 5 different schools). I also didn’t take any college-level classes until senior year
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: IDK BUT I FEEL VERY LUCKY
Where else were you rejected: Hartwick College (??? tf), UC Davis, CWRU, UCLA, Colby College, Hopkins
Accepted: UCSC, Whitworth (20k merit)
Waitlisted: UCSD, Reed, Lewis & Clark

General Comments :
REALLY HAPPY ABOUT BEING WAITLISTED. I HAD LIKE 6 DECISIONS BEFORE AND GOT REJECTED FROM ALL OF THEM AND THIS ONE WAS THE MOST SELECTIVE SO I THOUGHT FOR SURE I WOULD GET STRAIGHT UP REJECTED BUT NOPE! They really aren’t kidding about having a holistic review process, I have a D- and 5 Cs on my transcript. I am very grateful that they looked past those and took into consideration the issues I’ve dealt with and my other accomplishments. Thank you UC Hicago!!! Now I’ve just gotta devise a plan to get off this waitlist…

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Posting for S
Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 1510 (710V, 800M)
ACT (breakdown): 35
SAT II: 800 Math2, 800 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank; however, top published GPA in the class is probably around 4.8. Her weighted GPA is 4.8x.
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5’s in BC, Chemistry, Biology, CS, Statistics, Physics 1, English Lang. 3 in APUSH
Senior Year Course Load: MV and Linear Algebra, AP Literature, AP Physics C, AP Gov, AP Psych
Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): High School Girls’ Swimming All-American Consideration Award x 2, NMF, National AP Scholar, School Awards
Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience: Swimming instructor
Volunteer/Community service: NHS
Summer Activities: Swimming
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Done 3 hours before deadline

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: Good
Teacher Rec #2: Good
Counselor Rec: Generic
Additional Rec: None
Interview: None

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): Midwest
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Large Public (4000)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Recruit

Strengths: Recruit, Scores, GPA
Weaknesses: Fit
Why you think you were accepted/rejected/waitlisted?
Waitlist because of athletic support and strong academics. Intuition tells me that if she emailed the coach and gave a verbal commitment, then she would be taken off the WL.

General Comments:
Nothing much. Apply ED if you are an athlete and want to attend here. She will not accept a position on the waiting list.

Other schools you applied to and their decisions:
UIUC CS - Accepted
MIT - Accepted
CMU - Accepted
Princeton SCEA - Deferred