Anonymous asked: When will incoming students get their UChicago IDs/email addresses?

You’ll need to use my.uchicago this summer, which requires a CNed ID. I don’t have an exact date for that, but it won’t be too long from now.

Anonymous asked: What was your transfer GPA? Were your classes rigorous?

My GPA transferring into UChicago was a 3.33 but I’d say that’s on the lower end for a transfer coming from a 4 year.

I mean, I don’t know, yes and no. I went to a great school but I was personally challenged.

Anonymous asked: When will members of the Class of 2017 be able to get CNet IDs?

Are you referring to CMail? Because all that the University is doing is getting rid of the webmail portal. Your CNet ID and your aliases will still forward to your primary email address. 

Anonymous asked: I don't know if this is a really dumb question or something that only people who go to UChicago are really supposed to know, but can you explain scav to me please?

Not a dumb question.

For starters, I recommend this New Yorker article about it, published last year. There’s also a Wikipedia page.

Basically, for four days, teams do battle for glory and honor. There’s a lot of science and public embarrassment involved. Also costumes, duct tape, cardboard, and shit like this. 

Anonymous asked: do you know if you can defer from uchicago for a year? i'm super in love with uchicago but i was just given the opportunity to do a gap year travelling the world after my senior year. if i get in next year, would i have to apply again or how would that work?

You can defer for a year.

Anonymous asked: What was your "convincing case" when you transferred?

I think I made a strong case for why my current university wasn’t fitting my needs and why UChicago in particular (or even uniquely) could help provide me with the education I wanted. I wanted passion where I wasn’t finding it, I wanted resources that just weren’t available, I wanted a culture that was more politically diverse.

I also wrote a stellar uncommon application. It was about my love of puzzles and word-play and I wrote it without using a word that had the letter “i” in it.

An excerpt:

Second grade, where an urge led me to tell my classmates that anyone could speak French language; the secret was just to add a “French e” (pronounced “uh”) at the end of every word. My made-up language took the classroom by storm.

Anonymous asked: What were your reasons for transferring to UChicago?

I had been at a small, private liberal arts college. It was in the suburbs. Isolated.

I felt like no one had a passion for knowledge, for learning. The environment that the school provided was often terse, people were more often in competition. No one talked in class.

I wanted to be near the resources of a city again but I did really like the enclosed feeling of a small college campus. UChicago had both. 

I had gotten rejected from UChicago after being deferred and so, I originally hadn’t planned on applying to transfer. I was very bitter (and frankly, embarrassed. who wants to be rejected *three* times?).

But I visited the campus February of my first year of college and immediately felt at home. My driving desire became to get into UChicago as a transfer, however lofty and improbable it seemed.

I hope this answered your question. Feel free to ask follow-ups!