UChicago Feedback

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people on this board understand that UChicago is ranked third in the country/fourth in the world (easy to check on Google) for producing Nobel prize laureates? As a recently retired HOS, I've always held it in the highest regard. The only drawback I used to joke is that their unofficial motto is: Where fun goes to die.

People here need to get over their very unhealthy Ivy fetish.

I don't think PP has an Ivy fetish, so much as a weird hatred of the University of Chicago that manifests itself in arguing that Chicago isn't on par with the Ivies. The Ivies are just invoked for rhetorical purposes; otherwise, PP likely has no connection with any Ivy. I think most Ivy grads look favorably on Chicago and know quite a few who've sent their own kids there (including the president of Princeton).

[Anonymous]

Few years back my son got into u Chicago and Dartmouth.
Picked u Chicago!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I definitely don’t think of duke or Vanderbilt as being as academically well respected as Chicago.

I’m following this with some interest for my HSer. I have a few friends that went there in the 90s and liked it well enough, but two are the type that are so argumentative that it’s exhausting to converse with them and one switched majors to avoid the cut-throat premed students and the weed-out approach in the bio/chem courses. There’s a lot I’d like about the school but I’m a little cautious based on that small sample size.

Parent of Vandy freshman here from DMV. I don't disagree with the bolded at all, and in fact our son was able to choose from both of these schools and went with Vanderbilt although we all sensed that UC had the better national / international name recognition. We know UC is held in higher esteem than Vandy among academics.

For DS, the comparison of the likely student experience at the two schools was not a close call. Social, weather, food, camaraderie, campus activities, music, sports. Nashville vs. the south side of Chicago. The demeanor of the undergrads he met at both campuses.

I strongly suggest your teen go to UC when school is in full swing and spend a full day there.

NP. We are in town and stopped by the UChicago campus today with our (rising) high school junior, just to check it out for a few min, not ready for formal tours yet. They are setting up for graduation and it's a beautiful day. I was embarrassing my teen by taking pics, which makes me wonder if he liked it - he won't say much about college preferences in general. If he later turns out to be interested, I'd definitely want him to come back for an official tour prior to ED...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most rich kids prefer Vandy, Duke or USC over dodging bullets in blizzards for four years in south side Chicago.

The University of Chicago is for really smart, tweedy, academically minded kids, not kids looking for a school with great tailgate parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is happy to be (among other things and not primarily) a back-up plan for Sidwell/NCS/StA students (and, I assume, those from similar prep schools in other major cities) who struck out @ HYPS. They know the kids can handle the workload, they’re likely to be full pay, and UofC is eager to become more socially elite.

Pretty much. Which isn't dismissive, it's a fine school—certainly superior to all the flagship public degree mills and far more campus brain power than say Vanderbilt—but anyone expecting it to be some lottery ticket or a mega status symbol like the Ivies, Stanford, and Wharton is a deluded imbecile. Nobody gives a darn about UChicago. It's hilarious how easy it is to rattle an average UChicago parent by pretending you've never heard of their kid's college. You can't imagine an Ivy, Stanford, even Duke or UVA mother getting rattled at such a thing, because they'd just confidently chuckle and move on. While many (most?) UChicago parents become unhinged because they're painfully insecure and status-obsessed strivers.

Are you in a neuro linguistic programming class, and the assignment is to see how quickly you can annoy people enough to get us to cuss you out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago is happy to be (among other things and not primarily) a back-up plan for Sidwell/NCS/StA students (and, I assume, those from similar prep schools in other major cities) who struck out @ HYPS. They know the kids can handle the workload, they’re likely to be full pay, and UofC is eager to become more socially elite.

Pretty much. Which isn't dismissive, it's a fine school—certainly superior to all the flagship public degree mills and far more campus brain power than say Vanderbilt—but anyone expecting it to be some lottery ticket or a mega status symbol like the Ivies, Stanford, and Wharton is a deluded imbecile. Nobody gives a darn about UChicago. It's hilarious how easy it is to rattle an average UChicago parent by pretending you've never heard of their kid's college. You can't imagine an Ivy, Stanford, even Duke or UVA mother getting rattled at such a thing, because they'd just confidently chuckle and move on. While many (most?) UChicago parents become unhinged because they're painfully insecure and status-obsessed strivers.

Wow, this is a ridiculous conversation. I have two Ivy degrees and have always thought of U Chicago as a really intellectual school where serious students go. Do not think of it as "less than" an Ivy.

DP. Same here — and both of my degrees are from HYP schools (since that’s clearly the follow-up question).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few years back my son got into u Chicago and Dartmouth.
Picked u Chicago!!

Dartmouth ROI is significantly better than Chicago. Chicago's ROI is only a few thousand dollars more per year than UVA.

[Anonymous]

Too late for that. He picked u Chicago.
You can make lots of money without a college degree, if that’s your only goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too late for that. He picked u Chicago.
You can make lots of money without a college degree, if that’s your only goal.

Even those who choose UChicago beg to differ.

https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/t/low-graduate-roi-compared-to-peer-institutions/2804371

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people on this board understand that UChicago is ranked third in the country/fourth in the world (easy to check on Google) for producing Nobel prize laureates? As a recently retired HOS, I've always held it in the highest regard. The only drawback I used to joke is that their unofficial motto is: Where fun goes to die.

People here need to get over their very unhealthy Ivy fetish.

I don't think PP has an Ivy fetish, so much as a weird hatred of the University of Chicago that manifests itself in arguing that Chicago isn't on par with the Ivies. The Ivies are just invoked for rhetorical purposes; otherwise, PP likely has no connection with any Ivy. I think most Ivy grads look favorably on Chicago and know quite a few who've sent their own kids there (including the president of Princeton).

Something about a lot of the general school bashing here is extremely offensive.

If people have been to a school and want to talk about why they hated it, or why a particular school is or isn't a better value than a student's in-state flagship: Fine.

But people tearing into a school based on "prestige" or because merely because the school "attracts strivers" is getting old fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people on this board understand that UChicago is ranked third in the country/fourth in the world (easy to check on Google) for producing Nobel prize laureates? As a recently retired HOS, I've always held it in the highest regard. The only drawback I used to joke is that their unofficial motto is: Where fun goes to die.

People here need to get over their very unhealthy Ivy fetish.

I don't think PP has an Ivy fetish, so much as a weird hatred of the University of Chicago that manifests itself in arguing that Chicago isn't on par with the Ivies. The Ivies are just invoked for rhetorical purposes; otherwise, PP likely has no connection with any Ivy. I think most Ivy grads look favorably on Chicago and know quite a few who've sent their own kids there (including the president of Princeton).

Something about a lot of the general school bashing here is extremely offensive.

If people have been to a school and want to talk about why they hated it, or why a particular school is or isn't a better value than a student's in-state flagship: Fine.

But people tearing into a school based on "prestige" or because merely because the school "attracts strivers" is getting old fast.

I think the above is simply pointing out the fact that Chicago is as good as good public unis or mediocre SLACs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people on this board understand that UChicago is ranked third in the country/fourth in the world (easy to check on Google) for producing Nobel prize laureates? As a recently retired HOS, I've always held it in the highest regard. The only drawback I used to joke is that their unofficial motto is: Where fun goes to die.

People here need to get over their very unhealthy Ivy fetish.

I don't think PP has an Ivy fetish, so much as a weird hatred of the University of Chicago that manifests itself in arguing that Chicago isn't on par with the Ivies. The Ivies are just invoked for rhetorical purposes; otherwise, PP likely has no connection with any Ivy. I think most Ivy grads look favorably on Chicago and know quite a few who've sent their own kids there (including the president of Princeton).

It is very "UChicago" for you to be so creepy that you know this, let alone that you shamelessly brag about it as if doing so is as normal as breathing. And safe bet it's far from the first time you've bragged about some random academic admin's child, an academic admin you do not know. Weird and creepy.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, sure, the other poster is the creepy one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people on this board understand that UChicago is ranked third in the country/fourth in the world (easy to check on Google) for producing Nobel prize laureates? As a recently retired HOS, I've always held it in the highest regard. The only drawback I used to joke is that their unofficial motto is: Where fun goes to die.

People here need to get over their very unhealthy Ivy fetish.

That was our OFFICIAL motto

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people on this board understand that UChicago is ranked third in the country/fourth in the world (easy to check on Google) for producing Nobel prize laureates? As a recently retired HOS, I've always held it in the highest regard. The only drawback I used to joke is that their unofficial motto is: Where fun goes to die.

People here need to get over their very unhealthy Ivy fetish.

I don't think PP has an Ivy fetish, so much as a weird hatred of the University of Chicago that manifests itself in arguing that Chicago isn't on par with the Ivies. The Ivies are just invoked for rhetorical purposes; otherwise, PP likely has no connection with any Ivy. I think most Ivy grads look favorably on Chicago and know quite a few who've sent their own kids there (including the president of Princeton).

It is very "UChicago" for you to be so creepy that you know this, let alone that you shamelessly brag about it as if doing so is as normal as breathing. And safe bet it's far from the first time you've bragged about some random academic admin's child, an academic admin you do not know. Weird and creepy.

Since you asked, I do know the family and the "child" in question is now an adult who has graduated from Chicago.

Seriously, you are bizarre. In a way, it's almost comforting that people like you find an outlet on DCUM, because without it you'd probably engage in even more anti-social behavior.