The University of Chicago is one of the top universities globally. Based in Chicago, Illinois, they offer 53 majors and 47 minors and have a distributed global network of 7 international campuses and centers. Around 7,500 undergraduates call the University of Chicago home, and they have access to 4,500+ paid, career and profession-oriented internships.
But what makes the University of Chicago special really aren’t the numbers. The university is passionate about independent thinking — and they walk the walk. They want students who are pushing academic boundaries intellectually, who like challenging themselves, who thrive on collaboration, and who are always asking “why?” They have a strong core curriculum that forces every student to challenge themselves outside of their areas of immediate aptitude, and students assist with research that is changing the world, from biology and medicine to early educational pedagogy. At UChicago, you will be challenged — and, for them, that’s the point.
The University of Chicago has built a passionate fanbase, and the acceptance rate is only 4.8%.
In this post, we’ll help you become part of that 4.8% by making your summers work for you. When you’re thinking about college, so much of the conversation is about grades and scores and clubs and leadership positions, and that’s all well and good. It’s important, it really is, but so are your summers. Your summers are the longest stretches of time that you have off the clock. That makes them profoundly powerful tools, because they offer something you don’t have the rest of the year: time.
Below, we’ll break down how you can make that time work for you.
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What does the University of Chicago want to see from your summer?
First, let’s think big picture. What we’re going to lay out here are guidelines and frameworks, but this really is a choose-your-own-adventure. What Chicago really doesn’t want to see is cookie-cutter. What they do want to see is you. You’ll learn from their essay prompts (we’ll go deeper into this further down) that they are really into the quirk and the weird and the strange. So, take from this what works for you and ignore what doesn’t. If something doesn’t resonate, skip it. And if something is exciting, run with it.
Augment Your Academics
Something that the University of Chicago definitely wants to see is that you are stretching beyond the walls of your school when it comes to your intellectual advancement. That could mean courses over the summer at a local community college or university that has classes open to high school students. It could also mean (and we love this one) an internship with a local business leader, professor, or professional in your field of interest.
We love internships because they offer opportunities that go beyond an individual course. They are something you can tangibly build upon summer after summer, and they don’t have a fixed end date, or a grade attached — although you may be able to get a strong supplemental recommendation from a supervisor. If the idea of finding an internship makes you nervous, start by looking at your “2nd degree” connections. These are the people who are connected to the people you know. For most students, these people are either friends of your parents or the parents of your friends. While none of them might have your “dream” job, remember that you can get creative. If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, maybe a friend’s dad runs a restaurant, or their mom has a landscaping business. If you are interested in academia, a connection who is a teacher may be able to use your help with lesson planning and school year prep.
Another route to look at is an internship at a non-profit you’ve previously volunteered with. Contact any non-profits, including food pantries, soup kitchens, mentorship organizations, or other non-profits you’ve volunteered with previously and ask if they might have a more immersive and long-term opportunity available for you to learn from and support them over the summer. Expect to need to submit a resume, so definitely design one in advance. Your resume must be one page (seriously, no excuses), and it must be well formatted. Luckily, there are many Google Docs templates that are free so there is no excuse or mismatched fonts.
Another place you should plan to spend your time over the summer is on test preparation for the SAT or ACT. The University of Chicago appreciates applications that are reinforced by outstanding standardized test scores. While admitted students show a wide range of scores, many of the lower scores are likely tied to extenuating circumstances that most likely don’t apply to you. Our advice is that you really need to strive for the maximum score you can achieve to strengthen your application.
Emphasize Your Interests
Alongside your academics, the University of Chicago cares a lot about caring…about your community. In the class of 2027, 85% of admitted students highlighted community service in their applications. Chicago wants to see that you are engaged with your community whether it’s through a job, through volunteer service, or mentorship. Whatever it is, though, you should be engaged with other people in-person. Not virtual. Not on social media. You need to be in front of other humans connecting and improving your community through the sharing of time, information, and resources. Most importantly, this work needs to be something that builds upon an existing interest that they’ll see elsewhere in your application.
What we mean by this is that, if you grab whatever volunteer opportunity you can and phone it in for a few weeks one summer, they will know. They will be able to figure out really easily that the time you spent wasn’t indicative of passion or interest — it was obligation to check an application box. That’s bad. Because if they get that vibe from one thing on your application, they’ll start looking for it everywhere. As we said, they want to see the authentic you, not some version of you cooked up for college admissions.
But what does this mean you should be doing in a more specific sense? Get a summer job or volunteer position that is not a one-off volunteer thing. It needs to be long-term and, ideally, the equivalent of a part-time job (20 hours per week) or more for at least a few weeks. There’s some wiggle room here, of course. If it’s a role at a youth camp that’s only a week, that works. But ideally, we’d shoot for 2-3 weeks. The most important thing, though, is that you need to spend your time on something that connected to other passions and, ideally, that relates to what you want to study in college. For example, if you are a prospective engineering major you might want to volunteer with a STEM day camp for younger students. If you are interested in public health, you may want to work with a food bank where you could gain an understanding of the link between food insecurity and negative health outcomes. And if animal behavior is your thing, there may be a shelter in your area that needs someone to walk dogs and help socialize pets for adoption.
If you are passionate about art, definitely carve out time in the summer to pursue it, too. More than 75% of admitted students in the University of Chicago class of 2027 prioritized a performance art like theater or music. Another 69% played a varsity sport, so it isn’t a bad idea to invest some practice time if you’ve yet to make the jump from Junior Varsity to Varsity in a sport you love.
And Make Your Interest in Chicago Known
There are two more things that we’d recommend doing if the University of Chicago is at the top of your list. First, remember that they consider the “level of applicant’s interest,” when reviewing your application. This means that they will take note of information sessions attended, campus visits, etc. So do those things if you can, and look for ways to connect with admissions virtually if you can’t. Don’t just email them incessantly, though, because that’ll make them know your interest but not in a good way.
The other thing you should do, and we mentioned it all the way at the start of this post, is to practice writing. The University of Chicago supplement is wild. Like truly kooky. So, if this is the summer before your senior year, you need to start drafting essays early. You won’t be able to see your application cycle questions until August or so, but Chicago has typically allowed applicants to use any past questions. This means that trying out a few prompts for practice isn’t a waste of time. They may really come in handy! You can find some past questions to play around with here.
Applying to the University of Chicago is tough. It’s one of the hardest colleges to get into in the country, and they have one of the hardest applications. Both of these factors add up to a real need to prepare in advance, plan ahead, and start working on your application early.
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