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

[Anonymous]

Different types of schools. Chicago is 4th in the world among universities for number of affiliated Nobel Prize winners, and has had 23 since 2000. 32 graduates have received the Nobel Prize. Chicago is ranked 10th in the World in the Times Higher Education ranking.

UVA has never had a graduate win a Nobel (Woodrow Wilson did, but he was only at the law school for a semester). I think no faculty member has won while they were associated with UVA. UVA ranks 107th in the World in the Times Higher Education rankings.

That said, if you look at ROI rankings (ones that adjust for differences in the mix of majors), there isn't much difference between them. https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/college-rankings/#interactive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Chicago has always been a home for intellectual young people and it’s always produced top scholars.

[Anonymous]

Going solely off business and professional reputation, University of Chicago is more "portable degree" than UVA nationally and especially internationally. Somebody from a place like Singapore would have to blink twice when they hear UVA but University of Chicago is pretty renowned. But it all depends on your child's life priorities. Regardless, it's a good position to be in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going solely off business and professional reputation, University of Chicago is more "portable degree" than UVA nationally and especially internationally. Somebody from a place like Singapore would have to blink twice when they hear UVA but University of Chicago is pretty renowned. But it all depends on your child's life priorities. Regardless, it's a good position to be in.

Do you think a graduate degreee/school would trump the reputation of undergrad internationally?

[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.

Disagree there. Even in-state tuition is super pricy compared to say Florida where it is $4500-6000.

OOS kids aren't getting much aid. They don't meet anywhere near close to EFC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going solely off business and professional reputation, University of Chicago is more "portable degree" than UVA nationally and especially internationally. Somebody from a place like Singapore would have to blink twice when they hear UVA but University of Chicago is pretty renowned. But it all depends on your child's life priorities. Regardless, it's a good position to be in.

Do you think a graduate degreee/school would trump the reputation of undergrad internationally?

I think a grad degree trumps undergrad everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Chicago has always been a home for intellectual young people and it’s always produced top scholars.

Perhaps, but undergraduate program was in hibernation for quite a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going solely off business and professional reputation, University of Chicago is more "portable degree" than UVA nationally and especially internationally. Somebody from a place like Singapore would have to blink twice when they hear UVA but University of Chicago is pretty renowned. But it all depends on your child's life priorities. Regardless, it's a good position to be in.

Do you think a graduate degreee/school would trump the reputation of undergrad internationally?

I think a grad degree trumps undergrad everywhere.

This depends. There are some master's degrees from top institutions that still have a slight reputation as "cash cows" with lesser admissions requirement than undergrad programs. But UVA and Chicago both indicate strong undergrad prep, so I don't think it matters here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Going solely off business and professional reputation, University of Chicago is more "portable degree" than UVA nationally and especially internationally. Somebody from a place like Singapore would have to blink twice when they hear UVA but University of Chicago is pretty renowned. But it all depends on your child's life priorities. Regardless, it's a good position to be in.

Do you think a graduate degreee/school would trump the reputation of undergrad internationally?

I think a grad degree trumps undergrad everywhere.

This depends. There are some master's degrees from top institutions that still have a slight reputation as "cash cows" with lesser admissions requirement than undergrad programs. But UVA and Chicago both indicate strong undergrad prep, so I don't think it matters here.

If you go to Beaumont Tech and then Harvard Law, Harvard Law is going to trump. If you go to Yale and then pick up a masters in a specific area while working from a nearby university, Yale will still trump.

[Anonymous]

I think a grad degree trumps undergrad everywhere.

This depends. There are some master's degrees from top institutions that still have a slight reputation as "cash cows" with lesser admissions requirement than undergrad programs. But UVA and Chicago both indicate strong undergrad prep, so I don't think it matters here.

If you go to Beaumont Tech and then Harvard Law, Harvard Law is going to trump. If you go to Yale and then pick up a masters in a specific area while working from a nearby university, Yale will still trump.

Exactly. There's a surprising number of graduate students at GMU for instance that have Ivy or other elite undergrad backgrounds--it's because it's a flexible grad program for people working in the DC area who want to pick up a master's degree in IT, public policy, research methods whatever to specialize for their work (nothing against the quality of GMU--I think it's a fine school, but i think people are going to notice more the Yale undergrad in that case). The DC area attracts the graduates with elite backgrounds, GMU benefits by proximity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Going solely off business and professional reputation, University of Chicago is more "portable degree" than UVA nationally and especially internationally. Somebody from a place like Singapore would have to blink twice when they hear UVA but University of Chicago is pretty renowned. But it all depends on your child's life priorities. Regardless, it's a good position to be in.

What random foreign people think in freaking Singapore is paramount, of course.

Most kids are normal, they’re not destined to become international business execs or state dept honchos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Disagree there. Even in-state tuition is super pricy compared to say Florida where it is $4500-6000.

OOS kids aren't getting much aid. They don't meet anywhere near close to EFC.

Who wants to go to Florida? In-state Virginia is a fantastic deal compared to $75K a year for most privates. I thank God every day for the Virginia universities. All three went. when our last started at UVA tuition was only $16,000 a year. The delta with the privates was more than $45,000. UVA takes in students from 153 countries and all 50 states. No one at prestigious, top flight schools are getting any merit aid anymore. The only merit aid my DD was offered was from schools you've never even heard of. You don't even say what kind of aid. I think you are the mother who complained last year about UVA not meeting EFC but unfortunately for you cross posted on collegeconfidential about what was your true financial situation. State schools have a different mission than privates which many people seem to forget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Chicago has always been a home for intellectual young people and it’s always produced top scholars.

Perhaps, but undergraduate program was in hibernation for quite a while.

This is quite true. Recently Chicago has been pulling out all the stops, as some other privates are doing, to climb the USN&WR rankings - hence ED1 and ED2 to up yield numbers. The undergrad program was moribund for some time. DS was a double legacy but we saw no point in applying due to the cold, the severity of the program, the "where fun goes to die" motto. She's done very well at UVA and may apply there for Law in the future. It's a great school but only for the most committed intellectual types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Chicago has always been a home for intellectual young people and it’s always produced top scholars.

Perhaps, but undergraduate program was in hibernation for quite a while.

This is quite true. Recently Chicago has been pulling out all the stops, as some other privates are doing, to climb the USN&WR rankings - hence ED1 and ED2 to up yield numbers. The undergrad program was moribund for some time. DS was a double legacy but we saw no point in applying due to the cold, the severity of the program, the "where fun goes to die" motto. She's done very well at UVA and may apply there for Law in the future. It's a great school but only for the most committed intellectual types.

My kid loves it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Disagree there. Even in-state tuition is super pricy compared to say Florida where it is $4500-6000.

OOS kids aren't getting much aid. They don't meet anywhere near close to EFC.

Who wants to go to Florida? In-state Virginia is a fantastic deal compared to $75K a year for most privates. I thank God every day for the Virginia universities. All three went. when our last started at UVA tuition was only $16,000 a year. The delta with the privates was more than $45,000. UVA takes in students from 153 countries and all 50 states. No one at prestigious, top flight schools are getting any merit aid anymore. The only merit aid my DD was offered was from schools you've never even heard of. You don't even say what kind of aid. I think you are the mother who complained last year about UVA not meeting EFC but unfortunately for you cross posted on collegeconfidential about what was your true financial situation. State schools have a different mission than privates which many people seem to forget.

Almost forgot what forum I was reading ...But my DD gets some $$ from Chicago. They do pledge to meet the financial need of each admitted family.
So, not merit aid, but aid nonetheless (we are middle class).