UChicago had above 50% acceptance rate in the 90s. In 2005 the acceptance rate was 40%. |
This is what I meant. It was always a good school but nothing exceptional. It was always known for its graduate Economics program. What changed to make it so much more selective? Is it just branding or were there structural changes? Obviously they attract a higher level of student now due to its ranking. |
| If you actually got accepted by an Ivy, I’m not sure why you would turn it down for Chicago. I wouldn’t. You can find an intellectual group anywhere. |
| Isn't it where fun goes to die? |
| It was still ranked #10 or so in the early 1990s despite your claimed high acceptance rate. In any event, maybe all that marketing results in more applications, which makes it look more selective. Currently like 7% acceptance rate. Is it because HS seniors are applying to multiple times more colleges than in the past? Is this supposed to justify the $80k price tag? |
Actually, when I attended, it was where hell freezes over. No seriously, I still have the T shirt with the school seal, with the phoenix standing on ice cubes and this phrase on it. |
Actually, when I attended, it was where hell freezes over. No seriously, I still have the T shirt with the school seal, with the phoenix standing on ice cubes and this phrase on it. |
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/education/edlife/guidance29.html fun fact is UChicago was called a "safety school" for Upenn by the New York Times back in 2007. |
Just that more kids are applying to college nowadays, plus the common app. Chicago used to have an "uncommon" app like Georgetown, which probably accounted for the lower number of applicants. |
When I was considering colleges (late 80s), I didn't apply to UChicago because the application had four essays. One really had to want to go there to write four essays. |
Note the lack of follow up. The PP was another misleading and defensive UChicago parent whose kid got rejected from all the Ivies. She personally probably visited Hyde Park twice and now she's an expert.
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God you’re dense. It became more selective because they started accepting the Common App. The acceptance rate has *nothing* to do with the quality of the school, nor are they attracting a higher level of student now. Even before they accepted the Common App, they were ranked something like #15. |
Much like Penn. |
That was their entire goal. They wanted kids coming to them. I was accepted in 2004; my sister was accepted in 2006. She went, but I didn’t. In both cases, kids in our respective high schools with the same stats as us (or in some cases better stats) got rejected from UChicago because UChicago didn’t feel they were a good fit. Now that they started accepting the Common App, they’re not the quirky, off-beat place they used to be. |
Or to be blunt, kids from upper-middle-income families who have high grades but without the hooks that would otherwise have gotten them into the ivies (legacy, athletics, URM, children of big donors, exceptional talent in a certain area, etc.) Chicago does that to a certain extent but not as much as the ivies. DC graduated from STA and is now at UChicago and just about everyone who got accepted into an ivy fell into one of these aforementioned categories and the quirky, high-performing but non-athletic kids usually ended up at Chicago (5-10 years back they would have easily gotten into the ivies). |