HOW I PICKED THE PERFECT SCHOOL | Why I Chose to ED UChicago

What’s up tanners!
If you are struggling between schools to pick, or how to choose a school to Early Decision / Early Action / Restrictive Early Action, this video is for you!!
In this video I talk through my main criteria for choosing a school, before going through every single school on my top list and why I did NOT end up picking these schools. As I mentioned, this video is mainly geared towards international students, especially those applying from Asia / China.
This video does NOT include the “hard” research (classes, programs, study abroad, major requirements, credit conversion from IB and AP, etc), but rather talks more about softer metrics that I think are much more difficult to find! If you’re someone who has done a lot of research into specific schools and would like a second opinion, here’s mine :)
Unless you are American (and sometimes even if you are), universities often put applicants in the same location into the same “selection pool”, before deciding which of these students get put through to the next round. This is why it’s quite important to consider your “pool”. (A fun exception are schools like Shanghai/Singapore American School, which are considered applicants from the US even though they’re not physically in the US).
Of course this is different for every university, but I’ve spoken to admissions offers from around 3-4 good schools and this seems to be the norm!!
If you were curious, here was my full school application list that I wrote applications to: Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke, JHU, Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, Yale, MIT, Columbia, and of course, UChicago
Of course I ended up getting into UChicago ED, so all of my applications were never submitted!
🍵THINGS I MENTIONED:
- How I got into UChicago: • How I got into UChicag...
- UChicago Freshman Advice: • watch this before comi...
☀️ T I M E S T A M P S ☀️
- Important disclaimer 0:59
- 4 things I wanted in a school 2:42
- 3 things I did NOT want in a school 4:04
- List of all colleges I considered 6:41
- Colleges I rejected:
Northwestern 7:05
Duke 7:13
Johns Hopkins 7:41
Harvard 8:06
Stanford 9:05
Princeton 10:07
UPenn 11:53
- My top 3 colleges I rejected:
Yale 12:53
MIT 14:50
Columbia 16:19
- Conclusion and my final reminders 19:40
Stay safe and wash your hands!
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#collegeapplication #uchicago #itschloetan
🙆🏻♀️ My next videos coming up
- Day in the Life of UChicago Online
- Using Boosted Board in college
- Thoughts on NOT Being in the Ivy League
✨Check Out My UChicago Videos✨
- Why I'm Leaving UChicago for a year: • Video
- UChicago Freshman Advice: • watch this before comi...
- My UChicago Apartment Tour: • UCHICAGO APARTMENT TOU...
- How Hard is UChicago online? • UCHICAGO ONLINE: Harde...
- UChicago vs Coronavirus: • Video
- 24 HOURS IN UCHICAGO LIBRARY: • 24HRS IN THE LIBRARY @...
- UChicago Dorm Tour: • UCHICAGO DORM MOVE-IN ...
- My 1st Week at UChicago: • First Week at UChicago...
- What to do before UChicago: • Pre-College Summer: Th...
- How I got into UChicago: • How I got into UChicag...
❗️Subscribe to me for more! kzbin.info'schloetan?s...
🌸About Me
Chloe Tan
19 years old
Singapore-Indonesian, grew up in Shanghai
Currently at the University of Chicago
Major: Economics, Minor in Data Science
Interests: finance, political science, entrepreneurship, data science
🌸Chat with Me!
instagram: @itschloetan
TIKTOK (basically my cat): @itsnotchloetan
email: [e-mail]
🙆🏻♀️ Sub-count: 6330

[@asynchloe]

☀️ T I M E S T A M P S ☀️ - Important disclaimer 0:59 - 4 things I wanted in a school 2:42 - 3 things I did NOT want in a school 4:04 - List of all colleges I considered 6:41 - Colleges I rejected as options: Northwestern 7:05 Duke 7:13 Johns Hopkins 7:41 Harvard 8:06 Stanford 9:05 Princeton 10:07 UPenn 11:53 - My top 3 colleges I rejected as options: Yale 12:53 MIT 14:50 Columbia 16:19 - Conclusion and my final reminders 19:40

[@rubikashree7724]

0% beating around the bush 100% useful points

[@asynchloe]

honestly the biggest compliment - thanks!

[@isadora5826]

You're so wise. You're treating the college application process as it should be treated. YOU have to measure which college fits YOUR needs, which college you're going to gift with your presence. After all, we spend 4-5 years in there - we have to like where we are and most aspects of it. People are too blinded my the Ivy charm they can't even acknowledge they might hate the campus life or stuff they never researched.

[@joondochang742]

Now pursuing my phD in math but back when I applied to college, I got REJECTED to all of my schools. Penn even said "we were humbled by your application"... I still remember those days.

[@Jenny-cx4ll]

Your thought process was very thoroughly researched and explained - thank you!

[@asynchloe]

my pleasure!! i was worried that i was sounding not researched enough the whole time hehe :-;

[@shen7728]

ItsChloeTan kind of like a UC material tbh

[@justiceyoo1628]

lmfao as an incoming first-year at uchicago the last part Hurt me inside, yale and columbia were my other top two choices

[@layan808]

Justice Yoo Uchicago, Yale, and Columbia are my top schools llolll

[@williamrobertson797]

HAHA i'm in the exact same situation. This video was the validation i didn't know i needed

[@bhav7539]

Your high school seems to be hella competitive 👀

[@viktorkhan8518]

It is.

[@alexandroslekkas]

A feeder school for sure

[@yutianfeng]

I honestly didn't think I would be this invested when I first clicked into the video! Wow, it was overall really helpful.

[@JourneyWithAjah]

I'm probably like 10 years older than you but goodness I'm inspired. I've been just marathon-ing your videos lately. I was this motivated when I started college and IDK what happened but I think your work ethic is contagious.

[@rochile6001]

this was an informative video, even as an American in nyc, I can definitely cross reference the generalizations you made about specific schools and confirm that you made the correct deductions about admissions process and campus culture.

[@thomasrichards1969]

You are way too awesome Chloe! Such a great video on your thought process. I am applying to the UChicago grad program this year in CS and Math, and your videos are so helpful.

[@connie0613]

Love how your description box is so detailed :)

[@graceb9905]

The fact that you knew what you wanted AND what you didn’t want👌Love your videos!

[@doubled7302]

UChicago is lucky to have you! You really did your research well and made the right decision for your needs and goals. Bravo!

[@CosmoExplosion]

thanks for sharing your thought process, I feel super glad that you made the choice your heart and mind were both content with :) as for what video I'd love to see next is on the kinds of books you read and really resonate with

[@alixnight5318]

This makes me feel like my decision to ED was throwing a dart at a board. I’m Impressed by how much thought you put in this decision

[@alexarcely4187]

Finding this late, but fantastic video! I'm actually torn between Columbia and UChicago so it was very cool to see that you had the same conundrum of which to ED.

[@kevinhong9868]

not sure how you ended up on my feed, but great choice. Glad to have you at our school (current MBA student)

[@lucydoe1334]

Thank you for this. I appreciated all the purpose and thoughts you put into choosing schools. My daughter is considering all these schools right now and will fwd her this video to help her narrow down schools for the right reasons.

[@graceyang9607]

i was just accepted to uchi ed2 a few days ago and this video is only affirming my earlier decision to ed!! super glad haha. i'd done my own research and decided uchi was the best school fit for me and all the points you bring up in this video only add to that :DD

[@katetyson7045]

hello fellow army 💜🙃

[@mr.muhammad5605]

@@katetyson7045 heeeeeeeeeeey, are you still on youtube? i have to ask you some questions! :)

[@valeriac2383]

This video could not come at a better time! Thank you:)

[@patrickthaw6797]

I'm just like an international student like you; honestly, my college choices are similar to yours. Even though Yale was my ride or die from elementary school until my early years of high school, UChicago quickly became one of the top universities I wanted to attend after finding out about them. Now I am EDing to UChicago (thanks to your videos) and I honestly am nervous to tackle their supplemental essays but at the same time, I am very eager to submit my application and see if I get in or not. Hopefully, all goes well because I don't think I want to go to other universities 💀💀

[@hannahzhou7537]

Although the choice between Northwestern and UChicago was pretty easy for you, do you think you could do a comparison between UChicago and Northwestern by inviting someone from Northwestern into your video? I know that would be really helpful for me and likely others who are trying to decide between the two. Thanks!

[@yufengxiao3202]

I am 100% resonates with your experience of eliminating schools one by one lol!!! Thanks soooo much!! One of my friend from SHSID recommended your channel to me and I find out that your contents really help a lot! I am currently a rising senior and I am swaying between ED Uchicago / ED Pomona, they both frequently admit kids from my school and they both offer an ED2 option. I think I may check out them more and do my final decision after my PS is finished.

[@alpdurgun7108]

What did you end up doing? This year, I got rejected from ED1 pomona and I highly consider UChicago ED2

[@nn-rp9yg]

Love this video! I really like your insights into each school :)

[@asynchloe]

thank you!! glad you found it useful :)

[@nn-rp9yg]

@@asynchloe You're welcome! I'm currently a rising freshman, so your videos give me an idea of what to look at when selecting colleges and such.

[@scarlettts748]

Thanks Chloe!! Your videos have been rlly rlly helpful!!

[@jasminejones3448]

Thank you soooo much!!! I got in EA to Uchicago and I applied rd to Yale and Columbia (I applied to other places EA and RD but those are the only two that rival Uchicago) and this helped a TON!!!

[@ish01]

how did rd go for you

[@frankfeng936]

Like your videos, especially the ones on your essay and college choice. 👍👍👍

[@SA-sc3kj]

I really liked your clarity. Keep it up.

[@laurenwuzhere4914]

This was so helpful! Thank you so much!!

[@genesisvargas1399]

I loved this video! I'm trying to decide on my college list at the moment. Could you please make a video expanding on why you didn't want to go to a liberal arts college?

[@shibainu9969]

Hi Chloe! I really love your videos! I’m a incoming freshman student and also plan to major in econ. Can you make a video about book recommendations? Books about econ or any book in general you like or find useful. Thank you so much and hope you have a great day!

[@vincentli944]

Great perspectives. Thanks!

[@xiaonixu5611]

ED'd UChicago and ruled out Columbia at the very last moment of deciding which school I should choose to ED, I can't agree more on the points you've given in the video :D Also applying from the East Asia area, Harvard, MIT, and Princeton were the first ones I ruled out. Also why am I watching this during finals week of my freshman year lol

[@asynchloe]

HAHAH Why am I making this during finals week of my second year 😷 -- best of luck we will survive

[@neilthepeel]

Wow you put in a ton of effort, for me I applied to UChicago ED because I didn’t even know if I wanted to go to college. Welp now I’m in the class of 2027 cause I wrote a hell of a strong essay.

[@jeffma1704]

lmaooo i was your exact opposite. Northwestern and UChicago were in my final ED/EA list, I compared the two, liked northwestern more academically and socially, and applied there !!

[@tubeyou89119]

I found it's interesting that you are using one or two other persons your know to be the reference and decide whether to go to a certain schools.

[@claudiadacapo]

can you include oxford for future videos, too? every video on oxford that you made has been suuuper helpful and trust me i would watch every video on university decision in Europe or England - like... france, switzerlan, and britain. eg. LSE or Oxford etc.

[@Lost_In_LA]

Amherst College would not have any shortage of resources. Besides having a large endowment it is part of a five college consortium anchored by UMass. So, you get all the benefits of a small college and access to a large public research institution.

[@leonawang9379]

Hi Chloe! The video is especially helpful for juniors!! How did you reach out to current students/alumni?

[@sudeshnabanerjee1166]

It was helpful now that I am in the process of selecting colleges.

[@andrewveghte5027]

You should have considered Cornell - it doesn’t fit your city criteria but it excels at having 4 seasons and a choice of pre-business or economics and liberal arts.

[@fcsolis]

Very helpful video. My son wants to study economics, too. He's in 9th grade.

[@riedelfamily9032]

That's an awful lot of thought put in! Most of your future success is probably going to depend more on your own talent than what particular school you went to. The companies that recruit from these schools are mainly interested in if you competed against the best students and you excelled. Ever since the 80"s, when the US baby boomer generation's kids got past college age, the US birthrate declined - generally - and colleges have had to scramble for customers overseas. In order to please them, for example,WesCiv class requirements were eliminated.(Yale recently turned down $20 mil from a donor to fund the class). A professor told me Georgetown -against the will of their students - refused to put up crosses in the classrooms(normal in a Catholic school) so as not to offend some wealthy (let's just say non-Catholic)donors. I understand your reason for not wanting to attend schools like Duke and Georgetown, but the admissions departments(hopefully the students, too) would actually appreciate having more students like you. On the negative side, international students, until recently, were expected to foot the bill themselves.

[@alexanderhack6248]

Great video!

[@MitchellZia]

go UChicago!! Starting classes in a few weeks!!

[@user-dz3uh7pw2t]

I am so curious that which Shanghai IB high school you were in, since I am also a students study in Shanghai IB school but I never notice a high school which is good as you described. (may sound aggressive but actually really not, I love your videos!!!!)

[@ian5804]

Damn this was a lot more structure and thought than I put into my apps this year. I, unlike you, ignored logic and reason and threw away the opportunity to ED Cornell because I genuinely thought I had a shot at MIT. It all worked out in the end though, I got into Northwestern RD. Now I’m legally obligated to disagree with you about your UC vs NU comparison

[@jessicamassey6663]

columbia used to be my dream school, but you're making me reconsider LMFAO thx!

[@camillamkhan]

Noooooo it’s honestly so great! And I disagree with her commentary on Econ majors as a Financial Econ major myself. But I totally understand why she chose uchicago based off of her preferences.

[@emmafan754]

thanks very much for the info!

[@shravanivak8898]

Most of the Econ departments of the IVY unis are famous for their PhD programmes than undergrad!

[@RaNdOmPlAyS]

Omfg i'd love it you'd do the same with uk unis.

[@abdulhamidalfani]

I can't stop smiling altho I feel envy 😂

[@NotJamie]

Thanks for making this video! I'm about to be a senior and have been stressing out where to apply early decision. I'm between UChicago, UPenn (Wharton), and Harvard. Also interested in other schools like Northwestern, Columbia, Vanderbilt, etc. The thing is I've only visited UChicago, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt (and by far liked UChicago the best) and I'm not sure if I should ED to a school I've never visited before... I'm scared of how much math is involved in the UChicago business econ major (any input on that?) I'm wondering if ED applicants will be down this year since a lot of people haven't been able to go on visits.

[@asynchloe]

for business econ there isn't really much math! usually for econ majors the requirement is a series of calc (core) + another series of mathematical modelling and stats stuff, but i think for the business econ major one don't need the latter one! If you did AP Calc BC, you should be perfectly fine with the math here! ☻

[@jefftok7293]

Not sure how I got here....PhD '96 from U-Chicago and now in Stanford. You will long to be embraced by CA weather when it's winter/summer in Chicago. Trust me :)

[@Juanito212]

Ty for sharing, very thoughtful. I wish my kids were so thorough. fyi Columbia is not in Harlem.

[@gilbydog7350]

You made the right decision to ED to University of Chicago. I would have thought New York University would have been a consideration for you as well. UPenn does sound like it would have suited you as well. But comparing EDing to University of Chicago vs EDing to Columbia you had better chances of getting into University of Chicago, and it's a very good school. Although MIT was your dream school as a middle schooler it honestly doesn't sound like it would have suited you as much, although you might have had very strong Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Biology results at school.

[@dieulinhhoang1561]

Where did you find the international students' us college admission stats?

[@theoshouse8215]

I'm not even from Baltimore, but how does Johns Hopkins not fill the city criterion? Baltimore's a giant, interesting, cosmopolitan city-much more so than Amherst, anyway.

[@KBS_ar]

What is the list of all the universities you got accepted to? One thing I share with you is that the US universities is way better than the best universities in the UK or Singapore .. I applied to US, UK universities and NUS but I sincerely want to have an American education, I think they are on the cutting edge while the rest are just trying to catch up with them. I hate when I am taught outdated ideas and concepts.

[@johnwig285]

Better than UK? Yes. Better than Singapore? Hmm not really. I went on an exchange program to SMU. i learnt that SG colleges dont waste their whole freshman yr studying general, intro or refresher subjects like chemistry, they dive straight into the field. Their curriculum, classroom experience and research output is solid. The difference is just marketing and branding which makes colleges in Singapore seem inferior. Was a good trip.

[@carrot5427]

What necklace are you wearing? It looks super cool!

[@asynchloe]

it's a small gold chain i got online in China!! ☻

[@bosssloth7233]

Wait. Does this mean she got into all these schools and chose UChicago?? Or is she talking about how she decided to apply to certain schools??

[@yashvardhansharma4224]

What about Dartmouth College? That should tick almost all of your criterias.

[@asynchloe]

hahah I think I mentioned that I eliminated it bc of my 4 things I wanted in a school #2 (near or in a city!) though Dartmouth is quite lovely and I did end up writing an application to it ☻

[@nerd513]

Hey Chloe, my daughter is an incoming first year at UChicago. If y'all became friends that would be awesome :) Love your videos

[@asynchloe]

awh thank you so much!! look forward to meeting her at some point :)

[@gisuekharrati3569]

My son is incoming freshman. Public policy. Thanks for your videos. They are helpful.

[@malianiuatoa7456]

Yeah, I don’t enjoy California weather either. Lol. I’ve lived here my whole life.

[@foggycraw6758]

Is there a reason you didn't apply to NYU?

[@wensanyin6734]

You have presented nice reasoning throughout, but being someone who's been to both and a current Northwestern student, I think your were wrong to claim that UChicago is better than Northwestern.

[@johnwig285]

It'll be great if u can add on and tell us why

[@fai-choiwu818]

My daughter, Jennifer, attended the U. of Chicago during the 1993 school year. She went as a Dolan Scholar with a full ride plus stipend. She did not possess the level of sophistication regarding school choices as you do (obviously I was to blame). She would have benefited from your wisdom if she were a few years younger. Best wishes,

[@zohargrinvald7200]

choosing between Yale (deferred SCEA :/) and EDII to UChicago ahhhhhhh

[@user-fq5wo6pk4c]

Northwestern vs U Chicago: you just said you compared them and concluded U Chicago was better. It would be helpful to know why

[@sherlyn.a]

Like comparing Columbia vs NYU

[@anithaselvaraj7917]

Did u do ED1 or ED2. Thanks

[@idoru6441]

idk what i expected in this video but it just made me realize that i’m poor

[@johnwig285]

That's why there's full ride and partial scholarships available

[@tirekicking]

undergrad Uchicago is nice. Business school? Uchicago is the way to go

[@coldnoodles7430]

idk but the thumbnail seems to look like jungkook's female version during dope era.

[@atanumandal3586]

It's the other way round... *The College Chose You!* You are simply joining them... 😆 *"They can't reject your application if you don't apply"* - That is the only thing you can do from your side about choosing a College!

[@user-ov3dq4vv8d]

cool i saw till it ended

[@jovanal3217]

Omg we have almost all the same schools

[@asynchloe]

HAHAHA fingers crossed!!

[@irfanbhuiyan620]

Very very very useful video but I have to point out that you were surprised at stem focused students....in MIT??? The dream school for all things STEM???? The Massachusetts institute of *technology*????

[@asynchloe]

FAIR but also highkey MIT is best at econ which is not (kind of??) a STEM HAHa

[@Mikebuddy2229]

If you're looking at these schools based on you majoring economics, Chicago is a no Brainer. They have more Nobel prize winning economists than any university in the world. In addition, Chicago has the most rigorous curriculum than most of the universities on your list.

[@abdunnoorawsaf4080]

In order that ye may not despair over matters that pass you by, nor exult over favours bestowed upon you. For Allah loveth not any vainglorious boaster,- Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children. Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away. But in the Hereafter is a Penalty severe (for the devotees of wrong). And Forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the devotees of Allah). And what is the life of this world, but goods and chattels of deception?

[@SimonCU]

You should have gone to Boston for college. It's the best place to study.

[@jjnojam886]

me EDing a school simply becuase i like the campus: 👁👄👁

[@junkurera1651]

MIT is early action

[@ebenezerlobe]

👀

[@daryllman]

Wow you are singaporean? Hi five!

[@johnwig285]

Daughter of Huawei's founder? Meanwhile here I am going to the same school that Andrew Ng attended yet I'm a nobody 😭

[@lillyshannon8970]

BAHHAHAHHAHAH now all I have to do is get in with a 7.3 acceptance rate

[@vi.vianna.l]

Miss girl- 你是上外附中/世外毕业的嘛？

[@valxria3529]

When you said you went to school with the daughter of the founder of Huawei it threw me so off guard 😭

[@asynchloe]

*Sina -- BRUH I WAS SHOCKED

[@user-yg5wc2ho3v]

girl do u debate u sound like u do

[@asynchloe]

I did do debate hehehehe

[@Kanoealoha]

The lack of filler words is so nice.

[@bucketsniper5488]

MIT by far

[@fis673]

Damn i am in love with you,

[@hongyuzhang5631]

wtf？

[@braydenw2786]

Uh

[@briantian802]

Haha, how can you say that international students pay more than others in Yale? It's private school, they charge exactly the same amount tuition/boarding money for anyone regardless where you come from.

[@inhale.exhale.2527]

intellectual narcissism. 😏 did you ping the giveaways?

[@doc27]

Please don’t make an easy connection between Harvard and legacy. You should know better than that.

[@careosdygn6272]

Your so cute

[@a.g.4843]

🤮

[@harsheensahni3927]

Uninspiring bs.

[@susieskor8670]

This is the cutest girl on KZbin I wonder if she's doing ok I haven't seen her in a minute

[@chloecat9095]

So you’re an international student? I don’t really hear too much of an accent

[@asynchloe]

Haha yep! I grew up in Shanghai (went to an intl school - so most ppl didn’t have a strong accent) & I’m bilingual - I think it might be because i did debate and Mun since young and so never really picked up a singlish/Chinese accent from ppl