What kind of kids go to University of Chicago now?
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Anonymous
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Years and years ago when I was there as a grad student, the undergrads were brilliant and quirky, and didn’t seem Uber wealthy or private school types.
I have the feeling that’s changed now. The College is much larger, and there seems to be a lot of emphasis on ED, which means wealth to me. I also hear of kids attending who just would NEVER have chosen Chicago back in the day- they are normal and smart but not brilliant, well rounded etc. Does someone on here know OLD Chicago and NEW Chicago? Has it changed? Is it still a good, friendly, dorky place, life of the mind? It is it like lots of other schools now? Thanks in advance. |
Anonymous
| No idea, but my kid gets almost a DAILY mailing from them. |
Anonymous
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Quirky, smart, leftist, non-athletic, well-off financially, lots from Northeast, enjoy the challenge of rigorous academics.
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Anonymous
| I'm an alumnus. We talk about it, we'll tell you that it's harder to get in, but that the new kids are much more Harvard types (this is meant derogatorily) not the interestingly intelligent and quirky types we were. Alumni also would have told you that when I was there, and probably 20 years before that, so take it with a grain of salt. |
Anonymous
| Private school kids |
Anonymous
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The two "top" local private schools are sending a lot of kids to Chicago these days when 20 years ago it'd have been one or two every other year.
I do agree that Chicago is deliberately going after the bright affluent kids who don't make cut at Penn or Brown or Yale. |
Anonymous
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Heavily private/prep school kids. They actually recruit a fair amount and ED is huge.
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Anonymous
Sort of this... but not really. 12% from New England. 35% if you consider Virginia, Maryland and PA as Northeast. 70% high school varsity athletes (but realistically 0% competitive athletes) And their most famous program (Economics) is the definition of conservative. So I don't know if your average student there is a leftist? But quirky, smart, and not afraid to grind does sound right to me. |
Anonymous
FWIW, know a kid who attended school with my DCs and is bright, quirky, super hardworking, and affluent. Wanted his dad's Ivy, but he decided that was too much of a long shot based on the other DCs applying in their class, three who were also legacy, so bet on Chicago. REJECTED ED. I still can't figure out how that happened. This is a kid who would thrive at Caltech, Chicago, MIT, etc. Ended up in RD at his dad's Ivy. Still think Chicago made a mistake. |
Anonymous
TBH, nearly all would make the cut but they would lose the admissions lottery. |
Anonymous
| If I remember this right the application asked for each parent's alma matter? Is it possible they saw the father's Ivy (and legacy status) and made that part of their math? I wonder about that. Is that a thing? |
Anonymous
Thanks. Do you have a kid there? I have what I think of as a traditional U of C kid- really bright and quirky (spikey in his interests, in the current parlance). I don’t think of him as an Ivy kid, all smooth edges and well socialized and wealthy. Going to apply to MIT (CalTech is too far) but I like the idea of the old Chicago for him. But maybe it doesn’t exist anymore. |
Anonymous
Same here. It was never on my DD’s radar (thank god because she doesn’t have the stats necessary to get in). But we get so much mail from them I’m starting to get mildly annoyed at all the wasted paper. |
Anonymous
| I think Chicago bases a lot on where you go to high school. They seems to really love our high school (selective nyc school). Big difference btw kids at our school and similar kids at similar nearby high schools. |
Anonymous
Same |