University of Chicago Class of 2019 Early Action Results ONLY

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
41

<p>Decision: Deferred </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): E36 M35 R32 S35 W8; Composite 34
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Physics (680), Math II (800)
TOEFL:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/298
AP (place score in parentheses): Psychology (5), US Govt (5), Macro Econ (4), APUSH (4), Physics B (4), English Language (5), Statistics (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Chem, AP Eng Lit, AP Spanish, AP Music Theory, Peer Tutoring
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): </p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): play the violin, advanced to the state science fair, NHS, Scholastic Bowl, Literary Magazine, Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering team
Job/Work Experience: taught a 5 year-old the violin
Volunteer/Community Service: volunteer at a local hospital
Summer Activities: volunteering, trip to India
Essays: decent, CA 8/10, UChicago 7/10, Why Uchicago 7/10, Optional question 9/10
Teacher Recommendations: Great!
Counselor Rec: Pretty good
Additional Rec: no
Interview: Good, but I got pretty nervous</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Biochemistry
State (if domestic applicant): Illinois
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian Indian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: >$100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): No</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Test scores
Weaknesses: Essays?, lack of unique ECs
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: lack of ECs and major awards, don’t stand out from the crowd
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Yale, MIT, Cornell, Colombia, Northwestern, Loyola, Purdue, Notre Dame, Princeton, Stanford, UofI, UW-Madison, Ohio State, Brown
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I wish I would have spent more time on my essays. Don’t procrastinate them!! Also, try not to be as nervous as I was for the interview, if you are able to have one. </p>

42

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Superscore: 800CR 750M C: 1550
ACT (breakdown):C:35, E:36, R:36, M:34, S:35
SAT II (place score in parentheses): USH: 790 (Not actually sure I sent this or any of the others)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): UW:3.72 W:4.055 (Strong upward trend. Really strong.)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Unknown, presumably top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): US, World, and European Histories: 5 Chemistry: 4
IB (place score in parentheses): —
Senior Year Course Load: AP English (take both tests), AP Comp Gov, AP US Gov, AP Calc AB, AP Biology, Newspaper 2, Theology (Required)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Some school, city, and state stuff, entered into a few national competition recently but haven’t heard, yet. Lots of MUN, debate, and music stuff</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Global Studies Club (President), Debate (Leader, there is no president), 9 years piano with a very prominent teacher, Newspaper (Executive editor—introduced two new publications and created a whole new system to oversee it), Academic WorldQuest, Model UN (lots of awards including at the MUN UChicago), huffpost teen, trivia stuff, etc, etc,
Job/Work Experience: Worked as a snack bar attendant. It’s very glamorous.
Volunteer/Community Service: About 200 hours over four years or so.
Summer Activities: Arabic 110 at the University of Kansas, California Scholastic Press Association Summer Workshop
Essays: Common app was very good, not to sound arrogant. Talked about doing things just because I wanted to, not for competitions or anything, using piano as an example.
Uchicago: Undefinable word: querencia, meaning the place where you are your most authentic self. Tough to explain, but talked about debate and feeling perfectly at home when working through arguments and debating.
Why Uchicago: my sister went there and played soccer; I’ve been there far too often; I’ve always wanted to go there. This was a love letter to the school at its core, embarrassing as that may be.
Teacher Recommendations: Journalism teacher and history/government teacher. Both had me for three years and moderated the activities in which I participate, should have been great. I’ll never know.
Counselor Rec: He had me in class, and I won the award for it, and it’s the best class I’ve ever taken, so should have been very good and personal cause we really got along.
Additional Rec: None
Interview: Went fine, not my best, not my worst. Did on-campus. Worth the travel cause two of my siblings live there, and my sister got to watch the soccer team play in the NCAA tournament.</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: No.
Projected Concentration: International Studies or Law, Letters, and Society
State (if domestic applicant): Missouri
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private all boys
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Wouldn’t qualify for financial aid.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My sister attended, and my siblings are all well-educated, which can reflect well on my chances (3 lawyers, a PhD, and a small business owner)</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Test scores, ECs focus on journalism and international affairs,
Weaknesses: GPA, GPA, GPA. No idea how I got in over those with better stats, but I guess it worked. White-male, etc
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: A lot of interest. I’ve been there a bunch, know a lot about it, etc. My sister went. Who knows, not my place to say.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Waiting on my final decision from Oxford, got an interview, but won’t hear for three weeks (This is the one I am unbelievably nervous and anxious about). Maybe apply to Yale and Stanford, but maybe not. I enjoy UC, so who knows.
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Don’t get down-trodden. I’m incredibly lucky to have gotten in early, and incredibly relieved to not be filling out any more applications than I want to, but don’t get too upset. I see a lot of people talking about UChicago posturing and trying to up their rankings, and I definitely think that’s true, but we all knew that before applying, so don’t get too into the strategies or reasons for the high number of deferrals. It’s a college, and it’s trying to sell itself and make money, so it’ll do what necessary, just as any of us will do what’s necessary to sell our skills to the college. Keep your heads up guys, all of you are wonderfully talented and intelligent, so there will be a spot for you at a marvelous university. Best of luck to you all!</p>

43

<p>i honestly cant believe i can say i got accepted into a college geeking out about monsters. like this is my finest hour</p>

44

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): did not take
ACT (breakdown): 33 superscore (34 e, 32 m, 33 r, 31 s, 11 essay). took it three times (31 composite x2 and 30 composite the third time)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 770 us history, 730 math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.96
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/~650
AP (place score in parentheses): freshman - world history (4), sophomore - us history (5) european history (5), junior - chemistry (3) english language (5) us government (5) macroeconomics (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: ap biology, ap calculus, ap english literature, ap german 5, ap psychology, physics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): club soccer (have played at a regional level for several years but not recruited), high school soccer, cross country for two years, german club (vice president), and i trained for a half-marathon by myself
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community Service: none
Summer Activities: soccer and cross country training
Essays:
common app - pretty good in my opinion 9/10
why uchicago - really thought i messed up on this 6/10
optional - not bad, wrote about my favorite language (german) 8/10
uncommon essay - i don’t really know how good this was, but i think it was a perfect representation of me. so, based on that a 9/10 but compared to other supplements that i read, mine was probably a 7
Teacher Recommendations:
keep in mind that i didn’t get to read any of my letters
ap chem teacher - most likely amazing. i know that she is really proud of me and wrote something that impacted my decision
ap english teacher - great guy who liked me. might have been generic since he writes so many letters but apparently his are great
ap german teacher - i have had her for almost three years, so she knows me pretty well through class and german club. probably good
Counselor Rec: probably generic. my school is huge, so she didn’t get to know me well
Additional Rec: none
Interview: none</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: yep, and actually received a lot more than expected
Projected Concentration: molecular engineering or math with a minor in germanic studies
State (if domestic applicant): michigan
Country (if international applicant): usa
School Type: large public (over 2k students)
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: >100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: i think my recommendations helped me immensely as well as my gpa/rank
Weaknesses: definitely test scores and lack of major awards
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: i honestly don’t know. yes, i put a lot of work into my essays, but they were nowhere near perfect and could have used more fine-tuning. my test scores suck, and i am not an urm. who even knows. first generation probably helped a bit
Where else you are applying or have already applied: accepted at uminn - twin cities, purdue, university of manchester. waiting on umich. applied to cornell and might also apply to 1-2 more reaches
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: i am ecstatic. i cannot even begin to say how grateful i am. i don’t think i deserve this considering there were so many applicants with better essays and test scores than me. i had a gut feeling that i was going to be deferred today, but i was so pleasantly surprised. i still want to weigh my options but i will most likely attend. good luck to everyone and congrats to everyone else who was accepted!</p>

45

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (800/790/750)
ACT (breakdown): 36 (36/36/35/35)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): chem 800 math ii 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/340
AP (place score in parentheses): 5: chem, bio, calc ab, comp gov, euro history, apush, eng language, eng lit
IB (place score in parentheses): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: dual enrollment english, ap physics c, calc bc, US govt, macroeconomics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): natl AP scholar, natl merit semifinalist</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): math team (captain), peer mediation (exec board), NHS (exec board), quiz bowl, varsity soccer (captain), xc skiing, track
Job/Work Experience: independent bookstore, holiday only?
Volunteer/Community Service: intern at MN DFL, worked for MN United to legalize gay marriage in MN, other stuff through NHS
Summer Activities: DFL internship, travel. Nothing really- I spent a lot of my summer sleeping and seeing my family.
Essays: common app: failure to make the soccer team, working to come back from that. Decent.
Chicago supp: pH, talked about my conflicting personality
Why chicago: generic but well written, I felt like my voice came through in this one.
Optional: wrote a 6 word story about each of my favorite things, put a key at the bottom saying what they were. I liked it.
Teacher Recommendations: waived FERPA but assuming they were good!
Counselor Rec: probably pretty good!
Additional Rec: from my volunteer leader at MN United: we were super close and I’m sure he wrote a good one, but it was probably rushed because he did it right before election day
Interview: so much fun! We clicked. Talked about connecting Russian history and chemistry.</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: chem/biochem, russian history
State (if domestic applicant): MN
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public, mid size, not distinguished
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: mid 100ks
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): not really.</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: test scores, unusual extracurricular, voice in essays
Weaknesses: nothing special about me
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I have no idea, I’m shocked :slight_smile:
Where else you are applying or have already applied: U of M (accepted), Caltech (rejected), Penn, Princeton, USC, Stanford, Vanderbilt
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: essays!</p>

46

<p>Son’s stats
[ color=orange][ b]Decision: Deferred **[/color]</p>

<p>[ b]Objective:**
SAT I (breakdown): 1810 (Math: 720, CR:510, W:580)
ACT (breakdown): Not taken
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math 1 (690), Math 2: (620), Bio (560)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.60/Weighted 3.76
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not done at our school
AP (place score in parentheses): Lots of Honors classes English, History, Math, Chemistry
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: Leadership, Honors Government/Econ, Honors English, Honors Calculus, Physics (college course currently taking), Academic Decathlon class. Also took 3 college classes first semester Senior Year, Sign Language, Music101, Computer graphics. Will put all college classes below and grades
College Courses: Sign Language-B, English 101-A, Basketball-A, Health-A, Music101-A, Computer Graphics-B
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Regional Officer for Skills USA, Accepted into Navy Academy Summer Seminar, Got Sportsmanship Award in Robotics State competition</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Cross Country 11,12 (President 11,12), Video Game Club CoFounder (President 11), ASB 10,11,12 (President 12), Robotics Club 9,10 (President 9-first year they had it), Academic Decathlon 9 ,11, 12
Job/Work Experience: Jack in the Box 12
Volunteer/Community Service: Captain MS team MS’n Around for 3 years, tutor math students, Sunday School Bible Study leader for kids 2nd-5th grade
Summer Activities:
Essays: 9-10 out of 10 Biography, 8-9 on others
Teacher Recommendations: Amazingly excellent 10 out of 10. One teacher said (paraphrasing) they only see a student like me, who is involved, empathetic, giving, teachable, motivated and cares about his school and fellow man but also possesses that X factor that makes him relatable, likable and humble , once every 20 years.
Counselor Rec: blah.
Additional Rec:
Interview: didn’t interview</p>

<p>[ b]Other**
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: HS Charter school
Ethnicity: Mexican/American Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: below 50K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, 1st generation, parent has a chronic disability MS</p>

<p>[ b]Reflection**
Strengths: EC’s, Course load, recommendations, leadership
Weaknesses: SAT’s especially English and 1 bad semester my junior year I got a 3.1 but I explained the reasons why. We had a fire at our home and lost almost everything and had to move plus our car was also burned making it difficult to get to my college classes.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: my grades and low SAT reading score
Where else you are applying or have already applied: haven’t heard from Swarthmore Applied Winter Early, deferred NEU, rejected Rice, rejected Notre Dame, Willamette accepted, applied UCLA, UC Berkeley
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I still got a shot and my grades are going up since the bad semester. Plus I have founded Basketball Club (President 12) since I sent in my early app. Maybe that’ll help. Hoping to Medal at AcaDec competition too. Maybe send in another recommendation? Idk what do you guys think I can do?</p>

47

<p>Decision: Deferred </p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2230 superscore (640 M /800 CR/790 W)
ACT (breakdown): 32 (36 writing 27 math forget the others)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Lit 800 French Listening 750
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.67ish?
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school does not rank
AP (place score in parentheses): AP English Lit (5) French(%)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP AB calc, AP Comp Sci, French 5 Honors, English, Arabic 2
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Scholastic Writing Gold, regional Scholastic gold and silver and bronze, regional medical research award</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Senior newspaper editor, founding member of debate club, copresident of fem club, costumer for school plays, JV tennis, dance classes, creative writing workshops/conferences
Job/Work Experience: cashier at dry cleaner, babysitter
Volunteer/Community Service: volunteer at 2 women’s shelters
Summer Activities: summer chemistry, volunteering, camp counselor, family travel
Essays: common app essay was vague… other essays were very good, creative, showed my voice and personality well!
Teacher Recommendations: hopefully good? 2 favorite teachers? didn’t get to read
Counselor Rec: spoke about how i explore many areas / extra currics
Additional Rec: none
Interview: it was really good! met at a starbucks, talked for about 45 minutes, was fun and easy conversation and i think i showed my strengths well. my follow-up thank you note was a little late but oh well.</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
Projected Concentration: international relations / human rights
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: private day, rigorous
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: 100,000 +
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: u chicago essays
Weaknesses: test scores, lack of leadership in extra currics
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: not sure, common app essay wasn’t great
Where else you are applying or have already applied: rejected ED to Columbia
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: work hard on your common app essay</p>

48

<p>[ b]Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): CR: 800; M: 770; W: 800
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math II: 780, Chemistry: 740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%; my class size is about 66
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC, Spanish, English Language, Statistics, US History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Euro, AP Chem, AP Literature and Comp., Economics, Linear Algebra Honors (2nd) sen, I took Calculus III at a college in the fall.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Common Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, President’s Education Award, two awards for leadership, spirit, and service to the school, award for most interest and ability in music</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Varsity Tennis (Captain; Player of the Year, District Singles Champion, 2x District Doubles Champion, First Team All-Area, League All-Star First Team, State Team Finalists, 4x District Champions, 2x Colonial League Champions, League Sportsmanship Award, record holder for most career singles wins in school history); Clarinet (2x All-State Concert Band member, Young People’s Philharmonic, Pit Orchestra, private lessons); Scholastic Scrimmage Team (Captain); Vocal Music (Chorale, a cappella group, Chamber Singers, the latter two are honors ensembles); Women’s Awareness (Vice President); Student Council (Treasurer/Class President); Freshmen mentor/School ambassador; Make origami/fold books
Job/Work Experience: SAT tutor
Volunteer/Community Service: Blogger/Social Media Intern for Powered By Girl; other writing things (HuffPost, local and online newspapers); tennis coach; see summer activities
Summer Activities:
Stevens Institute of Technology Engineering Program; accelerated Spanish course; Georgetown Leadership Institute; iD Tech Camp “Programming in Java”; tennis training; volunteer at Boys and Girls Club, interned in Communications office at my school
Essays:
-Common App: I wrote about my longtime love for Harry Potter and how the series has guided me throughout my life so far.
-Supplemental: I did the odd numbers one; I compared the dilemma of odd numbers to feminism, and talked about how being a girl who likes math has shaped me and my own experience with being odd.<br>
-Why UChicago: I used a quote from Gone with the Wind, saying how books, music, etc. make me want to absorb myself in the world more. I mentioned the Math/Econ major, Scav Hunt, housing system, theatre involvement
-Optional: I had three sections: Books, Music, and Other, which I used for movies and YouTube channels. Each was about a half-page long.
Teacher Recommendations: Both good, hopefully. I had one from a math teacher and one from an English teacher, which are my two favorite subjects.
Counselor Rec: Good, my college counselors know everyone in my class well
Additional Rec: None
Interview: Went okay, my interviewer was the parent of a former student from my school. This was probably the weakest part of my application; I’m not great at conversations when I’m nervous.</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? No
Projected Concentration: Mathematics and Economics
State (if domestic applicant): PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private/Independent
Ethnicity: Asian (Korean)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Grades, scores, involvement in school and extracurriculars
Weaknesses: not much community service, no major awards, not that unique
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I’m guessing I didn’t come across as passionate enough about learning and about UChicago. I think my essays were too long. There are probably other things I’m overlooking too.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: UC Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, UPenn, Dartmouth, WUSTL, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern (hopefully I get into one of these haha)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I’m really sad, but not that surprised. Nervous for the rest of my decisions come March, though. Congratulations to those accepted!</p>

49

<p>Choose One:
**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2300/1520 (800 Math, 720 Reading, 780 Writing (9 essay))
ACT (breakdown): 35 (36 Math, 36 English (11 essay), 35 Reading, 34 Science)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 Math 2, Physics, Biology, 790 Chemistry, 750 US History, 730 Literature
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.77 (upwards trend, extremely difficult courseload)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): No rank/top 10%
AP (place score in parentheses): NSL (5), Chemistry (5), APUSH (4), BC Calculus (5/5), Biology (4), Chinese L/C (5), English Language/Composition (5), World History (4), Physics B (5).
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Environmental Sci, AP Literature, AP Stats, Mol. Bio, MV Calc/Diff Eq, AP Physics C, Health
(Not so) Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Many chess awards (expert rated USCF/1 international result), math awards (not as major), NMS, AP National Scholar, some others. </p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (no major “leadership”): Chess: competitor and coach, ranked as a top 100 in age in US, Math: Captain of Math team, competitor (highest scorer in school on multiple math exams); currently writing a mathematics textbook (didn’t say this in application). Ninja Warrior: Obstacle course training; have built obstacles in my backyard to train for when I’m on the show in a few years. Piano: been playing casually for a long time.
Job/Work Experience: NIH Summer internship/Chess coaching
Volunteer/Community Service: Chess Coaching
Summer Activities: NIH internship, chess coaching, chess tournament preparation, math preparation, Ninja warrior training
Essays: I risked it all on the essays;
Common App: Wrote about my experience walking in the streets late at night; revealed my thoughts and contemplations in the tranquil setting. Almost like a “meditation” walk. Anyways, it showed so much about me, because I pretty much summarized my every major thought. It could’ve ended up sounding really really abstruse though, which I was afraid of.
Extended Essay: I felt this was my strongest. Wrote about a town called Nomia, inhabited by even numbers. Each different even number has a different prime factorization, which is a personality. Us humans are just like even numbers. We are all homo sapiens, and that is our common prime of 2. But within each of us, quirks and talents and whatnot are represented by the infinite odd primes. So odd numbers are so odd, well, simply because the odd primes make us odd from one another. (Mathy people will easily find a few holes in the idea, but I thought it was very creative, and felt the adcoms wouldn’t care much about 100% correctness). Also emphasized my passion with mathematics and numbers in general.
Why Uchicago: This one caused me to think I’d have no chance. I accidentally submitted a draft, not the final! It was really cheesy and awkward, but maybe I’m judging too hard? Although it was awkward for me to read, maybe the adcoms thought it was funny? Basically, I got across why Uchic appealed to me: course flexibility, exploration, diversity, highly theoretical (big picture as opposed to details), and academic prowess, ofc. It just wasn’t delivered well at all in the draft. But, UChic is holistic, and maybe they just decided to overlook this one after seeing my other stronger essays.
Optional: Wrote a few sentences and lists of things I liked. Probs didn’t make a huge impact on my decision, but I enjoyed filling it out.
Something interesting (but probs not too consequential) was that I talked about my activity writing a math textbook. I include mathematical exercises, selected from a large test bank of questions I composed. I empathized with the adcoms; when selecting 25 questions out of a hundred suitable questions that are all good for a particular chapter, what can I do but just pick them (or just sit there, wasting time)? It’s the same with college applications, and I basically I said that I understood that, having experienced the same thing (on a lower magnitude) with my book writing.
Teacher Recommendations: I never saw them;
Physics B/C teacher: I don’t know how good it was, but he has a reputation for being able to write strong recs. Probably true! He’s known me for a good while too.
English Lang teacher: she gets probably the most rec requests in the whole school! Probably good, but again, I didn’t see it.
Counselor Rec: Didn’t see it, but she thinks I’m pretty smart.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: This was my first ever college interview. While it wasn’t mind-blowingly amazing, it definitely was decent and solid, and I got across pretty much everything I wanted to say. Interviewer was very pleasant and I think she liked me. Lasted around 30-40 mins, and we spent a good amount of time talking about ninja warrior! Could’ve only helped me. </p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yep
Projected Concentration: STEMmy stuff. Maybe econ, maybe app math.
State (if domestic applicant): MD
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: 2000+ competitive public
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: around 200K/year
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, unless chess is considered a hook. </p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Extremely rigorous course, very strong 10th/11th grade perf., extended essay
Weaknesses: overall GPA (9th grade), why Uchicago essay,
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Basically, I risked it all on my application. I made sure, through my essays, that I would stand out. I didn’t know if it would be in a good or bad way, but I felt that was the only way I’d have a chance. I made sure my essay were atypical and unorthodox, and the risk paid off. My essays could’ve been seen as “weird” or overly complex, but also as highly thoughtful and showing good self-understanding.
UChicago is sooo holistic, so they overlooked my not so stellar gpa for the better parts of my app.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: UMD, UMBC, Emory, Cornell, Rice, JHU, GT, Vandy, UCB, UCLA
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I’m really happy I got in! I’ve been so nervous! Good luck to everyone else who’s been deferred. I would highly recommend keeping up contact with Chicago and making sure that you make yourself really stand out.
For most people, I don’t think it’s gonna be about the grades/test scores/objectives, but the fit. I feel Uchicago is careful to only select students who they feel will thrive at their university. So, if you’re rejected/deferred, it may not be your achievements, but simply the “fit”. </p>

50

<p>[ b]Decision: Accepted **
ACT (breakdown): 33 C (36 R 35 E 34 M 28 S)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.93
AP (place score in parentheses): English Language (5), Calculus AB (5), US History (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Comp Gov, AP Chem, AP Calculus BC, Bio (H), Journalism
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, class awards for Journalism, theology, and campus ministry</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Editor-in-Chief of school newspaper, Editor-in-Chief of literary magazine (it’s independent from paper’s production), leader of school retreats
Volunteer/Community Service: volunteered 90 hours at camp for kids with disabilities and won volunteer of year award
Job/Work Experience: work summers as copy writer for my dad’s company
Summer Activities: attended competitive 5-week journalism program at Northwestern
Essays: this is honestly why I think I got in…
-my common app essay talked about how I got rejected from the tennis team twice and compared that to Disney movies and how after failing the heroes always worked hard and then succeeded and how that didn’t happen for me but how I found success in a different way through journalism
-my uncommon essay answered why are you here and I said here was a confluence of quirks and abnormalities and discussed how the quirks that surround me challenge me and encourage growth
-why uchicago essay came from the heart and was very genuine and well-written
-optional essay I talked about my favorite movie and my favorite painting; both showed different sides to my personality
Teacher Recommendations:
didn’t read any of them but I trust that they were both good; one was from a teacher I have had for 4 classes (including journalism) and the other said it was one of the best he had ever written
Counselor Rec: I don’t know her that well, but she knows what she’s doing and probably wrote a decent one
Additional Rec:
Interview: didn’t have one</p>

<p>[ b]Other**
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Projected Concentration: English
State (if domestic applicant): OR
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: private incredibly competitive school (hence why they don’t rank)
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: too high to qualify for financial aid… :neutral_face:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): absolutely none</p>

<p>[ b]Reflection**
Strengths: essays, recs, strength of schedule
Weaknesses: GPA, test scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: My essays really showed my voice and reflected my passion for U Chicago. Honestly I was just praying for a deferral but was pleasantly surprised by the results.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: deferred at ND, accepted to Santa Clara, waiting on Boston College and SMU
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: My tip: stop looking at this poisonous website and comparing yourself. I have a love-hate relationship with this website, which although a valuable tool can also be a major source of anxiety. Everyone is evaluated in the context of their school, so not all the information is relevant to you. I will only graduate with 7 APs, but at my school that is a considerable amount. Still, I felt bad when seeing others with 10+ APs compared to my amount. I realize now that it’s all very subjective and that you really don’t know until you apply. U Chicago really looks at essays and places less emphasis on ACT scores. That’s probably why I got deferred at Notre Dame (my best non-superscored composite is only a 32). I honestly didn’t think I had much of a chance, but my acceptance just goes to show that anything is possible. My biggest tip is work hard on the essays. That’s the opportunity for you to be your own advocate. </p>

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<p>^ when I said I didn’t mention my book-in-progress in my app, I meant the common app activity section. However, I mentioned it in the Chicago supplement.</p>

52

<p>Choose One:
**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Did not send
ACT (breakdown): 32/33 superscore (36 R 35 E 32 S 30 M)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Did not take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8ish?
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank
AP (place score in parentheses): Biology (4), English Language (5), Psychology (5, self-studied), Spanish Language (4), Spanish Literature (5), US History (4), World History (5)
IB (place score in parentheses): none
Senior Year Course Load: AP Micro & Macro, AP US Government, AP Statistics, AP English Literature, AP Art History, French 2 (self-taught French 1 over the summer), Religion (Catholic School…)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, St. Michael’s Book Award</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Student Government (3 years, in charge of all video production, won our Council an award at the last State Convention), Drama (International Thespian Society, supporting roles in plays & tech work),
Job/Work Experience: Intern for the Arizona Democratic Party — Ron Barber’s 2014 Congressional Campaign - did voter registration, persuasion calls, and volunteer recruitment
Volunteer/Community Service: NHS, Assistance League of Tucson (4 years, charity within the Tucson community)
Summer Activities: IUP Robert E Cook Honors College Summer Honors Program (2013), decent amount of travel, internship
Essays:

  • Common App: 9/10 I wrote about Steve leaving Blue’s Clues; I was pretty proud of this one
  • UChi Supplement: 10/10 Untranslatable word; one of the best essays I’ve ever written
  • Why UChicago: 7/10 I was rushed on this one
  • Favorite Things: 8/10 List with little one-sentence blurbs about each item
    Teacher Recommendations:
  • AP Spanish Lang & Lit teacher; did not read but she loved me and I was the first sophomore to take Lang with her
  • AP US teacher; did not read but he liked me and knew my personality better
    Counselor Rec:10/10, she loves me and I gave her a ‘Bragsheet’ so she knew exactly what to highlight
    Additional Rec: did not send
    Interview: I thought it went well, interviewed on campus over the summer and fangirled with my interviewer over John Green after I explained what Man Crush Monday is</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Political Science/International Relations
State (if domestic applicant): Arizona
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private Catholic, college prep
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: ~90,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Dual Citizen?</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: APs, languages, essays, interview
Weaknesses: Test scores & GPA could be higher
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No idea, but I’m beyond excited! UChicago is my top choice and I can’t believe I got in!
Where else you are applying or have already applied: So far just University of Arizona, applied to Claremont McKenna and still in the process of figuring where else I am applying (if anywhere)
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight:
Be yourself (I know this advice sucks but it’s the truth!) and make sure you come across as a human, not just an academic robot. Show your passion! Good luck to all those deferred & everyone applying RD!</p>

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<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2160
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 740 French, 710 Lit
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/214
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP Brit Lit, AP Euro, AP French V, Dual Enrollment Elementary Chinese, Calculus and Sociology
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): International Relations Club (Secretary), French Club (Communications Officer), Interact (Secretary), Environmental Endeavors (Communications Officer), Writing Club (assistant editor), Multicultural club, Peer Tutoring etc.
Job/Work Experience: Catering, babysitting
Volunteer/Community service: a bunch of stuff
Summer Activities: Internship at a technology development center
Essays: Everyone who read them said they were great. I think they were quite creative.
Teacher Recommendations: the one from my French teacher of 2.5 years was really complimentary, didn’t read the second one
Counselor Rec: probably decent</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: International Relations?
State (if domestic applicant): Ohio
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Essays, possibly extracurriculars
Weaknesses: definitely SAT scores
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Again, SAT scores. After seeing the scores of those who were accepted, I’m surprised I wasn’t rejected outright. Hopefully my scores from the December test will be better…
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Georgetown SFS (accepted EA), Columbia, University of Michigan, NYU, Reed College
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Congrats to everyone who got in and good luck to my fellow deferrees!</p>

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<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 34 (36 R 36 E 32 S 30 M)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): didn’t submit (v bad)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5% (school doesn’t rank, but my counselor said only a few other people have 4.0s)
AP (place score in parentheses): not offered at my school
IB (place score in parentheses): haven’t taken yet
Senior Year Course Load: IB2 English (HL), IB2 Biology (HL), IB2 Chemistry (SL), IB2 Environmental Systems (SL), IB2 Spanish (HL), IB2 History (HL), IB2 Theory of Knowledge (LOLOLOL)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing major --> National Merit Commended Student, school awards, National Honor Society </p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): varsity swim team (captain), National Honor Society (Officer), school newspaper (Editor), school literary magazine (editor), Spanish Honor Society, Student Leadership (Co-President, county rep), Model UN, summer swim team, choir, Organizing for Action (spring fellow), Peer Corps (mentor), more that I didn’t put down because they were meaningless
Job/Work Experience: lifeguard (2 years, 40 hours/week during the summer), tutor at Kumon (3 years, 12 hours/week all year)
Volunteer/Community Service: tutor at this sanctuary for kids with different types of problems (mental, familial, legal, social, etc…)-50 hours
Organizing for Action-technically volunteering but also extracurricular, 15 hours/week
more that I didn’t put down
Summer Activities: foreign exchange program in Spain, organized charity swim meet for Special Olympics, conducted a study on learning techniques for children with autism and evaluated them with a self-designed rubric
Essays:
-Common App Essay: 8/10 the topic was good, but i’m not sure i reflected enough like it asked
-Why UChicago: 10/10 I hate giving myself a 10/10 because no one is perfect, but I think I really conveyed my interest and put my heart in it
-Extended Essay UChi: 9/10 untranslatable words prompt-talked about “homey” and how I couldn’t explain to my Spanish host family what it meant in Spanish because of the feelings/memories I think about when I hear it (kind of cheesy, but it really showed a lot about me+my deprecating humor)
-Optional Essay: 9/10 talked about a few of my fav books, but then elaborated on how the New York Times allowed me to connect with my dad more.
Teacher Recommendations:
-Teacher 1: 9/10 History teacher; She really liked me, so I think it was really good (didn’t read it because of that waiver).
-Teacher 2: 6/10 Spanish teacher; He likes me and he was the teacher that went to Spain with me…but he kind of lacks personality.
Counselor Rec: no idea/10 We have to have mandatory meetings with our counselor in our junior year with our parents, but other than that, I have never talked to her, aside from the one time I went to her for advice on my schedule and she finished with me in two mins. She’s a pretty lame counselor, and covers about 50-60 students at my school. She seemed to like me though, plus she had a questionnaire from my mom and also one from me that she used to help write it!
Additional Rec: N/A My regional counselor told us to avoid having additional recs unless we were ABSOLUTELY certain it would ADD to our app and not just solidify what was already said. That might have just been a thing for her, so don’t take that as the rule.
Interview: 9/10 it went super well!! I went on-campus for it, and the guy and I spent half of it just talking about our love for Axelrod and how cool it was that he basically lived on campus. It was short though, but I think it went really well. </p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Neuroscience or Comparative Human Development
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public, IB, it’s ranked as one of the top five public schools in the nation
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket: 200,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none, but I think the fact that my high school is ranked very high probably helped a lot (even though my regional counselor was new and knew nothing about the IB…) </p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: essays, GPA
Weaknesses: scores (i really wish i had gotten a 36 and that my SAT IIs had been high enough to send)
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I’m honestly so shocked!! I guess I showed a lot of interest in my essays, and my GPA is good.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: MSU (accepted), University of Michigan (find out Friday ahh!!), Wash U, Rice, UPenn, Columbia, Johns Hopkins
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I’VE BEEN PLAYING WITH THAT CONGRATS ANIMATION FOR THE LAST THIRTY MINS!!! Honestly, I’m just so happy, this has been my dream school since I visited last year!! Future applicants-I’m not going to pretend I know why I got in, but I do know that I really really REALLY worked on my essays (I had fourteen drafts of the extended one…). The admissions officers at UChi always talk about how much they care about the essays, so don’t treat them just like fillers on your app. Congrats to everyone that got in!! Hope I see y’all next year! </p>

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<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2350 Superscore (750 Reading, 800 Math, 800 Writing w/ 10 essay)
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 790 US History, 780 Chem, 780 Math II
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.95
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Does not rank
AP (place score in parentheses): 5s on APUSH, Chem, Calc AB, Stats, Calc BC, Lit, Euro, Bio, Macro, Micro
IB (place score in parentheses): Did not report 6s on French SL and Econ SL
Senior Year Course Load: 7 APs
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, Eagle Scout, National AP Scholar</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Boy Scouts (ASPL or Vice President)
Wrote for school newspaper
NHS member
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service:
Tutored underprivileged kids once a week
Volunteering with NHS
Summer Activities:
Essays:
I spent a lot of time on my essays, but they may not have turned out as well as I had hoped. My WhyUChicago was pretty good though. I also wrote about the odd numbers prompt.
Teacher Recommendations: Didn’t see
Counselor Rec: Didn’t see
Additional Rec:
Interview: I did an on-campus interview, and I thought it went really well.</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: I test well?
Weaknesses: My essays could have been better, and no part of my application was exceptional
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: See weaknesses
Where else you are applying or have already applied:
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight:
Congrats to everyone who got in!</p>

56

<p>**Decision: Deferred **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): NA
ACT (breakdown): 35 C Superscored and not superscored: (33 E, 35 M, 36 R, 36 S)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 680 M2 (lol idk how, I retook it and know I did better) 720 Bio M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97/4.64 I go to a highly selective magnet school that chooses around 2% of students that apply out of 9 high schools. So out of around 3100 applicants, 75 or so get in.
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 3% 10/310
AP (place score in parentheses):
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: Multivariable Calculus, Orgo Chem, Bio Chem, Biomedical Science, IB History of the Americas, IB Spanish, Orchestra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 3rd Place Best Midwestern High School Writing Competition twice in a row. 9th Place ACSL International Coding Competition</p>

<p>[ b]Subjective:**
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): NHS, Research Team (at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Varsity Tennis for 3 years, 1st Violin in the Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Debate
Job/Work Experience: NA
Volunteer/Community Service: Over 200 hours at a local hospital, at summer science camps, a school for the mentally disabled, friends and I started charity that feeds elementary schools children on the weekends (they live in a bad part of town), I founded an interscholastic math competition for 5th graders, MATHCOUNTS coach for a local middle school.
Summer Activities: Gave talks at local hospitals to raise money for the charity I run, and why feeding poverty stricken children in elementary school is important.
Essays: Pretty strong all around. My English teacher said they were great.
Teacher Recommendations: Idk, but should have been good. One of the teachers asked me if he could write me a rec, and told me he would say I was outstanding.
Counselor Rec: She said there’s no doubt I’m one of the top kids at my school, so definitely should have been good.
Additional Rec: From the director of Lee Honors College at WMU. I worked with her to establish the math competition.
Interview: NA</p>

<p>[ b]Other**
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Something in the sciences
State (if domestic applicant): MI
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Public Magnet
Ethnicity: Asian (Bangladesh)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $100,000 +
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None…</p>

<p>[ b]Reflection**
Strengths: Test scores, EC’s, GPA
Weaknesses: No hooks, not a National Merit Scholar, lack of SIEMENS/national science awards
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Really don’t know
Where else you are applying or have already applied: University of Michigan, K College, and the rest are regular decision applications.
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: 4 more months…</p>

57

<p>Decision: Accepted </p>

<p>[ *] SAT I (breakdown): 2240 (770 math 740 writing 730 reading) single sitting
[ *] ACT: none
[ *] SAT II: Math 2: 800 US: 770 Bio: 770
[ *]Weighted GPA: 98.2 (school only does weighted)
[ *] Rank: 5/350
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language (5) US (5) European History (4) Physics B (3)
[ *] Schedule: most rigorous possible
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov&Pol, AP Psychology, AP Calc BC, AP Macro, AP Lit, Peer Leadership, Spanish 5,
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Columbia University book award for excellence in social sciences, National Merit Semi-Finalist, 2x excellence in business education, also received other school awards for excellence in various areas,</p>

<p>[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Model UN (executive council and award winner), Student Government (lead grade representative and executive council), Varsity Baseball, Student Prevention and Awareness Council (head), NHS and Spanish NHS, invited guest teacher at holocaust and human right center (2 years)
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Salesman at local department store (worked 20 hours a week since beginning of sophomore year), employee of local chamber of commerce, intern for state assemblyman
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: NHS stuff
[ *] Summer Activities: Work at department store and intern for state assemblyman
[ *] Essays: hopefully awesome
[ *] Teacher Recommendation: hopefully excellent
[ *] Counselor Rec: hopefully excellent
[ *] Additional Rec: owner of department store, sure to add something</p>

<p>[ *] State (if domestic applicant): New York
[ *] Country (if international applicant): USA
[ *] School Type: Competitive public
[ *] Ethnicity: white
[ *] Gender: male
[ ]Income Bracket: middle class, not sure of exact bracket
[ ] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
[ b]Reflection
[ *] Strengths: GPA, letters of rec
[ *] Weaknesses: no hooks</p>

58

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
ACT (breakdown): composite-32 english-32 math-32 reading-33 science-33
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.59
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t do this
AP (place score in parentheses): Not offered
IB (place score in parentheses): Not offered
Senior Year Course Load: Electives, advance track.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None. Does Academic Award for Field Hockey count?</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):Student government member. Students United Committee head. Performing Arts Committee head. Social Justice Committee. Art Club. Astronomy and Astrophysics Club. Environmental Club. Field Hockey varsity. Softball varsity. Track and Field varsity. Theater. Choir. Piano. and some other stuff.
Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard/swim instructor
Volunteer/Community Service: Immigration Youth Justice League. UChicago Hospital Volunteer. Casa Central. Animal Treehouse
Summer Activities: Camp. Lifeguard. Albany Park Arts Festival volunteer.
Essays: I spent three weeks on them.
Teacher Recommendations: Waived right to read them. From: History Teacher. French Teacher.
Counselor Rec: Waived right to read it.
Additional Rec: Waived right to read it. From: English Teacher.
Interview: Really well. We bonded over soccer and world travel and literary idols.</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
Projected Concentration: Neuroscience (Pre-med track)
State (if domestic applicant): Chicago, IL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Independent
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: in the 76,000?
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Immigrant under special circumstances.</p>

<p>Reflection
Strengths: Essays. I made up my own question.
Weaknesses: GPA but it only went down last year. It’s gone back up now.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I emphasized my passion for knowledge, curiosity, and diversity.
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Applied: K College. Tulane. Miami Oxford. Going to: Brown (PLME), Yale, Vanderbilt, Duke, Swarthmore, UPenn.
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Write about what you are passionate about. Do some free-writing and do bullet points. Then let the creative juices flow! I really didnt think I would get in, but I think it was my extensive writing and general focus on my desire to learn and create which happens to be theirs too.
Be yourself. Redundant, I know. But write about what you think impacts who you are the most and milk it for all you can.
Good luck to all you deferred and those planning on applying regular!!</p>

59

<p>**Decision: Accepted **</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2370 780 math 800 reading 790 writing
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II (place score in parentheses): 800 math ii 800 chemistry 780 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10 percent, school doesn’t give more info than that
AP (place score in parentheses): Didn’t send
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: basically all APs
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): some debate/chess awards</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Debate team, public forum pretty successful some impressive accomplishments
President of math team
President of chess club, some impressive accomplishments in chess
Other less important stuff
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteered at urban debate league
Summer Activities: Nothing i listed
Essays: Odd numbers. I thought my common app was great, my interests was great, my why chicago and odd numbers were good
Teacher Recommendations: One amazing, one pretty good
Counselor Rec: Didn’t really know him very well so idk
Additional Rec: Debate coach, probably pretty amazing
Interview: On campus, went fine</p>

<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? Nope
Projected Concentration: Math, poli sci
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Top public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: m
Income Bracket: upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none</p>

<p>[ b]Reflection**
Strengths: test scores, extra curriculurs, gpa
Weaknesses: Nothing absolutely amazing that stands out, not much community service/volunteer, no hooks
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Generally solid applicant who will fit in well at Chicago
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Deferred georgetown, MIT
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Apply where you’ll fit in well. There’s probably a reason that the school where I’m the best fit is the one I got into while I was deferred at the others. </p>

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<p>Is there an official facebook group/ page for admitted/ prospective students?</p>