Why I decided to study abroad

Hello! My name is Manuela and I am from Montevideo, Uruguay. I studied at a small private high school in my birth city and graduated in 2023. When I was 14 or 15, I became pretty interested in Physics and Astrophysics; however, these topics are not developed, and lack of resources in Uruguay. That’s why, I told myself: I will study abroad.

Why the US? Well, I am just another person who’s been enchanted by the American dream. I’ve seen many movies portraying the wonderful college experience and I’ve been there with my family as well, so even though I considered England for a while, I ended up realizing that the US was the perfect choice for me.

Helpful resources

I was the first student ever in my school to apply to an undergraduate program in another country, so it was not the ideal place where I could find application resources. It’s pretty rare to have Uruguayan students applying abroad and it was while I was looking for information about the SAT, that I found my gate: EducationUSA. It is a counseling and educational institution that is active in roughly 170 countries and helped me to meet my dream. I participated in one of their programs called The Competitive College Club, which chooses approximately 20 outstanding and collaborative Uruguayan students per year and give them free advice throughout the year to prepare applications to American universities.

Why UChicago

There are over 4000 universities in the US, so it took me a while to find the ones that offer generous financial aid packages and Astrophysics as a major. So, after that challenging journey, I ended up with almost 20 universities on my college list, including UChicago.

What made me fall in love with the university? Latin American Phoenix Scholars, the summer program I participated in.

My EducationUSA advisor suggested I apply a week before the deadline, so I decided to submit my application in a rush, a decision that I will never regret because I got in and lived one of the best experiences in my life. I realized UChicago was the fit for me.

Additionally, I did my research and what I liked the most was the core curriculum because it would allow me to dig into a variety of subjects since I have many passions beyond Astrophysics. Moreover, I love the fact that the classes are discussion-based and have a small size, so everyone can ask questions, give their own opinions, and create healthy debates. Finally, I practice ballet, so I was very excited when I found out that UChicago has a student-led ballet club that makes huge performances.

Scores, extracurriculars, and letters of recommendation

I got a GPA of 12 (which is the maximum in Uruguay) and translated it as a 4.0 in the American System. Also, I decided that instead of the TOEFL, I wanted to take the IELTS in which I scored 7.5 (the average score). Regarding the SAT, I was planning to take it; however, I didn’t because I applied for an ED rolling basis between August and September (an opportunity solely offered to the summer program participants).

On the other hand, I think that my best and favorite extracurricular was “Hawking Innovation”, a local organization that is committed to bringing the building of a rocket in Uruguay, a thing that has never been made before in my country. I was in charge of the marketing area, where I controlled the Instagram page and also organized some talks and meetings with people interested in aerospace technology. Even though I was not directly engaged with science there, I wanted to demonstrate to the university that I was also interested in communication and could connect it with my passion for Astrophysics.

My next extracurricular is ballet, which I have practiced for over 12 years, and since it shows commitment and discipline, I was pretty happy to share it. I also mentioned that I give English classes and once traveled to England to learn English; these are small extracurriculars but I believe that they expose my curiosity and love to learning.

Finally, getting my recommendation letters was an entertaining experience. I had to make a Power Point presentation and explain every detail to my two favorite teachers and my school principal. I gave them sample letters and specified what I wanted them to write about me (I think this is crucial to getting good letters of recommendation). It demanded time but I enjoyed it.

Essays

Writing my personal statement was challenging, I started to do it one year before the application process yet it was hard to find a topic to talk about and to truly show myself. Nevertheless, when I started to focus on my UChicago application for the ED rolling basis, I sat down, took it seriously, and started writing whatever came out. To be honest, it was an amazing experience; I remember that the Common App suggested something that if missing would make my application incomplete, and by having that on my mind, I could choose my topic.

I wrote about my best friend passing away a couple of years ago. I tried not to focus on the sad part but instead on how I overcame it, how it shaped who I am right now, and its importance during my teenage years. I had to look for many examples of personal statements treating loss and I would recommend you to do so if you are planning to treat that topic in your essay, a wrong focus could represent a disadvantage in your application.

Then again, the supplemental essays were not easy either. UChicago is characterized by its unique and sometimes complex supplemental essay prompts and honestly, neither of them felt the right fit for me. Therefore, I decided to take the option of writing my prompt and I chose a specific word that I related with my experiences and the culture of my country. Most of the words that mean partner, end up in “mate” such as roommate, teammate, or classmate, so I related that work with the drink “mate”, which is extremely popular here in Uruguay. Due to the resemblance and same spelling, the word “mate” made me able to represent the connections I have with others and my own culture and how I expect to bring that to UChicago as well as getting new connections there. I must admit that it was my favorite essay and one I feel pretty proud of.

Even though writing essays was a challenge, it was also one of my favorite parts of the application.

Financial aid and the hardest part of the application

UChicago does not require international students to complete the CSS profile, so I filled out another form much shorter and simpler. I received my financial decision along with my acceptance letter and I’m beyond happy to have received a full-ride! 

On the other hand, the hardest part of the application for me was first preparing for the IELTS since I didn’t feel I had enough English level some months ago, so I did a virtual course, bought a book, and also practiced with many resources available online; that helped me a lot to improve my score. Secondly, translating all the documents was so tedious and stressful, that I even had to write some letters explaining the Uruguayan grading system that is completely different than the American one. EducationUSA helped to certify and validate all my translated documents.

Until Chicago

I feel pretty eager to attend the university and until then, I’m offering tutoring classes and also focusing on learning new skills, like Phyton coding, that I may have not the time to develop during college. I feel pretty proud of myself, satisfied with the process, and ready to experience the next stage of my life!