<pre><code>* SAT:720 W /690 M /720 R: 2130 (I know, right?)
* SAT II: Literature 730, Biology 680, US History 780
* GPA: UW: 3.73, W:4.45
* Rank:my school doesn't rank but it would be out of 903
* APs: US History: 5, European History: 5, English Language and Composition: 5, Biology: 4, Spanish Language: 3 (This year I will take Physics B, Chemistry, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Calculus AB, Art History, and English Literature)
</code></pre>
<p>Subjective</p>
<pre><code>* Essays: My short essays were about my love for samurai movies and The Economist. I cannot say they were very brilliant. My long essay was written an hour before the deadline and was (like many other essays apparently) about a table. It was really, really uncreative in retrospect and I should not have written literally about the table. That was stupid. Later I thought about writing about my desire to have a mad tea party out of Alice in Wonderland with Sebastian Flyte, Sarah Bernhardt, and a bunch of other real and imaginary people, but who cares? I've already been accepted with my boring table essay.
* Teacher Recs: one from my APUSH teacher which I assume was glowing and one from my Chemistry teacher which was probably very nice.
* Counselor Rec: No idea. We got a new counselor after sophomore year and I don’t think she really knows me.
* Hook: I have a sibling who’s a 2nd year? I am a fabulous person? I’m not sure?
</code></pre>
<p>Personal</p>
<pre><code>* Location: THE LBC, California
* High School Type: public
* Ethnicity: White
* Gender: Female
* Applied for Financial Aid: no
</code></pre>
<p>Other</p>
<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: XC, track, speech&debate, amnesty international
* Awards: AP Scholar with distinction, Pursuit of Excellence (Art)
* Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I think I’m happier that I didn’t get rejected than I am about being accepted. Being rejected would have been drown-myself-in-the-bathtub-level depressing. I suppose I should try to make best friends with UofC now, because with my SAT scores I’m clearly not getting in anywhere else. (but I’m going to enjoy maintaining that delusion until the 31st, at which point my soul will be crushed. Thanks U of Penn!)
</code></pre>
<pre><code>* SAT: 770 CR, 710 M, 650 W
* SAT II: 740 Lit, 780 Math IIC, 690 World History
* ACT: N/A
* GPA: 3.88/4.0
* Rank: top 10%
* Other Tests: A levels in addition to Indian Bo
</code></pre>
<p>Subjective</p>
<pre><code>* Essays: They were good. I think I probably messed up by making my Common App essay fit in with the essay topics.
* Teacher Recs: Very good.
* Counselor Rec: REALLLYYYY good.
* Supplementary Material: Some very good poetry
* Hook: Obviously none. They rejected me!
</code></pre>
<p>Personal</p>
<pre><code>* Location: INDIA
* High School Type: Private
* Ethnicity: Asian
* Gender: F
* Applied for Financial Aid: Yes
</code></pre>
<p>Other</p>
<pre><code>* Extracurriculars: Lots of poetry. Lots of school competitions. Leadership.
* Awards: Best student, best speaker
* Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I got deferred in ED because my SAT scores hadnt reached. They didnt reach until Mid-Feb. Loads and loads of problems with Collegeboard. I felt extremely disappointed, since I love UChicago, but then again I got into Grinnell with a nice scholarship so I guess I'll wait till the other decisions to find out. Maybe they didn't look through all the apps properly (there was an unprecedented number of apps this year, and rumour has it that the staff wasn't very able to cope up with the tons of papers).
If I get into NYU (which is probably a NO since i got rejected here), I would not have chosen Uchicago probably. I am just hoping, and congrats to those who got in.
</code></pre>
Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: CR-680, M-800, W-660
[</em>]SAT II: Math Lvl. 2-800, Physics-800, Chemistry-790
[<em>]ACT: E-31, M-36, R-35, S-34, Composite-34
[</em>]GPA: 3.78
[<em>]Rank: 25/640
[</em>]Other Tests: (AMC, AP, IB): Physics C (both parts)-5, BC Calculus-5, Chemistry-5, AB Comp. Sci.-4, APUSH-3
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: I'm not a terribly good writer, and Chicago places a lot of weight in these, so they must have been better than usual.
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Probably above average, but not amazing.
[<em>]Counselor Rec: Probably not too good. She has hundresds of students to work with, and just doesn't know me very well. The entire rec was probably just based off the resume I sent her.
[</em>]Supplementary Material: Sent independnet reserach paper. Nothing too special though.
[/ul]Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: Northern Ohio
[</em>]High School Type: large Public
[<em>]Ethnicity: Caucasian
[</em>]Gender: Male
[<em>]Applied for Financial Aid: yes[/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: a lot of independent study among many other things
[<em>]Awards: Several state,regional, and school awards in math/science/latin.
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I never really thought Chicago was too hard to get into, until I came here. Let me just say wow. There seem to be tons of amazing people being rejected, and that makes me very thankful for this decision. Good luck to all![/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: CR-760, M-690, W-700 (did not send)
ACT: Composite-34
GPA: at least 92/100 but could be more
Rank: school doesnt rank
Other Tests: none
Subjective
Essays: i really liked the essays and i think mine were really original - people who read them liked them
Teacher Recs: i didnt read
Counselor Rec: i didnt read
Supplementary Material: CD of me piano playing, also supplemental rec from piano teacher
Personal
Location: central NJ
High School Type: public Magnet
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: female
Applied for Financial Aid: yes
Other
Extracurriculars: lots of music, officer of a few clubs
Awards: some piano competitions/auditions
Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: im really happy i got in :D!</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: na
[</em>]SAT II:na
[<em>]ACT: 33
[</em>]GPA:4.0 uw
[<em>]Rank: 1/55
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[</em>]Essays: I was really proud of them and the work I put in. I was worried about how admissions would view my main essay, but it looks like it worked. :)
[<em>]Teacher Recs: One amazing rec from a teacher who is like a best friend, one just ok
[</em>]Counselor Rec: Generic?
[<em>]Supplementary Material: (research abstracts, music recordings, art slides) Supplementary Rec from leader of a local volunteer org. about my community involvement
[</em>]Hook: (recruited athlete, cured cancer- only major ones that actually would have made a difference, please) [/ul]Personal[ul]
[<em>]Location: NE Alabama
[</em>]High School Type:small public
[<em>]Ethnicity: Caucasian
[</em>]Gender:M
[<em>]Applied for Financial Aid:yes [/ul]Other[ul]
[</em>]Extracurriculars: Varsity baseball, basketball, football, Class Pres, few other minor roles in clubs
[<em>]Awards: Numerous awards for community service
[</em>]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[/ul] So excited to be accepted!!! Congrats everyone!</p>
<p>I'm just going to say, as someone who worked hard on his essays and is now on the waitlist, it's a little irritating (just a little) to see all of you "i did my essays the night before... lol" who got in. but don't let my resentment get you down.</p>
<p>lowfatsourcreme - i must say i worked on my essays months before, since i love creative writing and i did the short story prompt (mine was very strange)
my friend got on the waitlist though, and i know she worked really hard too :(</p>
<p>My S went through <em>at least</em> a dozen drafts of each of his essays. He started in August, did them before any other school's, and busted his tail to make them sing. He says he was prouder of them than anything he's done in his life. I have an enormous stack of all the drafts in a folder. (I was pretty proud, too. :))</p>
<p>one of the best essays I ever read resulted in a waitlist - and this was four years ago when admissions rates were a good deal higher. In his case, it was either a case of fit or the probability that he would likely be admitted to multiple crazy 8 schools (he was). </p>
<p>I agree that its frustrating seeing posts that the writer whipped out a winning essay on sleep deprivation and caffeine! However, some people do better work under these conditions - no chance for original work to be pounded into a 5 paragraph essay, the bane of literary creativity. </p>
<p>If you've read much anthropology, you will know about the ritual scarification that marks the rite of passage into adulthood in some societies. It sounds kind of gruesome ... but this college admissions stuff is kind of gruesome in its own special way - even for the kids that are lucky enough to be admitted to (and can afford to attend) their first choice school.</p>
<p>Anyway, unless there's something disastrous in your application that you have brought yourself (seen of a couple of those over the years), for heavens sake, try not to take your - or your friends - results as anything but a function of applying to schools that are, in fact, competitve and hard to predict.</p>
<p>When you say "the probability he would be admitted to multiple schools" -- do you think Chicago rejects qualified applicants because they think they'll be turned down for somewhere "better"? I'd hoped they were free of that inferiority-complex-style admissions game.</p>
<p>I highly doubt that ohio_mom is correct in assuming that. Considering Chicago's high 30's/low 40's acceptance rate before this year, along with the extremely low yield, it's fair to assume that they don't care much about whether or not students choose the college.</p>
<p>I've pointed this out in other threads but I think those that wrote essays the night before were either really brilliant writers(unlikely for even the best to write a great essay in a matter of hours) or had the stats to override an average essay. Just look at some of the really average essays in the essay thread that got admitted to see what i mean.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Essays: sometimes multiple drafts can drain the life out of them. It takes a lot of skill to edit something 50 times and have it still sound natural. Sometimes, it may well be more effective to have a less perfect, more personal essay. (Not that my kids did it that way.)</p></li>
<li><p>"Chicago's extremely low yield": A myth. If you look at the elite private colleges, all but a handful of them (HYPS, MIT, Columbia, Brown, Williams) have yields on their RD admissions that are in the same range as Chicago's -- mid-30s percent. What makes their yields look higher is that they admit 1/3 to 1/2 of their classes ED, at 100% yield, in December. Back that out, and you'll see that the April yields of lots of great colleges are all within a few percentage points of Chicago -- and that includes places like Dartmouth, Penn, Amherst, Northwestern, Cal Tech. That said, I have never had the sense that Chicago turned students down because they looked like they might get into Harvard and Yale.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I have one kid whose writing improves with editing (like me, he polishes things well) and another whose first draft takes much angst and gnashing of teeth, but needs no editing.</p>
<p>JHS, I also haven't seen anything that makes me think Chicago bypasses kids with numbers that are "too good."</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>]SAT: 2310
[</em>]SAT II: 770 MII, 750 USH, 670 LIT
[<em>]ACT:
[</em>]GPA: 4.36/3.9
[<em>]Rank: 9/450
[</em>]Other Tests: (AMC, AP, IB) USH - 5, CalcAB - 5, Stat - 5
[/ul]Subjective[ul]
[<em>]Essays: First was about surfing the internet, second was about the ORLY owl, third was about solving immigration problem by enslaving them
[</em>]Teacher Recs: Okay, but im lazy
[<em>]Counselor Rec: NO idea
[</em>]Supplementary Material: (research abstracts, music rcordings, art slides) nope
[<em>]Hook: (recruited athlete, cured cancer- only major ones that actually would have made a difference, please) nope[/ul]Personal[ul]
[</em>]Location: PA
[<em>]High School Type: Avg Public
[</em>]Ethnicity: Asian
[<em>]Gender Male
[</em>]Applied for Financial Aid: no(just yes or no)[/ul]</p>
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>]Extracurriculars: XC/track, e Bay seller
[</em>]Awards: Powerseller
[*]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: How do I know what I should regret?[/ul]</p>
<p>Stats:
SAT: 720 CR/750 M/ 710 W
SAT II: 720 Phys, 690 IIC, 670 Bio
ACT: 32 comp (and 35 math, quite contrary to SAT II...)
GPA: ~3.7 UW, ~4.1 W
Rank: N/A
Other Tests: Biology 5 (another contradiction...) Stat 4, Phys B 4</p>
<p>Subjective
Essays: Moderately creative, solid
Teacher Recs: Solid
Counselor Rec: Cookie-cutter
Supplementary Material: Sketches, supplimental rec from research mentor, dance clip
Hook: (not a 'hook' per se) transferred to more competitive school Junior year, grades improved despite difficulty
Personal
Location: Indiana
High School Type: Gifted/Talented Public Residential School
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Applied for Financial Aid: yes
Extracurriculars:dance, art, orchestra (clarinet), outdoor sports, biomechanics research
Awards: a few minor art awards, Bryn Mawr Book Award (honors character), nothing much
Advice? Commiserations?: I think an honest, level-headed approach to the application did it for me. My application's strengths were a combination of scholastic improvement and a solid interview that showed a willingness to learn (despite self-admitted lack of the stereotypical UChicago-aspiring-philosopher quality). The first thing my interviewer did when we sat down was to console me about being deferred; that it was not just a 'nice rejection', that deferred applicants were considered seriously, and that there was no reason to break down like two other students had that day, as even a rejection isn't an insult to your personhood. I told her I was somewhat expecting a deferral (after all, my fresh/soph grades weren't stellar - any college would want to make sure I was, in fact, a serious student), that I was flattered UChicago would consider me, and that I figure if I am rejected, I will apply again for grad school with a stellar ug performance. She seemed to appreciate the emotional stability (the interview got off on a great start and lasted twice as long as expected) - so I recommend a similar outlook to upcoming applicants. Good luck, congrats to all accepted! To those who weren't - be not phased!</p>