University of Chicago EA/ED Results ONLY

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
21

**Decision: Accepted EA **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 34©; 36(e); 35®; 33 (s); 31(m) (single sitting)
SAT II: Did not take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Weighted GPA: 4.21
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/~500
AP (place score in parenthesis): (did not send any) English Lang(5), Psychology(5), World History(4), English Lit(3), Chemistry (self-studied after honors chem) (2…whoops), BC Calc (did not test)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Environmental, AP Bio, AP studio art (independent study), Contemporary Lit, Philosophy
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Not really: AP Scholar with Honor, Numerous regional and State science olympiad medals (including some state championships), 9th place national tournament place in science o

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Science Olympiad (many awards, 7 years, national competitor), Student Senate (4 years, class officer), Model UN, Gay-Straight Alliance, NHS, Volunteering, Founded a club to help peers make college plans
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: I volunteered over the summer and last year teaching immigrant kids English/reading and I help ESL and special ed preschoolers with reading as well.
Summer Activities: (volunteer, read, not much…)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Why UChi? (9/10) A humorous–if a bit risky–approach (described below), Extended (10/10) I wrote to an old prompt and rejected the premise of it. I basically wrote an op-ed on the importance of imagining others complexly, Favorites (10/10) I was creative and almost wrote a free-verse poem, talked about my favorite street to drive on-- weird stuff like that…
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 10/10 (read) AP English Lang sophomore year: He’s a very eloquent writer and was very complimentary about my intellect/ classroom contributions. He even included some excerpts from essays I wrote for him. I was the only sophomore in a junior and senior level class.
Teacher Rec #2: 10/10 (did not read) AP English Lit junior year: She was my favorite teacher I’ve ever had! We really clicked personalities and despite being the only junior in a smaller class of seniors I basically ran the class discussions.
Counselor Rec: 2/10 (did not read). My counselor retired at the beginning of this past summer. He knew me extremely well and helped me with personal problems and we even talked about his art exhibitions and travels together. I was devastated when I found out he couldn’t write my letter. My new counselor barely knows me. She’s in charge of 500 kids so I’d be impressed if she spelled my name right. At best she regurgitated the extracurricular list I gave her.
Additional Rec: (7/10) (read) My Science Olympiad Coach for the event Anatomy. He’s a doctor in my community. I competed at the national tournament with his son. He was very impressed by me.
Interview: I requested but was never granted one

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: HIPS
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public; 2000 students and fairly competitive
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $115,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection

Strengths: GPA, Class rank, Essays, recommenders, ECs
Weaknesses: ACT was not exceptionally high for UChicago, no interview
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I’m extremely flattered and humbled! I took a risk on my essays and wrote a really creative/raunchy ‘Why UChicago Essay’ in which I flirted with the school and complimented their sexy ‘HIPS’ (it was pretty much a long pun and extended metaphor thing about why I loved the substance of the school and major choices more than its appearance or reputation)
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Just got Deferred from Georgetown EA on Friday so this news was a real pick-me-up, Accepted: MSU Honors College and small, instate safety schools. Applied/Applying: U of Michigan EA, UC Berkeley, Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, U Penn…

General Comments : I’m very surprised since I was nervous about applying EA instead of ED

22

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (790 CR 750 M 800 W)
SAT II: 790 Math II, 790 Bio E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Weighted GPA: 4.6
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9 of 857
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human(5), AP Chem(4), AP Lang(5), APWH(5), AP Lit (4), AP Bio (5(, AP Calc BC (5), APUSH (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): SL Psych (6)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Art History, IB HL Math, IB HL History, IB HL English, IB SL Physics, IB SL Spanish
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None, haha (unless National AP Scholar and National merit commended count)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars: They’re my weak point. Math Club Treasurer, Astronomy Club, Garden Club, Readers Club, “Math Team” Member, babysitting brothers (one is severely autistic), helping with my mom’s business sometimes…,learning piano (just for fun)
Summer Activities: COSMOS
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Good
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Good, but not spectacular

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yep!
Intended Major: Math
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: Big public high school in CA
Ethnicity: Black
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 29k in 2015 but it varies because of a business
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Race?

Reflection

Strengths: Stats, essays?
Weaknesses: ECs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I don’t even know
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Caltech (accepted)

General Comments : I guess this just shows you don’t have to be super extraordinary to get in! Good luck guys!

23

It’s nice to see some other people from KY applied. It suck that you got waitlisted too though

24

Decision: Accepted

[OBJECTIVE]

SAT I (breakdown): 710 CR/WR + 640 M
ACT (breakdown): 35 CR + 35 W + 32 S + 28 M
SAT II: N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 100): not reported
Weighted GPA: 92.29
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Lit (4), English Lang (4), Latin Virgil (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: APUSH, AP English Lang, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science A, Politics/Gov, Macroecon, Orchestra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Sewanee Book Award for Excellence in Writing

[SUBJECTIVE]

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • Varsity Track and Field (9th)
  • Young Investors’ Club (9th, 10th)
  • Model UN (9th, 10th)
  • Mock Trial (10th, captain 11th/12th)
  • Literary magazine (10th, head editor 11th/12th)
  • Student Government Vice-President (11th)
  • History Club (co-founder 11th, co-president 12th)
  • Writing Center tutor (11th) and co-leader (12th)
  • Honor Council and Honor Council Head Prefect (12th)
  • Gender and Sexuality Alliance (12th)
  • Young Democrats (12th)

Job/Work Experience: Internship at local law firm, homework helping at elementary school

Volunteer/Community service: approx. 2 hrs/week tutoring kids in English

Summer Activities: Georgia Governor’s Honors Program (12)

Essays (rating 1-10, details):

  • Common App essay: 9, about a summer program experience and how it transformed me
  • Uncommon essay: 9, short story about Julius Caesar as CEO of MGM getting assassinated at Caesar’s Palace
  • Why UChicago essay: 9, talked about individuality and culture of open discourse at uchicago, counselor loved it
  • Favorites essay: im not sure how to rate this but I liked it!

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10, AP Lit teacher who absolutely adored me
Teacher Rec #2: 8, AP Latin Virgil teacher, I had struggled in his class for 4 years but ended up getting an A
Counselor Rec: 10, counselor and I get along great and he’s an amazing writer
Interview: 8, I stumbled over a bit in answering one of his questions about the core but my intended major was what he majored in so we clicked!

[OTHER]

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: English and/or Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): GA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Black/African-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Not sure, ~60k?
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

[REFLECTION]

Strengths: ACT, essays, recs

Weaknesses: GPA

Why you think you were accepted: My essays, 110%. I’m a creative writer/poet, so that was my strong suit, and I didn’t think for one minute that I would get in on my GPA/testing alone. My essays likely pushed me over the edge.

Where else were you accepted: N/A

General Comments: I’m so thrilled that I was accepted, I never would’ve thought I had a chance! But please please please keep in mind that the admissions process is a huge gamble and nothing that I say here means much on the big scale of things! No one thing gets you into a school, but a lot of really great things can absolutely put you in the acceptance bucket.

25

**Decision: Deffered EA **

[OBJECTIVE]:
SAT I and SAT II (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 31
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.776/4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.48/5.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 76/794
AP: AP Human Geography (5), AP US History (5), AP World History (4), AP English Lang (4), AP Bio (3), AP Spanish Lang (3)
IB: (HL: English, Geography, Economics (Mirco and Macro)) (SL: Spanish (6), Math, Environmental Science, Biology(5))
Senior Year Course Load: IB TOK (Year 2), IB HL English Literature, IB SL Environmental Systems and Societies, IB HL Macro and Micro Economics, AP BC Calculus, Newspaper/Journalism Honors 2, AP Physics 1 (Self-study), AP US Government (online), IB HL Geography TA
Major Awards: AP Scholar with Distinction, IB Anticipated Diploma Candidate, National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar/Finalist, Silver (2015 & 2016) Awards in the National Spanish Exam (non-native speaker), Bronze Awards in District UIL for English in Ready Writing and Journalism in Editorial Writing

  • (Co-president and co-founder) student volunteer organization at my school; tied with a local non-profit and currently volunteering/working/tutoring at local elementary schools for educational opportunities for their students and to help in any events they need extra hands for
  • (Editor-in-Chief) school newspaper
  • (Cultural representative/volunteer) volunteer work at a consulate; I help sell food, make the food, teach traditional dance, perform in dances during festivals, set up/clean up for events, etc. I’ve been doing this since I was a freshman.
  • Volunteering/tutoring in general for students and at events (for National Honor Society and National Spanish Honor Society) and at hospitals and other similar events (for Students without Borders (a student branch of Doctors without Borders) and Red Cross)
  • (Representative) National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society and Red Cross

Job/Work Experience: Internships at medical center (over the past two summers)! The hospital is cancer-oriented, and, this summer, I worked heavily in ICU.
Volunteer/Community service: Service hours around ~500 (also based on extracurriculars)
Summer Activities:

  • Internship at medical center
  • Babysitting for my neighbors and family friends
  • Journalism Camp for one week at an in-state university
  • Volunteered at a hospital (different from internship)
  • Worked in my school’s book room to help pass out textbooks to all grade levels in my school of 4000+ students; also was given a leadership position to help the freshman class out with what high school life is like, bring them on a tour, give advice, etc.

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: 8 (talked about how I grew up, my environment, etc.)
Supplement essay: 7 (eh. I did the vestigial topic)
Additional: 8 (I tried with these, even if they were additional and “optional.” I was especially passionate about my favorite books, etc. because I read way too much lol)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): I waived my right to read these recommendations, so these are solely my assumptions.
Teacher Rec #1: 9- English and TOK teacher; she definitely loves me
Teacher Rec #2: 7-8- Spanish teacher
Counselor Rec: Generic for sure. I go to a large public school and, while my counselor definitely can recognize me, she has over 300 kids to deal with, so who knows.
Additional Rec: (also a teacher) 10- IB Geography and Environmental Systems; she’s known me for three years and I’m currently her TA. She loves me lol.
Interview: n/a

[OTHER]:
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: Cancer Biology
State (if domestic applicant): TX
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Mixed Race (Hispanic/Asian)
Gender: F
Income Bracket: $100-120k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, female in STEM

[REFLECTION]:
Strengths: essays, extracurriculars
Weaknesses: scores, GPA
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: applied EA, which as a lower acceptance than ED (I just couldn’t bind myself with current family financial situation)
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted to Texas A&M, UT Austin; sent apps to Emory, Rice, UC Berkeley as of now

General Comments: While I’m disappointed, I’m happy for those who got accepted! Congrats!

26

@Pariskid Yeah, after reading over my weaknesses section I realized that I never asked how my dual credits were being put on my transcript. I have no idea if they’re on there at all or if it’s just four blank periods (we’re on a block schedule and my class met MTWT, so I had to take four classes out to schedule it)! Where in KY are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?

27

Near Lexington. What about you? Hopefully UK will give me a full scholarship since UChicago doesn’t seem interested.

28

I used to live in Lexington, but now I’m in Mt. Sterling. I hope we can both get in during RD. I would apply for ED II, but we don’t have the money to ensure that I can go if accepted, so I’m sticking it out until March. Rejection would be a horrible birthday gift, so maybe I’ll get lucky.

29

**Decision: Deferred **

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 34 composite: 30 Math, 34 Reading, 35 English, 36 Science
SAT II: 780 US History, 730 Literature, 680 Biology E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), Biology (4), US History (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP US Gov, Economics, AP English Literature, Spanish 3, AP Calculus AB, AP Computer Science A, Senior Bible (school required)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, ACSI Distinguished Christian High School Student (in academics, service, and community)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Associated Student Body (Currently Executive President, 11th grade Executive Secretary, 10th grade Class Representative, 9th grade Class Secretary), Comedy Sportz/School Improv League (current captain/team manager), Theatre, Women’s Rights Club (Founding Member), Film Club (Advisory and Producer), Church Youth Group (leadership team)
Job/Work Experience: Assistant at a Cotillion for 3 years, Currently working as a receptionist at a dog grooming spa
Volunteer/Community service: Teacher at English language camp in rural China 2 summers in a row, Human trafficking prevention educator in rural Ethiopia last summer, Girl Scout, National Charity League, School affiliated community service, Church volunteer
Summer Activities: Mission and service trips through church mentioned above (China and Ethiopia) as well as family trips and reading an awful lot
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Personal essay: 9. Talked about a book I forced 16 friends to read last year, demonstrating along the way my passions for many things and my enthusiasm in chasing what I love.
Uncommon Essay: 10. I chose the portal topic and wrote about a washing machine door as a portal to another world. I used it as a social commentary to discuss the value of flaws, and it was written as chaotic prose drawing interesting parallels to Polluck, Teddy Roosevelt, and Aldous Huxley. I’m most proud of this out of all of my college essays thus far.
Why UChicago: 10. Very proud of this one. It maintained a lighthearted air while simultaneously discussing my adoration of Chicago, my future goals, and detailed descriptions of what I hope to do and be. Perhaps not wildly creative, but very solid and very true to me.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 10. From my math teacher, he adores me and is a very persuasive writer, although I haven’t read it.
Teacher Rec #2: 10. From my APUSH teacher, and I really shined in that class. The type to write “best student I’ve ever had” in it, as well as go in depth on how I think and process history.
Counselor Rec: 8. Good, it’s probably very positive, but doesn’t address me in a very personal or descriptive manner due to us not being incredibly close.
Additional Rec: 9. My ASB director wrote it, and because I’ve worked closely with her for four years it has a great insight into my leadership and interaction with peers.
Interview: Awesome! We had a fun and in-depth discussion of such items as The Velvet Underground representing a repetitive new wave in music and how fun facts and fooling gullible friends are the true signs of a good time. It was cool because we were talking a lot more abstractly than I had expected in the interview, but I think I exhibited a depth of knowledge and thought that UChicago looks for in its students.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: International Politics
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private Religious
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $100+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nope

Reflection

Strengths: Essays, leadership, personality shining through my application, experience volunteering in foreign countries, LORs, Interview, Consistent extracurriculars doing things I love
Weaknesses: no hook, only three years of language, my school only offers 7 AP classes and no IBs (I’m taking all 7 though), no previous attendees from my school, not a ton of consistent volunteering throughout the school year
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted: Not entirely sure. Hoping to be accepted through the Regular Decision round. I’m not superbly diverse, and I don’t blame them for leaving me to decide later.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted: Accepted at Tulane University. Deferred at Georgetown (my other top choice besides UChicago. Dang it.)

General comments:
Super bummed I’m deferred, but still maintaining hope that I’ll be accepted late. At least I wasn’t rejected or waitlisted! I’ve done everything I could, and can’t be upset with myself for that!

30

Was anyone who applied EA actually waitlisted? Weren’t people deferred? There’s a difference and I suspect that the form provided in the original post (which may have been cut and pasted from an old RD thread) was confusing/misleading in the options it laid out.

31

**Decision: Accepted **

ED

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1540 (770R 770M 21essay)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II:
APUSH:790
Math II: 720
Chemistry: 690
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):don’t know
Weighted GPA:6.65/7 (we have a 7 scale)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis):
APUSH 5
Calculus BC 5
Statistics 5
Chemistry 4

IB (place score in parenthesis): none
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, AP Latin, AP Gov, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Wellesley Book Award, Cum Laude

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): President of MUN club, Junior Leadership Hudson, Vice president of freshmen class, Steering Committee, Theatre Backstage Crew, Varsity Cross Country
Job/Work Experience: English tutor at Ark School in China
Volunteer/Community service: tbh not much
Summer Activities: docent at City Museum of Changsha, China; Ark School
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8/10
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9/10, my three-year latin teacher wrote it for me. I am one of his favorite students so I guess the rec was pretty well-written. He also won a Best Educator in Latin from UChicago
Teacher Rec #2: 8/10, written by my two-year math teacher. I have been in some pretty advanced math class since freshmen year, and I have known this teacher pretty well.
Counselor Rec: 7/10 meh
Additional Rec: none
Interview: I had an interview via Skype for about 50 minutes in late November. It was ok: not that good but also not that bad.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: History
State (if domestic applicant): Ohio (but I am a Chinese international student who goes to high school in the states)
Country (if international applicant): China
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: not very sure…
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nada

Reflection

Strengths: My essay. I feel that I did a pretty great job at not imitating the essays I have seen, or trying to sound profound and smart. I really expressed who I really am. Also I applied ED and asked for no financial aid.
Weaknesses: GPA. I go to a pretty competitive school and I think I barely made to the top 10%. I am not a US citizen and I am Chinese which doesn’t really help when it comes to college haha
Why you think you were accepted: It is hard to say really, bc none of us really know what UChicago wants specifically.

General Comments :
I am really happy, but this is just a beginning. We all have a long journey to continue :slight_smile:

32

**Decision: Deferred **
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):1510 CR 750 Math 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): School doesn’t calculate
Weighted GPA:N/A
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis):N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis): 40+ Can only give predicted, final results haven’t been released.
Senior Year Course Load: IB History HL, Physics HL, Economics HL. English Lang& Lit SL, Math SL, Spanish (Ab Inition)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Zero

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Amnesty International (Co-chair)
Food Committee-Student Rep
School Choir Member
TEDx Co-organiser

Job/Work Experience: None

Volunteer/Community service:
Volunteered at local pre-school
Helped recent high school graduates formulate business plans
Member of school fundraising committee

Summer Activities:

Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: Not special, talked about feeling that my identities didn’t fit together and how I learnt to be okay with that. (8/10) Maybe?..just a wild guess to be honest.
Extended prompt: Chose last year’s mashing up historical figures prompt. It was okay (7.5/10).
Why UChicago: Pretty Weak 6/10, Probably not enthusiastic enough, incoherent
Favourites: Average, just a regular list.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
FERPA so I didn’t read. But I’m guessing they were okay.

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview: Didn’t have one.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yup
Intended Major: Public Policy
State (if domestic applicant):N/A
Country (if international applicant): Tanzania
School Type: International, Private.
Ethnicity: As African as they come.
Gender: F
Income Bracket: Won’t post number…but would be considered lower middle class I guess…
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
0
Reflection

Strengths:No idea to be honest.
Weaknesses: ECs are nothing special, Why UChicago essay was atrocious, international student asking for a substantial amount of aid, no major awards…
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: See weaknesses.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Nowhere yet still applying. Just submitted Wellesley app, working on others…I’m too lazy to list them here.

General Comments : The deferral was pretty disappointing, but definitely not unexpected. To future applicants…try and channel your love and fit for UChicago as much as you can, every college wants to choose people who are clearly passionate about attending. Congrats to everyone who got in :slight_smile: , and to those of us who didn’t: good luck and remember that life is a series of experiences. This UChicago decision is one tiny part of that series, your life will continue despite it. Don’t let a single decision stop you from appreciating everything that still lies ahead of you.

33

**Decision: Deferred EA **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1500 (770M, 730CR)
ACT (breakdown): 33 (English 35, Math 31, Reading 34, Science 30)
SAT II: US History(650), Math 2(670)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Weighted GPA: 4.202
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 8/256
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calc AB (5), English Language (5), APUSH(4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Bio(5)
Senior Year Course Load: IB Spanish SL 2, IB History HL, Chamber Orchestra, IB Math HL, IB Bio HL, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholoar

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): private cello and piano lessons, state choir, church youth group (two separate leadership teams), school literary magazine (founder/editor-in-chief)
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: Afterschool Tutor at Community Center, National Honor Society (~20hrs)
Summer Activities: Summer Camp Tutor, Vacation Bible School Volunteer, MPulse 2014 and 2016 Vocal Arts Institute
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: 8/10, I think I did a really good job on this essay, but I did bend the prompt a little bit.
Why UChicago: 9/10, I really love the school and I think it showed in my essay.
Square One: 7/10, I felt like I had a good concept but my execution and analysis could have been deeper.
Favorite Thing: 7/10, I took a little bit of a risk with this one and I think it paid off but who knows.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 9/10, 11th English Teacher, I did really well in his class and he also thought my creative writing was really good
Teacher Rec #2: 7/10, 10th, 11th, 12th History Teacher, I’ve had her for a few years and have always received excellent but I was never her top student in class
Teacher Rec #3: 8/10, 11th and 12th Bio Teacher, I’ve done well in his class and he thinks I’m a genuinely interesting and funny person.
Counselor Rec: 9/10, she really likes me a lot because I am applying to schools out of state and not many kids at my school do that

Interview: Wasn’t able to get one :frowning:

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: HIPS
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper Middle Class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None

Reflection
Strengths: essays, recommendations
Weaknesses: GPA, test scores are on the lower end of the bracket, I don’t really have a “hook”, extracurriculars are limited, no interview
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think in general my stats were underwhelming, even if my more subjective elements were strong.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Michigan State Honors College (Accepted)

General Comments: I’m disappointed, but not surprised. It’s a difficult school to get in to even with perfect stats so combining less than stellar stats with being up against ED applicants made this a difficult year for EA people.

Congrats to everybody to applied! It’s a great school and I hope I can join the class of 2021 come RD time!

34

**Decision: Accepted ED! **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2290 (one sitting) - 720 Reading, 770 Math, 800 Writing
ACT (breakdown): N/A
SAT II: Math - 780; Chemistry - 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Weighted GPA: 4.51
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/52
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), US History (5), Statistics (5), Language/Composition (5), Calculus AB (5), Art History (4), Chemistry (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Calculus BC, AP Literature, AP Government, AP Studio Art
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Government (President), Interact Club, TCS App Design Internship, Varsity Tennis, JV Basketball,
Job/Work Experience: Restaurant Hostess, Tennis Camp Coach
Volunteer/Community service: Hospital Escort, Cat Shelter Volunteer, Junior Camp Counselor, RAFT Warehouse
Summer Activities: UChicago Summer Immersion, Michigan Math and Science Scholars
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Why UChicago (10, expressed my love for the school with a lot of personal anecdotes, nothing generic), Uncommon Essay (8, was humorous with this), Favorite Arts (8, I think it showed a lot of my personality)
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: (Biology) 10, have a really good relationship with this teacher
Teacher Rec #2: (Literature) 8, wasn’t the best in this class, but hopefully my struggle was written about as something good
Counselor Rec: 8, have a pretty good relationship with my counselor, I go in to see her a lot
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: 8 (had it in July, wasn’t as prepared as I could have been since it was so early)

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Comparative Human Development or Neuroscience
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 300K
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Reflection:
Strengths: visual arts portfolio, Summer Session attendance, well-roundedness?, strength of the location I come from, strong essays, GPA
Weaknesses: test scores (especially subject tests), some recommendations
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I love UChicago and I made sure I showed them that I did in many different ways, and also I applied ED so I think that was a big factor
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to University of Edinburgh, Deferred from MIT, Rejected from University College London

General Comments: The wait over the weekend was grueling and I never believed in my own abilities, but now I am more than ready to take on this future! Congrats to everyone else who got accepted, and to those who were deferred, you will achieve great things no matter where you go <3

35

Decision: Accepted ED

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown): 33C, 32 M, 36 E, 35 R, 31 S
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): probably 3.7, school doesn’t do this
Weighted GPA: 4.46
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Lang - 5, only one I self-reported
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Phys C, AP CS A, AP Spanish Lang and Culture, AP Calc BC, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Built by Girls top 15 finalist (team prize, national coding competition with more than 500 applicants), NHS, State Seal of Biliteracy

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): I’m going to write the most important ones - cross country (group leader), track (group leader), peer tutor, ambassador, current events club, piano… that’s about it i think
Job/Work Experience: Chipotle. I have a job again now but it wasn’t on my app
Volunteer/Community service: all those little volunteering things everybody does + I basically also work at my local art museum (except I don’t get paid so it’s very consistent and committed volunteering)
Summer Activities: Neubauer Family Adelante Summer Scholars Program at UChicago :), Girls Who Code at Microsoft
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App - lots of imagery, funny story, tied it into race 9/10 (and I hated this essay at first!) UChicago supplement - 9/10 I liked it a lot and I was stuck for so long and then I just started typing like craxy and it was pretty imaginative (pro tip: you’ll end up going back to whatever prompt you remembered the most when they email them this summer) Why Uchicago - 10/10 this essay was so lit I love it so much and wish I could’ve sent it to every school hahah.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: World Studies and Research Honors teacher, as well as sponsor of a club i was in - 8/10 it was good I assume and she actually wrote me a chicago specific one (they don’t suggest this typically but my teacher had already written it so I told my admissions rep and she was fine with it). Wrote my letter for the summer uchicago program
Teacher Rec #2: AP Lang teacher, probably my favorite teacher ever - 10/10 i think. I love her. Wrote my letter for the summer uchi program as well
Counselor Rec: became my counselor this year, but happened to be my track and cross country coach so that’s good! 8/10 maybe.
Additional Rec: Professor from UChi summer class, I hope at least 8/10 idk. Great guy!
Interview: Senior, she was dressed in a hoodie and looked like she just woke up (not in a bad way I loved it, made me feel at ease). really good convo and we just kinda clicked. She said “like” a lot and all of that definitely made me feel like (lol) I could be myself:)

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Heck yes
Intended Major: applied as undecided, thinking Math or Literature
State (if domestic applicant): IL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: large public (2700)
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: <100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection
shook

Strengths: good writing, summer program, passionate
Weaknesses: GPA is weak, scores are in range but could be better to make up for GPA
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: summer program, PASSION in essays!
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Fordham, Northeastern (in Boston), Purdue, Tulane, expecting Case tonight but obviously withdrawing

General Comments : Believe in yourself! Apply to a school you truly have fallen in love with. I still wasn’t planning on applying after a few days in the program… actually I dont think I knew about the school until my counselor told me to apply to the summer program. UCHI is different than other top schools. They’re really good at picking students who they know would be a perfect fit and care a lot about this. It’s probably the number one thing they think about. Ah! The end! Also write essays YOU love. Have a lot of fun with them. Don’t follow a formula and take risks.

36

Accepted!!!

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Did not take
ACT (breakdown): 34 (one sitting)
SAT II: Did not take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.7
Weighted GPA:4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 53/379
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP BC Calculus, AP Government, AP Economics, AP English IV, Astronomy, Speech/health, college ambassador
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 4th place in state Physics competition, 1st place in regional physics competition, 2nd place in regional Pre- Cal competition, and a couple other 1st/2nd places in Math UIL & Science Olympiad meets. Hispanic national merit

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Founded a club to support underrepresent minorities in STEM fields. TAME(Texas Alliance for minorities in Engineering). Math UIL. Science Olympiad, soccer, marching band, and a variety of other clubs.
Job/Work Experience: Dog kennel employee, babysitting, warehouse organizer, autism therapist assistant.
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer tutoring for african refugees in math and science, volunteer tutoring for the ACT, Service week in Honduras.
Summer Activities: Camp counselor 3 years for a Bahai camp. Worked. Taught a coding camp at my high school.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): I’m biased, but they were honestly the best possible essays I could have submitted

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details)(Pre-AP algebra 2 teacher, AP physics teacher, TAME club sponsor): 9
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):7
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):10 (She told me she wrote in her recommendation that she wrote I am her most promising student)
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): I requested one, but did not get to.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Astrophysics
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
School Type: Large public school
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM interested in STEM. My brother currently attends UChicago

Reflections:
Strengths: Essays, letters of rec, Physics is clearly my strong suit.
Weaknesses: My freshman year went really poorly
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Definitely my essays. I wrote about all the quirky skills I’ve learned in High School: Morse code, Memorizing pi, teaching myself variations of the alphabet (IDK), teaching myself Java & HTML, memorizing the constellations…
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: UChicago was the only place I’ve received a reply from.

General Comments (if any):

37

Decision: Differed EA

GPA: 3.94/4.0
SAT (old): M:800 CR:800 W:800
ACT: didn’t take
Subject tests: Math II:800 Physics:790
APs: European history: 4, BC calc: 5, Physics 1: 5, American history: 5, plan to take: Spanish, English Literature, Biology, Physics C: E/M
Senior year courses: 4 APs (listed above), Chinese 4, Advanced Topics in College Mathematics (includes multivariable calculus), and constitutional law

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Track and Field/ cross county; I’ve been captain since spring of my Junior year, participated all four years of high school.
7 years at a music school, where I play jazz/funk/Latin bass guitar (sent music supplement)
Job experience/volunteer work: None, never really had time
Essays/teacher reccomendations: Hard to evaluate myself, but I would guess they’re all good; I thought that my common app essay and uncommon essay were both very good.

Reflection: I’m guessing I was differed in part because I applied early action instead of early decision, also my lack of work/volunteer experience may have hurt.

38

Accepted EA!

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1520 (760 M, 760 R, 24 on essay) (self-reported in commonapp but didn’t officially send)
ACT (breakdown): 36
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.88? 3.89? 3.9? I avoid looking at this.
Weighted GPA: n/a
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5s on AP Lit + Lang, 4s on APUSH, Chem, Bio
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: French Lang AP; Humanities AC (equivalent to AP lit, world history, music theory, and art history, intense as hell); AP or AC Art Portfolio; Calc BC; Symphony Band + Orchestra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Oh man. Varsity tennis (4 yrs, captain). Symphony band (4 yrs, section leader, same with orchestra). Marching band (piccolo squad leader). Theatre troupe (acting, pit orchestra, you name it I’ve done it). Highly rated flute soloist. High-ranked club tennis team. NHS (but that’s kind of whatever at my school). Young democrats. Pretty sure there are more, but I’m too excited to remember right now.
Job/Work Experience: Freelance illustration, private flute teacher (2-3 hrs/week)/
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer flute coach (5 hrs/week, 36 weeks/year, so 180 total?). Some other unimportant miscellaneous stuff.
Summer Activities: Tennis, band camp, the likes.
Es
says (rating 1-10, details):
-Commonapp: Failure prompt, wrote about falling off of my longboard, turned out really well. 9.5/10-10/10
-Why UChicago: I hand pen-and-inked a comic about why I wanted to go to Chicago, compared it to Xavier’s school from X-Men. Unique and cool, I assume it went over well.
-“Uncommon” prompt: I chose the “tell us about a portal” one, it turned out well. 9/10-10/10

(Note: I also submitted a full art portfolio of substantial quality)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Lang + Lit teacher, she loved me. Great letter, 10/10.
Teacher Rec #2: World History + Humanities teacher, loves me. I assume it was quite good.
Counselor Rec: Counselor knows me very well, it was a solid letter.
Additional Rec: Art teacher, must have been good as I got in.
Interview: Skyped with a current senior. I think it was excellently, and it was funny because my interviewer was from Belgium, and I’m a Belgian citizen. We talked about our similar political interests and such.

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Polisci, but really undecided.
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public (approx. 350 in graduating class)
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 200,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): 4x legacy

Reflection

Strengths: Essays, recs (probably), art portfolio, ECs, ACT score
Weaknesses: GPA/imperfect grades
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: See “Strengths” above
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Waiting on University of Michigan decisions (but that doesn’t really matter now that I have Chicago); also submitting to Northwestern, Wellesley, NYU + USC film, Yale.

General Comments: I am so so so happy. Good luck everyone!

39

Accepted!!!

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Did not take
ACT (breakdown): 34 (one sitting)
SAT II: Did not take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):3.7
Weighted GPA:4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 53/379
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics, AP BC Calculus, AP Government, AP Economics, AP English IV, Astronomy, Speech/health, college ambassador
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 4th place in state Physics competition, 1st place in regional physics competition, 2nd place in regional Pre- Cal competition, and a couple other 1st/2nd places in Math UIL & Science Olympiad meets. Hispanic national merit

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Founded a club to support underrepresent minorities in STEM fields. TAME(Texas Alliance for minorities in Engineering). Math UIL. Science Olympiad, soccer, marching band, and a variety of other clubs.
Job/Work Experience: Dog kennel employee, babysitting, warehouse organizer, autism therapist assistant.
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer tutoring for african refugees in math and science, volunteer tutoring for the ACT, Service week in Honduras.
Summer Activities: Camp counselor 3 years for a Bahai camp. Worked. Taught a coding camp at my high school.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): I’m biased, but they were honestly the best possible essays I could have submitted

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details)(Pre-AP algebra 2 teacher, AP physics teacher, TAME club sponsor): 9
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):7
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):10 (She told me she wrote in her recommendation that she wrote I am her most promising student)
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details): I requested one, but did not get to.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Astrophysics
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
School Type: Large public school
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM interested in STEM. My brother currently attends UChicago

Reflections:
Strengths: Essays, letters of rec, Physics is clearly my strong suit.
Weaknesses: My freshman year went really poorly
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Definitely my essays. I wrote about all the quirky skills I’ve learned in High School: Morse code, Memorizing pi, teaching myself variations of the alphabet (IDK), teaching myself Java & HTML, memorizing the constellations…
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: UChicago was the only place I’ve received a reply from.

40

Deferred :frowning:

Objective:
ACT: 33
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ???
Weighted GPA: 4.088
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 1%
AP: US History (5), World History (5),
IB: Spanish SL (6), Psychology SL (7)
Senior Year Course Load: IB Physics HL, IB History HL, IB English HL, AP Statistics, IB Math SL
Major Awards: AP Scholar Award, and that’s about it aside from general honor roll things??

Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Cross Country (captain), Track, plus a decent amount of other smaller clubs
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Several different volunteer groups at church plus a handful of school based organizations and my IB CAS Project
Summer Activities: Cross country conditioning, but not much else worth noting :confused:
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Overall 9/10. Not perfect, but I poured my heart and soul into them and don’t think they could have possibly turned out any better.

Teacher Rec #1: 5/10 my history teacher. I did well in her class and she definitely thinks I’m smart, but the letter itself was pretty cookie cutter
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details): 5/10, from a teacher who likes me a lot, but again, the essay itself was nothing special
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details): 1/10, I didn’t read it but I can only imagine that it was fairly generic

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 100,000ish
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): nothing :frowning:

Reflections:
Strengths: Essays, course load
Weaknesses: Just about everything else lol: average ACT, weak recommendations, relatively mediocre extracurriculars, and missing an interesting “hook”
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: pretty much the reasons above, plus the fact that another girl from my school was accepted (which is super exciting!!)
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to MSU, still crossing my fingers for an acceptance from U of M

General Comments (if any): Congrats to everyone who got in!! Still super bummed that things didn’t end up working out for me, but hoping to enjoy the next four years regardless :slight_smile: