I’m a girl, biracial (black/white). I go to school in a suburb with an almost 90% white population. My school doesn’t do class rank because we’re really competitive but I am near the top. We don’t have honors classes at my school but we have AP classes, still less than a lot of other schools though. We also have a few classes that aren’t AP but weighted out of 5.0 like a AP class.
GPA: 4.2
ACT: 32, I have only taken it once and I think I can get it up more
The AP classes I will have taken by the time I graduate are:
JUNIOR YEAR
AP Chemistry, AP Calculus AB, AP Spanish, Anthropology (weighted).
SENIOR YEAR
AP Environmental Science, AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP Psych (they don’t offer it at my school so I’m going to take it online), Political Theory (weighted).
ECs:
4 years varsity volleyball
Clubs: ECO club, Key club, NHS, She’s the First, Student council (class rep 2 years),
I play club volleyball outside of school
I’m a junior and not sure exactly where I’m going to apply but I’m just curious of my chances here. Thanks!
Colleges like uchicago don’t care about test scores as much as essays. For example, I was wait listed with a 36 and 800 on three subject tests. Spend a lot of time writing your essays and you’ll have a decent shot.
Current student here. You look like plenty of applicants who get in here, you’re doing the right things. Raise that ACT score a bit and I’d give you a 50-50 chance (which is fantastic!). URM will help significantly. Test scores matter more than the university wants to admit, my class had the 2nd highest average SAT in the country after Caltech. Don’t listen to IndianSuperman, he appears to be a high school student and he’s certainly wrong.
The advice above is good. Also, I would ask yourself whether you want to play volleyball in college. If you are excellent at volleyball, and want to play in college, then fill out the recruitment form on the UChicago volleyball website. But understand that if you are good enough to get recruited, then you will likely be asked to apply ED in order to get “help” with admissions from your coach. Good luck!
I think OP’s chances as a high achieving bi-racial student are actually pretty good. While it’s hard to know for a particular applicant because the process is so subjective, in general the ACT scores for a hooked candidate (bi-racial counts, I believe) don’t have to be quite as high as for the unhooked. If she has other interesting aspects - her athletic experience, her essay, etc. - she might get in, and perhaps not even via ED. But . . . ED will help, as we’ve seen this year. So, if OP is able to apply ED, she should do so.
Another interesting tidbit is that about 2,000 more girls than boys apply to UChicago. With an incoming class that tends to be pretty well balanced between the two, that means it’s harder for girls to get in, all else equal. Basing that off the latest College Navigator stats. This year’s process is very different due to the change in application plans so not sure how this issue will shake out going forward.