I think my U of Chicago bound DD just got off Brown's waiting list. Any debate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Brown and loves it. My nephew just finished first year at Chicago and will be taking a year off and applying to transfer elsewhere -- he's a bright, intellectually curious and hard-working kid who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation.

He sounds lazy

We’ve done this thread before and it got deleted (at the aunt/uncle’s request, I assume). Can we not do it again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless you’re truly obsessed with Econ I can’t think of one reason why a teen would choose Chicago. Please spare me the US news ranking. They put Chicago over Stanford for Christ’s sake!

That comment just demonstrates how superficial your knowledge of UChicago is.

My kid’s a scientist and UChicago has been amazing. Lots of mentorship, funding, great classmates, emphasis on collaboration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Brown and loves it. My nephew just finished first year at Chicago and will be taking a year off and applying to transfer elsewhere -- he's a bright, intellectually curious and hard-working kid who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation.

This is sort of Chicago's reputation. I think it's a great school, but I had friends who were really frustrated by what they felt was intellectual pissing contests -- a lot of very aggressive students (mostly males) who felt like intellectual debate was to show off and put others down. I think it's worse in some departments than others. I wouldn't discourage anyone from going there because I think it's a great school and Chicago is awesome, but I wouldn't encourage anyone to go there that wasn't really comfortable with that environment. If your daughter really wants Brown instead of Chicago, let her go to Brown.

[Anonymous]

"The days of applying based on "fit" are long gone in an age of single digit acceptance rates. Smart kids apply to 6-12 of their favorite in the top 20 and thank heavens if they get into 1."

"who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation."

If we went back to applying based on "fit", we would see less of these problems. The death of the double degree would also help.

There is a quote floating around the web that goes, "At my convocation, the dean made a point (paraphrasing): "We'll give you a lot of work here, more than you can handle. Part of your education is learning what you can ignore." So if you know what you want and what you are capable of, you'll be fine."

I didn't go to Chicago but I can tell you the most important thing I relearn every so often is that you have to figure out what to ignore in order to be able to do anything at a high level.

[Anonymous]

My UofC science kid is a daughter who is turned off by grandstanding. There’s the occasional “that kid,” but it’s not the norm. Profs have been great and very supportive (and that has been true both in classes where she was struggling and in classes where she excelled). Cooperation among students has been the norm in her experience — not “combat” or hyper-competitiveness. Basically, with a 6:1 student to faculty ratio, there’s more than enough attention to go around — and the scientists DD’s working with are really clear that their work is inherently collaborative and “plays well with others” is an important attribute for a successful career. Lots of interaction across ranks — both in classes and labs.

[Anonymous]

Have to wonder if this post isn't a troll intended to set off some of the most vociferous subcultures on this forum, including the "Chicago is the best," "Chicago is the worst," and "Brown is full of wacked out liberal snowflakes" advocates.

On the off-chance it's legit, I will report that my kid's experience through 2 years has been great. Grading seems very easy - 4.0 through 4 semesters - but kids are engaged, courses are taught by full professors who are encouraging and accessible, and the open curriculum has been a dream. Yes, there are a lot of privileged kids, and there is a lot of performative liberalism but it doesn't dominate or even really impact day-to-day campus life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My UofC science kid is a daughter who is turned off by grandstanding. There’s the occasional “that kid,” but it’s not the norm. Profs have been great and very supportive (and that has been true both in classes where she was struggling and in classes where she excelled). Cooperation among students has been the norm in her experience — not “combat” or hyper-competitiveness. Basically, with a 6:1 student to faculty ratio, there’s more than enough attention to go around — and the scientists DD’s working with are really clear that their work is inherently collaborative and “plays well with others” is an important attribute for a successful career. Lots of interaction across ranks — both in classes and labs.

Great post.

[Anonymous]

Every Brown alum I’ve ever met is happy and speaks very fondly of their undergrad experience. I’ve met at least a half dozen people who say they were miserable at Chicago. Unless your kid gets off on being sleep deprived, dropping obscure humanities references in conversations and yelling “logical fallacy!” at classmates, go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Nephew went to Brown and is at UChi for PhD. Either will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Everyone I know who went to Brown for undergrad loved it there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Brown and loves it. My nephew just finished first year at Chicago and will be taking a year off and applying to transfer elsewhere -- he's a bright, intellectually curious and hard-working kid who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation.

He sounds lazy

Hmmm . . . "lazy" -- your presumption -- is the opposite of "hard-working" -- my description, based on fact. Try to read more carefully; you'll find it helpful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Brown and loves it. My nephew just finished first year at Chicago and will be taking a year off and applying to transfer elsewhere -- he's a bright, intellectually curious and hard-working kid who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation.

Yikes. This sounds like a really honest appraisal. But isn’t your nephew screwed trying to transfer with, I presume, a low gpa?

He should be fine. He's got a good GPA, actually, and has connected with three students from the class ahead who were all successful transfer applicants. We hope he'll switch to Brown, actually, which has a better applied math program than UofC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Brown and loves it. My nephew just finished first year at Chicago and will be taking a year off and applying to transfer elsewhere -- he's a bright, intellectually curious and hard-working kid who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation.

Yikes. This sounds like a really honest appraisal. But isn’t your nephew screwed trying to transfer with, I presume, a low gpa?

He should be fine. He's got a good GPA, actually, and has connected with three students from the class ahead who were all successful transfer applicants. We hope he'll switch to Brown, actually, which has a better applied math program than UofC.

Why would you assume that someone who wants to transfer has a low GPA? I transferred out of a college with a 4.0 GPA. The college was too greek-focused, and too big for me. I thrived at my second college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Brown and loves it. My nephew just finished first year at Chicago and will be taking a year off and applying to transfer elsewhere -- he's a bright, intellectually curious and hard-working kid who has found Chicago to be filled with too many kids who are either self-consciously quirky or disgruntled b/c they didn't get into HYPS. He likes the Core, but feels many students are engaged in intellectual combat with profs who are bent on grade deflation.

Yikes. This sounds like a really honest appraisal. But isn’t your nephew screwed trying to transfer with, I presume, a low gpa?

He should be fine. He's got a good GPA, actually, and has connected with three students from the class ahead who were all successful transfer applicants. We hope he'll switch to Brown, actually, which has a better applied math program than UofC.

Good for him! How did he meet three other older students that transferred out? Are there that many kids leaving Chicago for Ivies or back-home state colleges?

[Anonymous]

Brown, no question!!

Has Chicago gone up in esteem since the 90s? When I was at a big three they accepted anyone who applied from NCS and STA. No way would anyone have turned down Brown for Chicago.