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Hey, I'm applying EA at Chicago this year, and I'd like to know what you think my chances are...

GPA: 89%

English 88%
Honours English (only honours course in my school) 87%
French 91%
Science 89%
Math 88%
History 95%
Economics 93%
Social Studies 86%
Biology 83%

Those are my core subjects...Problem is, I do very poorly (70s-low 80s) in my school's Hebrew, Yiddish, and Bible courses (as I'm not at all interested)...So with those factored in, my average is an 85%-86%...

Class rank: Not ranked...But if my GC does put in a rank, it'll be hurt by the aforementioned courses--like top 25% instead of top 10%...

SAT I: 1470 (760v, 710m)

My recs are fantastic (even from my GC, who's trying to redeem me in those other classes)...I've been told my essays are really good also.

ECs--Newspaper Editor (3 yrs), Bass and Guitar (4 yrs), Soccer Referee, Part-time job, Softball Team, a freelance clip I'm going to include (one of Canada's largest papers), editor of literary journal (2 yrs)...I think adcoms know that in Canada, we don't have the same crazy EC expectations...

I also don't need finaid, if that helps me at all...

Thanks a lot.

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 07:19 pm: Edit

Bump.

By Geodude666 (Geodude666) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 07:28 pm: Edit

do you have a green card or american citizenship? you can't apply EA without it.

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 08:00 pm: Edit

Really? I checked the site--it says I only need to worry about that AFTER receiving notification of admittance.

Are you sure you're not mixing it up with financial aid? Cause I know you can't request aid and apply early as an int'l...

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 08:27 am: Edit

Bump.

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 08:20 pm: Edit

Bump.

By Matth (Matth) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 11:31 pm: Edit

Geodude's info about the green card or american citizenship is absolutely wrong. I have two Canadian cousins at U.S. colleges. Neither has a green card nor are they U.S. citizens. After you're accepted, the college will give you the forms necessary to obtain a student visa.

By Sybbie719 (Sybbie719) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 11:44 pm: Edit

Admission stats for U of Chicage class of 2007 & 2008. Please be reminded that only 8 % admitted were internationals so you will be going against a very competitive pool of candidates.

http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=377

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 12:05 am: Edit

Can anyone here offer more specific info on my chances?

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 10:47 pm: Edit

Bump.

By Davidrune (Davidrune) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 11:29 pm: Edit

Your chances aren't very good. You're a competitive candidate, but your aren't a guaranteed acceptance.

Your grades are mediocore. And so are your ECs.

And being a Canadian doesn't automatically excuse you from good ECs. I know many Canadians with ridiculous ECs.

Canada has just as much opportunities as the States. If anything, being from a third world country would excuse you from a lot of ECs... as long as you showed an exceptional interest in one.

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Tuesday, October 05, 2004 - 11:46 pm: Edit

Actually, my GC knows someone in Penn admissions--they said explicitly that they do not place the same EC expectations on Canadians.

I've never heard of an 89 being mediocre...frankly I'm surprised at that...maybe my school doesn't inflate grades to a stupid point--top mark is a 95. You don't see the 98s and ridiculous 100+ at my school.

And by saying my chances aren't good, but that I'm competitive, what do you mean exactly? Does the fact that I don't need aid help? What about a great essay?

Like I have a 25% chance of getting in? 40%? I know you can't really quantify it...

By Davidrune (Davidrune) on Wednesday, October 06, 2004 - 12:37 am: Edit

Well at my school an 89 would be amazing but not exceptional.

Not wanting financial aid, will probably increase your chances.

I really can't help you. The best thing you can do is check out a site like prstats.com and see what kind of kids got in.

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 11:16 pm: Edit

Hmm, checked the site...can't say if it helped--the few people listed on the site who DID apply to Chicago were all valedictorians with 4.0s...However, I know that Chicago can't have so many valedictorians, if only 79% of their incoming class is top 10%...

So I wouldn't call prstats.com an accurate indicator.

By Davidrune (Davidrune) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 11:52 pm: Edit

Oh definitely not... The kind of people that put their stats there are generally above average. Just check the average SAT scores.

But it does always give an idea, of the kinds of stats that people who get accepted have.

By Jpps1 (Jpps1) on Thursday, October 07, 2004 - 11:55 pm: Edit

Ya...but it's not even a great representative sample...you're talking 20 out of 1000+ acceptees.

By Astrix (Astrix) on Saturday, October 09, 2004 - 06:36 am: Edit

Jpps, Chicago places great emphasis on the essays and far less on the scores and grades (which are good) as compared to most other top tier schools

So make sure your essays are original and interesting and completely awesome. With your writing experience, I'm sure you can manage that.

Internationals who aren't applying for finaid can apply EA.