Don't hold back. Like seriously. Go hard. There's a bunch of people applying to the top 25 schools with high SAT scores and GPAs. You need to find a way to differentiate yourself. My extracurriculars were decent, but they weren't anything spectacular. I'm 100% sure the reason that I got into my school of choice was because of my essay. I wrote about Bernie Sanders, Minecraft, Lord of the Rings, Donald Trump, Mantis Shrimp, and a bunch of other random, crazy things!...

At the April Overnight, I noticed that there were a bunch of Speech and Debaters there. UChicago LOVES to promote discussion based learning. It's one of the...

I would have probably spent more time on my essays. I procrastinated really hard, so there were some grammatical errors in my writing. I probably would have applied to more schools. I applied to UChicago Early Action, and...

The course I look forward to the most is probably Power, Identity, and Resistance! It's a sequence in the social sciences core requirement and it explores how power accumulates and how...

I worked with a College Advising Corp's private counselor. The organization provides free online college counseling for low income and first generation students. I highly recommend applying for it if you qualify! I met with my counselor once or twice every month through Google...

Intellectual, quirky, nerdy, passionate, motivated. The people you meet at UChicago are absolutely AMAZING. Everyone here is extremely smart and an expert in their own academic niche. There are plenty of stories about how students go out to a party...

I did not interview with UChicago. The only school I interviewed with was Penn, and that was during the Early Decision round. USC was already filled, and UCs did not offer interviews. I interviewed with Penn virtually through Google Hangouts. It felt like more of a casual...

There's been a lot of controversy lately about the free speech restrictions at UChicago. The school received national media attention when the administrators threatened the Student Government President by not letting him graduate after he...

Honestly, you can do whatever you want during the summer as long as it is productive. You don't really need to go out on a crazy missionary trip to save starving children from third world countries. That does NOTHING to show that you're a caring individual. It probably gives off the impression that you have a bunch of extra travel money that your parents can dispose of. I spent most of my summers at...

The motto "where fun goes to die" is a lie. Sure the Chicago winters are brutal, and sure the classes are hard, but fun is there if you go out to find it. UChicago...

ESSAYS! I cannot stress how important essays are, especially for UChicago. My extracurriculars weren't relatively exceptional, and my SAT score was actually in the 25th percentile once you took the writing section away. UChicago is...

The other schools I got into were pretty expensive. I didn't decline them because they were necessarily bad schools. The schools I got into were pretty amazing. It's just that UChicago was much more amazing. I could see myself choosing UChicago as my school for most scenarios, but I could also see myself choosing an alternative school as well. All of the...

I do not have an exact career in mind yet, but I am interested in working for the government. I want to pass public policy reforms in how the...

UChicago was the best school for the field I wanted to study, and it gave me the most financial aid. In fact, UChicago was about $5k cheaper than my cheapest public in state school....

A resource I really loved using was The College Board's Big Future feature on their website. It provided pretty much everything you need to know as an overview for...

Chicago is a beautiful city. The school is only fifteen minutes away from downtown. Plus it's right next to Lake Michigan....

One of the great things about UChicago is their no loans policy. Because of The Odyssey Scholarship, the school has eliminated all of its loans with grants. The only loans available now are loans either from the government, or from a private source. This has significantly lifted the financial burden off of many families. UChicago is also one of the few top schools offering Merit Scholarships as well. I was fortunate enough...

Be yourself! The admissions team is extremely talented in differentiating genuine and manufactured voices in your personal statements. Don't write what you think the admission officers want to hear. Write about what YOU want to write about. Geek out in your essays. Talk about all of the crazy theories and fandoms your have. If you aren't...

I've personally had great success writing my Why X College Essay through the narrative structure. Most Why X College Essays are generally bland and boring, following the five paragraph argumentative structure. Making your essay into a narrative adds flavor and color. Maybe you could plan out a typical day of your life as a student at the college you want to attend! That being said, make sure that the stuff you write is...

I asked my English teacher and my Government teacher for my recommendations. I've had my English teacher for about three years (7th, 8th, and 11th grade) and I've been on my Government teacher's cross country team for all four years of high school. I was a bit worried about my choices at first since the subjects my recommenders taught in were all in the liberal arts. While it is nice to have a varied selection of letters from both a liberal arts recommender and a STEM recommender, it is far more important that your recommenders have something significant to write...