UChicago or Princeton? Is UChicago more like a peer to Duke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you talking about? If you think Chicago is a peer to Duke, you clearly don't know either school.

UChicago is tricky is all. Do you believe it's a peer to Yale, as US News currently indicates (both tied at no.3)? Do you think Princeton is no.1? I don't believe either.

Why is Chicago tricky?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe Princeton, Yale, Harvard and Chicago are all peers.

No snark, what makes you say that? I respect the hell out of Chicago but it just seems like it lacks the brandpower, no? If you had to name a college just under PYHC what would they be? Columbia, Duke or Penn?

Are you talking about name recognition as a way of measuring how good a school is? Because that's what it sounds like. Do you think people outside of the US care about Duke? Trust me, the people at Oxford and Cambridge have heard of Chicago. Not Duke.

No, but all things being equal, name recognition or "brand value" could be a deciding factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are you talking about? If you think Chicago is a peer to Duke, you clearly don't know either school.

UChicago is tricky is all. Do you believe it's a peer to Yale, as US News currently indicates (both tied at no.3)? Do you think Princeton is no.1? I don't believe either.

Why is Chicago tricky?

I'm asking myself the same thing. Flyover country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe Princeton, Yale, Harvard and Chicago are all peers.

No snark, what makes you say that? I respect the hell out of Chicago but it just seems like it lacks the brandpower, no? If you had to name a college just under PYHC what would they be? Columbia, Duke or Penn?

Are you talking about name recognition as a way of measuring how good a school is? Because that's what it sounds like. Do you think people outside of the US care about Duke? Trust me, the people at Oxford and Cambridge have heard of Chicago. Not Duke.

No, but all things being equal, name recognition or "brand value" could be a deciding factor.

But the brand is very strong. UChicago has a very highly valued 'brand'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ive attended 2 out of the 3 schools and am married to someone who attended the third.. The bulk of the undergrads have little in common with each other at those 3 schools.

Similar background here (except spouse overlapped with one of my 2 and DC is in a 3rd). 20-30 years ago, I would have agreed with you re the differences among undergrads. But things have really changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, and Chicago are top-tier for me in the sense that which is best comes down to your field and your values/objectives. I get why someone might choose any one of them over all of the others.


+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe Princeton, Yale, Harvard and Chicago are all peers.

No snark, what makes you say that? I respect the hell out of Chicago but it just seems like it lacks the brandpower, no? If you had to name a college just under PYHC what would they be? Columbia, Duke or Penn?

I call either troll or idiot. Chicago is academically spectacular, as are most of the Ivies and several other schools. Asking whether Chicago "lacks the brainpower, no?" would suggest you have no idea what you're asking about. PP, do some homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Harvard, Yale and Stanford are without question better overall than undergrad at UChicago. But is Princeton? I know US News puts Princeton no.1 undergrad but it doesn't feel no.1, to me.

Splitting hairs. It doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Did you get into all of them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe Princeton, Yale, Harvard and Chicago are all peers.

No snark, what makes you say that? I respect the hell out of Chicago but it just seems like it lacks the brandpower, no? If you had to name a college just under PYHC what would they be? Columbia, Duke or Penn?

I call either troll or idiot. Chicago is academically spectacular, as are most of the Ivies and several other schools. Asking whether Chicago "lacks the brainpower, no?" would suggest you have no idea what you're asking about. PP, do some homework.

The PP said nothing about "brainpower."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Harvard, Yale and Stanford are without question better overall than undergrad at UChicago. But is Princeton? I know US News puts Princeton no.1 undergrad but it doesn't feel no.1, to me.

Don't worry, chances are you will never have to choose between the two.

[Anonymous]

While I was an undergrad at Princeton, I had a hard time fitting into the heavy-drinking, pre-professional culture. A dean suggested that I look into transferring to Chicago. I kind of wish that I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I was an undergrad at Princeton, I had a hard time fitting into the heavy-drinking, pre-professional culture. A dean suggested that I look into transferring to Chicago. I kind of wish that I did.

Every Chicago grad I've met has been interesting. Can't say the same about Princeton grads.

[Anonymous]

Is Duke even that great of a college? I remember all the rich white kids I went to school with were weirdly obsessed Duke. But this was in the Midwest, so why did they love Duke so much over say, Northwestern?

[Anonymous]

My DC is a non-stem student at Yale and has met many U of C kids at various activities. For a student into political theory, philosophy, economics and similar fields, Yale and U of C seem very similar. Duke is a different animal -- the athletic emphasis alone is very different.