For senior Isabelle Chong, what started as a fun activity with her dad has turned into a commitment for tennis at the University of Chicago. 

Chong started playing tennis at Midtown with her dad as a fun activity between the two of them. She credits her dad for getting her involved with tennis since he wanted her to do a sport and he really liked tennis.

Chong has been nothing short of a star throughout her career on the Lake Forest Varsity Girls Tennis team, winning back-to-back State championships in doubles during her sophomore and junior years and placing fifth in singles at State as a senior. Now, her impressive career will continue at the Division 3 level at the University of Chicago. 

But as with any other high school athlete, tennis wasn’t the only factor in Chong’s commitment.   

“The plan with me and my parents was to go to the best academic school tennis can get me into and hope that it could set me up for life,” Chong said.

She ultimately chose the University of Chicago due to their combination of “outstanding academics,” and “amazing tennis.” Chong also said being “close to home” was an important factor in her decision. 

Throughout the recruiting process, Chong had to also decide whether she wanted to play tennis at the Division 1 or Division 3 level. 

“I didn’t know if I wanted to walk-on at a Big 10 school or go somewhere more lowkey,” she said. 

In addition, Chong’s options were limited, since many of her top schools required a test score that she didn’t have.

Chong was only talking to two Division 3 schools, but the University of Chicago was better at tennis than half the D1 schools she was getting offers from, such as Boston College, Penn State Santa Clara University, and West Point. She also thought that “going D3 would be easier to handle the rigorous academics.”

“It’s hard because there is no perfect school,” Chong said. “I never thought I was gonna go D3 but I chose academics as my priority and it was the best academic school I had an offer from.”

As for her plans once she gets to the University of Chicago, Chong plans to get help from her future teammates and try her best to seek as much academic help from the school as well.