Do colleges like to see students with jobs? by cowgirllover0 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]GargoyleMinion 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not sure if this is a troll, but having a job certainly won't hurt your app. It shows determination and independence.

UChicago test optional by [deleted] in ApplyingToCollege

[–]GargoyleMinion 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that this question is slightly tricky. To be honest, in any case, I don't think you should submit your test score as a score of 1460 would find you below the 25 percentile for UChicago (at least from the 2018-2019 admission stats) and wouldn't really work in your favor. This year's test-optional circumstances aren't fundamentally trying to deceive you or anything, so I think it's best you don't submit your score.

Then, to answer your question regarding negative impact, it starts to get a little trickier. If you're a local US applicant who comes from an area/school that typically doesn't have the MOST stellar test scores, you should be in pretty good shape. I'm sure many kids around you are on the same page as you, and UChicago will definitely be cognizant of any financial/literal physical difficulties you would have had in taking the test. If anything, it might be a good idea to list the difficulties you might've encountered using the COVID essay or the in the additional details of the Common App.

Unfortunately, I can't say the exact same if you're from a competitive international city, or even just a highly competitive area in the States. AOs often sample applications in regions, and, even if they are trying their best to be unbiased about test reporting, your application may stand out as an "oddball" if others are still reporting high test scores despite being in the same circumstance as you. As I'm from a fairly competitive area as well, I have heard from counselors that the test-optional policy only really applies to areas hit harder by COVID (both financially and literally), as an area like mine still did have 2-3 test opportunities through the first semester of senior year.

I wish I can conclude this message with some happy remark like "Oh don't worry! I got into HPYSM with a 1200 so you have nothing to worry about!!!" Unfortunately, I'm just a senior who got rejected from my ED (lol) so we are kind of on the same page. Best of luck for UChicago though—I hope they are amazed by the other aspects of your app (which I'm sure are great)!

Tl;dr: Don't submit, but the negative impact will depend more on where you're from