Core Curriculum Throwdown - Columbia v. Chicago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

Chicago has been in the top 10 as long as the rankings have been around, 9% acceptance rate or not. Don't let your bitterness at your kid's rejection cloud your judgment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

Chicago has been in the top 10 as long as the rankings have been around, 9% acceptance rate or not. Don't let your bitterness at your kid's rejection cloud your judgment.

Ahem. My kid never applied to Chicago but I'm one of the two posters on this thread with a kid at Columbia. Why do people have to be such asshats under the cover of anonymity? I'm going to assume you have nothing to do with U Chicago and U Chicago wants nothing to do with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

Chicago has been in the top 10 as long as the rankings have been around, 9% acceptance rate or not. Don't let your bitterness at your kid's rejection cloud your judgment.

Ahem. My kid never applied to Chicago but I'm one of the two posters on this thread with a kid at Columbia. Why do people have to be such asshats under the cover of anonymity? I'm going to assume you have nothing to do with U Chicago and U Chicago wants nothing to do with you.

I don't have a personal stake in the game other than having a kid who will be applying to several schools, including Columbia and Chicago (so I guess I do have a personal stake!), but I do have a family member who just went through the process this year -- accepted to Columbia (he's there now); rejected by Chicago. Was Columbia "trawling" for applicants, too? Your post is just obnoxious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

Chicago has been in the top 10 as long as the rankings have been around, 9% acceptance rate or not. Don't let your bitterness at your kid's rejection cloud your judgment.

Ahem. My kid never applied to Chicago but I'm one of the two posters on this thread with a kid at Columbia. Why do people have to be such asshats under the cover of anonymity? I'm going to assume you have nothing to do with U Chicago and U Chicago wants nothing to do with you.

I don't have a personal stake in the game other than having a kid who will be applying to several schools, including Columbia and Chicago (so I guess I do have a personal stake!), but I do have a family member who just went through the process this year -- accepted to Columbia (he's there now); rejected by Chicago. Was Columbia "trawling" for applicants, too? Your post is just obnoxious.

Assume that when you say "obnoxious" you're talking to the silly "don't let your bitterness about your kid's rejection cloud your judgment" poster? Anyway, our own DC got tons of marketing stuff from U Chicago and nothing from Columbia. If it matters. Both are great schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Columbia has a little bit of choice - you can take Music vs. Art, for example. But yes, everybody takes Lit Hum.

Most students do the readings, although a few Spark Note them. The core, especially Lit Hum, really seems to be a bonding experience among Columbia kids, and among themselves they'll drop references to the readings. Which they couldn't do if nobody did the readings.

You get a choice now between hum drum and art sleep?

My experience at Columbia was that most did the reading, and that intermediate classes in the humanities are much better for it (because the profs can assume everyone, even those meeting distribution requirements, has read a fair selection of the classics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

Chicago has been in the top 10 as long as the rankings have been around, 9% acceptance rate or not. Don't let your bitterness at your kid's rejection cloud your judgment.

Looks like PP just put the "throw" in "throwdown." Or maybe that was "throw up."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

You clearly don't know much about the University of Chicago (or college applications generally). U of C lowered its acceptance rate by moving from a very intensive individual application to the "common" app, which is the same app used by all of the Ivies and most other so-called "top" schools. Previously, you had to really, really want to go to apply there because the application included numerous Chicago-specific essays (I believe it was the only university so highly ranked that required a separate application for many, many years); overnight, it became as easy to apply as the touch of a "mass mail" button, just like every other university in the top 10. You think mailing a few pamphlets to high school students could boost your app rates that significantly? Anyway, why do you think Columbia's app rates are so high? (And Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.) The only schools that could probably (and I say probably because I'm not sure) maintain their current low acceptance levels without use of the common app are HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

You clearly don't know much about the University of Chicago (or college applications generally). U of C lowered its acceptance rate by moving from a very intensive individual application to the "common" app, which is the same app used by all of the Ivies and most other so-called "top" schools. Previously, you had to really, really want to go to apply there because the application included numerous Chicago-specific essays (I believe it was the only university so highly ranked that required a separate application for many, many years); overnight, it became as easy to apply as the touch of a "mass mail" button, just like every other university in the top 10. You think mailing a few pamphlets to high school students could boost your app rates that significantly? Anyway, why do you think Columbia's app rates are so high? (And Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.) The only schools that could probably (and I say probably because I'm not sure) maintain their current low acceptance levels without use of the common app are HYP.

Was the bolded part really necessary? Let's at least try to be civil, shall we? I hope you people aren't actually affiliated with U Chicago.

I know plenty about college applications. Columbia and U Chicago both use the common app, with supplemental essays, and I also know that Columbia moved to the common app within just a few years. So they are on level playing ground in this respect, and your point about the Common App is irrelevant. They are not on level playing ground in terms of spamming. In any scientific endeavor, you control for what you can control for, then you ask what the difference is. In this case, it's the spamming. That said, U Chicago is a great school, I truly believe that.

How about, in your next response, you refrain from snarking that anybody's children are too dumb to get into either school?

[Anonymous]

PS, snarks about my reading comprehension, which you're probably typing right now, will make you look just as immature as your snarks about our children's college-competitiveness our personal understanding of the college application process. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

You clearly don't know much about the University of Chicago (or college applications generally). U of C lowered its acceptance rate by moving from a very intensive individual application to the "common" app, which is the same app used by all of the Ivies and most other so-called "top" schools. Previously, you had to really, really want to go to apply there because the application included numerous Chicago-specific essays (I believe it was the only university so highly ranked that required a separate application for many, many years); overnight, it became as easy to apply as the touch of a "mass mail" button, just like every other university in the top 10. You think mailing a few pamphlets to high school students could boost your app rates that significantly? Anyway, why do you think Columbia's app rates are so high? (And Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.) The only schools that could probably (and I say probably because I'm not sure) maintain their current low acceptance levels without use of the common app are HYP.

Although Chicago's move to the Common App made it easier to apply, you still have to really, really want to go there. My kids, a current Columbia student and recent grad, also looked at Chicago and that application requires more supplemental essays than almost any other school, including Columbia. Among Chicago's supplementals is its notoriously idiosyncratic "uncommon essay" ( a recent prompt: "How did I get caught?"). Both Chicago and Columbia are great schools for kids who are intellectually curious and adventurous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

You clearly don't know much about the University of Chicago (or college applications generally). U of C lowered its acceptance rate by moving from a very intensive individual application to the "common" app, which is the same app used by all of the Ivies and most other so-called "top" schools. Previously, you had to really, really want to go to apply there because the application included numerous Chicago-specific essays (I believe it was the only university so highly ranked that required a separate application for many, many years); overnight, it became as easy to apply as the touch of a "mass mail" button, just like every other university in the top 10. You think mailing a few pamphlets to high school students could boost your app rates that significantly? Anyway, why do you think Columbia's app rates are so high? (And Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.) The only schools that could probably (and I say probably because I'm not sure) maintain their current low acceptance levels without use of the common app are HYP.

Was the bolded part really necessary? Let's at least try to be civil, shall we? I hope you people aren't actually affiliated with U Chicago.

I know plenty about college applications. Columbia and U Chicago both use the common app, with supplemental essays, and I also know that Columbia moved to the common app within just a few years. So they are on level playing ground in this respect, and your point about the Common App is irrelevant. They are not on level playing ground in terms of spamming. In any scientific endeavor, you control for what you can control for, then you ask what the difference is. In this case, it's the spamming. That said, U Chicago is a great school, I truly believe that.

How about, in your next response, you refrain from snarking that anybody's children are too dumb to get into either school?

Are you not the poster who used the terms "spamming" and "trawling" with respect to the University of Chicago? If so, you lost the civility game in you first post. By the way, Columbia (and others) routinely send promotional materials (spam, according to you) to minority candidates who do well on standardized tests. I guess no school is above trawling....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

You clearly don't know much about the University of Chicago (or college applications generally). U of C lowered its acceptance rate by moving from a very intensive individual application to the "common" app, which is the same app used by all of the Ivies and most other so-called "top" schools. Previously, you had to really, really want to go to apply there because the application included numerous Chicago-specific essays (I believe it was the only university so highly ranked that required a separate application for many, many years); overnight, it became as easy to apply as the touch of a "mass mail" button, just like every other university in the top 10. You think mailing a few pamphlets to high school students could boost your app rates that significantly? Anyway, why do you think Columbia's app rates are so high? (And Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.) The only schools that could probably (and I say probably because I'm not sure) maintain their current low acceptance levels without use of the common app are HYP.

Was the bolded part really necessary? Let's at least try to be civil, shall we? I hope you people aren't actually affiliated with U Chicago.

I know plenty about college applications. Columbia and U Chicago both use the common app, with supplemental essays, and I also know that Columbia moved to the common app within just a few years. So they are on level playing ground in this respect, and your point about the Common App is irrelevant. They are not on level playing ground in terms of spamming. In any scientific endeavor, you control for what you can control for, then you ask what the difference is. In this case, it's the spamming. That said, U Chicago is a great school, I truly believe that.

How about, in your next response, you refrain from snarking that anybody's children are too dumb to get into either school?

Are you not the poster who used the terms "spamming" and "trawling" with respect to the University of Chicago? If so, you lost the civility game in you first post. By the way, Columbia (and others) routinely send promotional materials (spam, according to you) to minority candidates who do well on standardized tests. I guess no school is above trawling....

No, I was not the first person to use the word "spam." You are confusing posters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:University of Chicago is spamming high school students with promotional material. Must be trying to pump up application numbers.

I don't think they need to "pump" their #s. They are ranked #4 on USNWR and had a 9% acceptance rate this past year. Your kid probably won't get in.

How do you think they got to a 9% acceptance rate? Other schools in the USNWR top 10 don't have to spam high schools. You don't see HYP trawling for applicants.

(I think Chicago is a great school for the right kid. But your snark made me go there....)

You clearly don't know much about the University of Chicago (or college applications generally). U of C lowered its acceptance rate by moving from a very intensive individual application to the "common" app, which is the same app used by all of the Ivies and most other so-called "top" schools. Previously, you had to really, really want to go to apply there because the application included numerous Chicago-specific essays (I believe it was the only university so highly ranked that required a separate application for many, many years); overnight, it became as easy to apply as the touch of a "mass mail" button, just like every other university in the top 10. You think mailing a few pamphlets to high school students could boost your app rates that significantly? Anyway, why do you think Columbia's app rates are so high? (And Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, etc.) The only schools that could probably (and I say probably because I'm not sure) maintain their current low acceptance levels without use of the common app are HYP.

MIT and georgetown don't use common app and their rates are the lowest its ever been.