Few days to decide: U of Virginia or U of Chicago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ds is going to Chicago and this thread is scaring me!

It’s a bunch of over protective moms - some of whom don’t have a kid at Chicago - stressing out. For fun and kicks it appears.
I wouldn’t live my life by it.
My kid loves the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Is private Chicago worth the premium?

I think that Chicago is more for a prodigy who was reading almanacs, dictionaries and encyclopedias at some point. For that kid, going to Chicago might be the only chance to be around similar people. Paying for Chicago for that kid, if possible, is worth it, because going there may be the kid’s only chance to learn how to talk in situations in which dumbing down is not necessary. Going to a place like Chicago or Cal Tech is important to that’s kid development.

Going to Chicago might also be good for normal bright kids who want to go into research.

UVA is probably better for most bright kids who aren’t sure they want to become researchers.

This post describes my humanities child and my exact concerns and thoughts. That said, DC also has trouble with a pressure cooker environment. Someone here described the U of C that way. Do others agree? I know it can be for a number of majors but is it necessarily stressful for all kids. DC is the hyperintellectual/high verbal ability but disorganized/absent-minded professor type.

The problem is folks here are not consistent. If the quarter system is an issue then every school with a quarter system becomes an issue. Stanford, Northwestern, Dartmouth, and many many more. Clearly the quarter system is a red herring. It is used against some schools but I am sure people will crawl thru shit to get their kids into Stanford. So what is it that makes Chicago stand out? Well it is one of the few schools left in the elite list that actually expects you to be a student and actually study. It is definitely not a "Grade deflated school". That is laughable, but it is also not a "Grade inflated school". If you go there and decide to goof off, you are going to make bad grades. If you don't do your assignments or reading or just try to skate by, you are going to get bad grades. If you are going to binge drink (and trust me, you are do that at Chicago, people you tell you, you can't are clueless about how the school has changed in the last 10 years) and go off the rails, your grade is going to suffer. But if you work conscientiously, you will do fine. The problem is, most people nowadays think work conscientiously is "being a grind". This is college people, not a vacation. You are supposed to work and gain knowledge.

So it all depends on your philosophy. If you want your kid to get a real education, where teachers don't hand out A's like candy and do justice to the "astronomical tuition" that any private college charges, then Chicago may be right for you. But if you want your kid to just get a branded degree, don't care or want them to actually expend effort in learning the material, then don't send them here. They will be miserable. BTW, I don't think the school gives a rat's ass. They are finding enough of the kids they want and don't care about others. With a 5.9% admit rate, they don't have to compromise on the kids they take. In fact, I think they are pretty good at cherry picking the kids that actually are not skaters.

Hyperintellectual kids often don’t need whip-cracking to learn. And, in fact, fear of the lash may get in the way of them doing their best work/learning
as much as they can. There’s a difference between kids who would binge-drink and those who would binge-read if they weren’t under constant pressure to perform.

And, no, you don’t have to think quarter system is bad everywhere to believe that it’s a real downside to UChicago.

Binge reading? So, your kid has classwork and reading in certain subjects to do but wants to binge read other stuff and school isn’t supposed to get in the way? Personally it doesn’t sound like any college would be good for that. DC needs their PhD now so that he/she can binge read and study all she wants on her chosen topic . As long as she can then contribute original research to her field she should be set for life.

Is this student special needs? The binge reader kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ds is going to Chicago and this thread is scaring me!

It’s a bunch of over protective moms - some of whom don’t have a kid at Chicago - stressing out. For fun and kicks it appears.
I wouldn’t live my life by it.
My kid loves the school.

+1.

Imagine a group of Chicago moms worried about their kids going to school to Georgetown, with all that crazy murders in DC and Baltimore...

[Anonymous]

You can't go wrong with either school. Both are very reputable but U of Chicago is far more selective and is up there with the top Ivies. Both the University of Chicago and UVA have top, highly ranked law schools (I think the School of Law is the crown jewel of UVA, followed by the School of Architecture, and the Business School) but Chicago's business school (Booth) has a more global reputation (as does the University i general, for that matter).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't go wrong with either school. Both are very reputable but U of Chicago is far more selective and is up there with the top Ivies. Both the University of Chicago and UVA have top, highly ranked law schools (I think the School of Law is the crown jewel of UVA, followed by the School of Architecture, and the Business School) but Chicago's business school (Booth) has a more global reputation (as does the University i general, for that matter).

*in general

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't go wrong with either school. Both are very reputable but U of Chicago is far more selective and is up there with the top Ivies. Both the University of Chicago and UVA have top, highly ranked law schools (I think the School of Law is the crown jewel of UVA, followed by the School of Architecture, and the Business School) but Chicago's business school (Booth) has a more global reputation (as does the University i general, for that matter).

No one really believes Chicago is up there with the top Ivies (HYP) for undergrad. Maybe with Penn.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

[Anonymous]

In any ROI studies, Forbes, USNews, Payscale, Chicago is consistently ranked around with state universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't go wrong with either school. Both are very reputable but U of Chicago is far more selective and is up there with the top Ivies. Both the University of Chicago and UVA have top, highly ranked law schools (I think the School of Law is the crown jewel of UVA, followed by the School of Architecture, and the Business School) but Chicago's business school (Booth) has a more global reputation (as does the University i general, for that matter).

No one really believes Chicago is up there with the top Ivies (HYP) for undergrad. Maybe with Penn.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

Certainly “up there” with Columbiia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't go wrong with either school. Both are very reputable but U of Chicago is far more selective and is up there with the top Ivies. Both the University of Chicago and UVA have top, highly ranked law schools (I think the School of Law is the crown jewel of UVA, followed by the School of Architecture, and the Business School) but Chicago's business school (Booth) has a more global reputation (as does the University i general, for that matter).

No one really believes Chicago is up there with the top Ivies (HYP) for undergrad. Maybe with Penn.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

Chicago is better than the Ivies education wise. No spoiled rich entitled kids paying for grades. No dumb athletes.
It’s a rigorous education for all and I strongly prefer it for my student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In any ROI studies, Forbes, USNews, Payscale, Chicago is consistently ranked around with state universities.

Right. Because the students aren’t all from family money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is private Chicago worth the premium?

Not if you wanted to be an engineer. No engineering at Chicago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oy - PP. you haven’t been to UVA recently. I would venture to say it’s mostly public schools kids ... and probably less than 50% come from wealthy households.

The majority of students at UChicago come from, too (really, all elite colleges are majority public HS) and 42% of students receive financial aid.

[Anonymous]

come from public schools **^

[Anonymous]

College Parchment has it 83% Chicago to 17% UVA for cross-admits. I imagine the number is higher for UVA for in-state vs. OOS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't go wrong with either school. Both are very reputable but U of Chicago is far more selective and is up there with the top Ivies. Both the University of Chicago and UVA have top, highly ranked law schools (I think the School of Law is the crown jewel of UVA, followed by the School of Architecture, and the Business School) but Chicago's business school (Booth) has a more global reputation (as does the University i general, for that matter).

No one really believes Chicago is up there with the top Ivies (HYP) for undergrad. Maybe with Penn.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

Certainly “up there” with Columbiia.

Not all that long ago Chicago had a higher admit rate than UVA and W&M. Someone really pulled the right levers to turn it around and now it is one of the most selective.