12 and counting to U Chicago this year from Sidwell

[Anonymous]

Agree with pp that life of the mind is dead. People study economics these days to go into quant finance. STEM is exhausted towards software careers and defense if not fully pivoting to finance. Humanities enrollment is plummeting and kids are worried about how to get into Bain if they aren’t bright enough for Two Sigma or IB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

My kid is there. He says there is a big contingent of classic nerds that were drawn to Chicago for that reputation (counts himself among them) and then a big contingent of completely standard smart people who like to party as much as students at any other college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

+1

Our public doesn’t even have that many to a single state university ! It’s weird to have so many seniors choosing the same school. Are some younger siblings maybe ? SFS 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

Sidwell has never sent this many kids to UChicago before. This year is an outlier. I think it just happens that the class of 2026 is exceptionally competitive and plays their cards right in college admissions. This year there still have been rejections in ED rounds, but the total is 12, not 15. I believe next year will be very different and this level of success should not become the norm from Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

Sidwell has never sent this many kids to UChicago before. This year is an outlier. I think it just happens that the class of 2026 is exceptionally competitive and plays their cards right in college admissions. This year there still have been rejections in ED rounds, but the total is 12, not 15. I believe next year will be very different and this level of success should not become the norm from Sidwell.

Indeed. STA has very few admits this year, unlike previous years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's the synergy of private school CCOs wanting students settled satisfactorily ASAP, UChicago having ED0 and ED2, and a sort of general UMC agreement that Chicago is a "good" school. Combine that with an unpredictable admissions environment and fear of bad outcomes in RD. Kids apply SCEA/REA/ED, get deferred or rejected, and then jump to Chicago as the universal rescue plan, encouraged by counselors.

But my own kid who liked Chicago during his visit became very hesitant about it because he knew so many private school and other affluent but not super intellectual kids going. I think this kind of thing can backfire in the longer term, because it erodes the qualities that originally attracted everyone to the school. Long term kids don't want to go to a school that is every wealthy kid's backup plan.

Sorry, my last sentence sounded harsh and not what I meant - it's a great school. I mean more like it's not great to feel like you and your classmates are choosing out of risk aversion.

You didn’t help your with your explanation. Keep feeling superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

Sidwell has never sent this many kids to UChicago before. This year is an outlier. I think it just happens that the class of 2026 is exceptionally competitive and plays their cards right in college admissions. This year there still have been rejections in ED rounds, but the total is 12, not 15. I believe next year will be very different and this level of success should not become the norm from Sidwell.

Some colleges wouldn’t even accept 12 students from the same school is the point. Uchicago is pretty unique in how much they love private school students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

Sidwell has never sent this many kids to UChicago before. This year is an outlier. I think it just happens that the class of 2026 is exceptionally competitive and plays their cards right in college admissions. This year there still have been rejections in ED rounds, but the total is 12, not 15. I believe next year will be very different and this level of success should not become the norm from Sidwell.

Do not agree. This year is not a fluke. Look at Horace Mann, look at Harvard Westlake college matriculations. It’s pay to play at Chicago now which is a shame because when Chicago had crazy high acceptance rates, it really did draw brilliant and yes, what you would call quirky kids from both public and private schools. Now Chicago is private school, college edition. That is what is behind the original question not that people are jealous.

[Anonymous]

Who cares. Let them do what they want to do. It’s clearly working for them.

Get your panties unbunched.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is taking a lot of unhooked kids from top private schools across the country. It’s not just a Sidwell phenomenon, it’s probably just that students there realized it was realistic and applied ED this year. It’s the most common school for Exeter & usually Andover graduating classes nowadays too.

But Chicago doesn’t seem to be taking a lot of unhooked kids from other DMV privates. Why is that?

You don’t know that.

[Anonymous]

I attended the information session when a U Chicago rep came to my high school 35 years ago. I’m sad to see it sell out to the forces of the admissions world and lose that quirky intellectual vibe. The people I knew who went there back then loved learning for the sake of learning and were comfortable with the nerd label.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is taking a lot of unhooked kids from top private schools across the country. It’s not just a Sidwell phenomenon, it’s probably just that students there realized it was realistic and applied ED this year. It’s the most common school for Exeter & usually Andover graduating classes nowadays too.

But Chicago doesn’t seem to be taking a lot of unhooked kids from other DMV privates. Why is that?

You don’t know that.

One could look through decision pages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

Sidwell has never sent this many kids to UChicago before. This year is an outlier. I think it just happens that the class of 2026 is exceptionally competitive and plays their cards right in college admissions. This year there still have been rejections in ED rounds, but the total is 12, not 15. I believe next year will be very different and this level of success should not become the norm from Sidwell.

Do not agree. This year is not a fluke. Look at Horace Mann, look at Harvard Westlake college matriculations. It’s pay to play at Chicago now which is a shame because when Chicago had crazy high acceptance rates, it really did draw brilliant and yes, what you would call quirky kids from both public and private schools. Now Chicago is private school, college edition. That is what is behind the original question not that people are jealous.

PP. It is indeed a fluke. Comparing Horace Mann or HW to Sidwell is apples to oranges - completely different student bodies and politics. I’m a Sidwell parent: typically there are a ton of kids rejected in ED2. That didn’t really happen this year - 2026 marked a new high of ED2 admits.

And, how do you know the kids coming from Sidwell aren’t brilliant or quirky? A ton of people on this thread, including you, are making assumptions about kids you have never met. This is partially why I have stopped coming to DCUM frequently, as many people desire to directly or indirectly insult kids for simply having good college results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago has changed a lot in recent years. It used to be a liberal arts nerd school. It was a place for "intellectuals" for lack of a better word. And they took super smart students from all over, including public schools in big cities and small towns. You'd meet a Chicago grad in the faculty lounge or a think tank.

Nowadays Chicago is like Sidwell Friends goes to college. Standard smart kids with privilege and money. You're more likely to meet a Chicago grad at the country club today rather than a conference focused on history or economics. It's a change.

Not sure it's a good change. We need more nerd schools, not less.

The fly in the ointment is that the classic "nerd schools" are not flourishing. Life of the mind is a hard sell in today's economy.

Top 20 schools need more standard smart kids. They are currently filled with pointy, specialized kids that lack the social skills you see with standard smart kids. Have toured any of these schools in the last 3 years??

yes especially seems true of harvard and the specific type of students who have been admitted from our school past 5 years. very smart, pointy and socially odd. intellectually gifted kids but not socially gifted. I wonder what the peer group feels like if you are a standard strong kid at harvard these days.

Agree. But I am also wondering what UChicago is like socially. I’ve never heard of a private sending so many to a single school, year after year. Our private has a healthy distribution amongst the ivies and T10. 15 matriculants makes no sense and would give me pause as a parent.

Sidwell has never sent this many kids to UChicago before. This year is an outlier. I think it just happens that the class of 2026 is exceptionally competitive and plays their cards right in college admissions. This year there still have been rejections in ED rounds, but the total is 12, not 15. I believe next year will be very different and this level of success should not become the norm from Sidwell.

The parent of a Sidwell junior posted that the total thus far was actually 15.