See title -
I have great test scores (36, 1600 M/R first sittings), pretty solid ECs, decent essays (hopefully, they’re a little bit out there, so we’ll see), and solid teacher/coach/counselor recs.
I’ve taken the hardest courses possible at my school: 12 APs Freshman-Junior year, 5 more APs and a DE course this year. Even my weighted GPA is pretty solid - 5.064/4.
However, my unweighted GPA is a 3.84, with 3 B’s junior year (2 1st sem, 1 2nd sem). I think this is a total of 7 B’s throughout high school (yikes! In my defense, they were all 89% B+s… #stillsalty).
Is there a high probability that I will be deferred to regular decision so that UChicago can see what kind of grades I am going to get this year, or do you think they’ll let it slide?
My kid got in EA with a 2380 super score (and two 800 SAT 2s), and a 3.7 UW GPA two years ago. Her ECs, recommendations, and essays practically screamed UChicago, though. They do love high test scores, so you have a good shot if they think you understand and fit there.
@intparent Thanks for the reply! I think I’ve tailored my essays well enough to UChicago’s interests, but, at the end of the day, I guess it comes down to the adcom that reads it. Will continue to try to convince them of my fit!
Yeah, this is true, but it’s a bit late to change those now :P. I’ve been super fussy with my essays, which is why I’m giving them one last hurrah tomorrow before I submit them!
I don’t consider your GPA to be that low, particularly given the rigor of your schedule. Provided the rest of your application is solid I doubt your GPA will keep you out. Good Luck!
I don’t think numbers will hinder you (perfect score, plus decent GPA – numbers don’t matter for you anymore). It will come down to your ECs, Recs, and most importantly your essays.
If you are getting a lot of B’s in high school, do you think it is in your best interest to choose a very rigorous college where it will be even harder for you to earn A’s?
3.84 can’t have too many B’s. In fact OP points out that his B’s were actually B+'s. He’s taken the most difficult courses in his school. I like his chances.
Does anyone know what the acceptance percentages are for EA, as opposed to deferrals and denies? Just looking at comments from past years, it seems like UC defers alot of pretty strong EA applicants.
Last year the EA acceptance rate was around 10.5 - the lowest it’s ever been. I’d expect it to be somewhere around there, probably a bit lower, but it all depends on whether the number of applicants has leveled out. It’s generally been kind of difficult to predict acceptance rates of Chicago, simply because of huge fluctuations in number of applicants over the past decade.
