University of Chicago

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DC loved Chicago from the get go, is STEM focused, doesn’t mind the cold, and is thriving. There is a ton of work and the core is no joke. It would have been an “easier path” if they’d gone to a less demanding school, but they actually enjoy the classes/work and have found their people. The day to day experience is a great fit.

I wish it was closer (we are in the DMV). I don’t love the quarter system from a calendar/schedule perspective. It’s expensive and we got zero aid.

Very much our experience -- 1/2 STEM, 1/2 Humanities kid. First year. Tons of work but loves it.

1/2 Stem, 1/2 humanities becomes all STEM - as you shall see. There is no such thing as 1/2 humanities, except as an application marketing ploy.

I have several friends that have UChicago kids. All of them ended up double majoring (history/economics, physics/English, math/economics, CS/classical studies). That’s what makes UChicago special: the quarter system and the core are tough, but they do make it easier to accommodate interdisciplinary interests.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The education is top notch and work ethic instilled translates well to employment.

Employment in everything but engineering, correct?

Apart from molecular engineering, UChicago doesn’t have engineering at all.

It's an econ school, why does it need engineering?

UChicago is great for humanities, social sciences, math, physics. Fully agree that there is no need for engineering.

One third majoring in econ by graduation.

It may be because Math/Physics/Stats/Engineering is so hard...it's the default

Uchicago economics is very very hard. It’s because economics has the best outcomes coming out of college. A physics degree is almost entirely useless if you aren’t spending most of your time in other courses.

I would think Physics at UChicago would set you up nicely for a quant job. I think they even have a large quant trading club and I see Physics/Math/Stats majors. Impressive club!

What’s the purpose of going all the way with a major as hard as physics to get a quant job? Just do math or economics and you’ll have a much easier time explaining why you even did the degree you did.

My kid is in physics at Chicago. It is no joke. So much work, concepts are difficult, and grades are low. But the reason she is in physics is because she loves the subject. It’s that simple.

PP, my kid is seriously considering doing physics at Uchicago. How is the teaching quality? Large classes? Graduate students as teachers? Are the professors accessible? Students are cut throat grinders?

Some large classes, yes. DD has professors teaching with TAs overseeing labs and some supplementary discussion sections. Professors are accessible. Doesn’t feel cutthroat but everyone in her circle takes studying seriously. The kids who do not take academics seriously do not last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC loved Chicago from the get go, is STEM focused, doesn’t mind the cold, and is thriving. There is a ton of work and the core is no joke. It would have been an “easier path” if they’d gone to a less demanding school, but they actually enjoy the classes/work and have found their people. The day to day experience is a great fit.

I wish it was closer (we are in the DMV). I don’t love the quarter system from a calendar/schedule perspective. It’s expensive and we got zero aid.

Very much our experience -- 1/2 STEM, 1/2 Humanities kid. First year. Tons of work but loves it.

1/2 Stem, 1/2 humanities becomes all STEM - as you shall see. There is no such thing as 1/2 humanities, except as an application marketing ploy.

I have several friends that have UChicago kids. All of them ended up double majoring (history/economics, physics/English, math/economics, CS/classical studies). That’s what makes UChicago special: the quarter system and the core are tough, but they do make it easier to accommodate interdisciplinary interests.

My U Chicago kid is double majoring in econ and linguistics.

[Anonymous]

The mailers, good lord the daily mailers and emails.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Someone said the ED acceptance rate is 80%? They don't publish the stats so I'm not sure if it is accurate.

Of course, it’s not accurate. The ED0 acceptance rate is around 30 percent, and it goes down from there (for ED1 and ED2).

There's no way ED0 is only 30% acceptance rate. ED1 is probably around 30%, although there are a few private schools where any kid with reasonable grades is basically guaranteed an ED acceptance (Horace Mann, Harvard Westlake, Philips Exeter).

Controversial opinion but this makes perfect sense. These are the best schools in the nation and they graduate a significant amount of leaders in industry, academia, and the political sphere. Colleges need to get over their obsession with public school kids who are definitely intelligent but lack actual social skills that drive their careers. If admissions were honest and fair, 80%+ of students at uchicago would be private school alum.

[Anonymous]

UChicago doesn't release any of its Early Decision data. Every other college does, but it doesn't. So when you read about such stats, just remember the poster who claims to know is either a liar or just uninformed.

[Anonymous]

DC attends, niece with similar stats rejected. I will be the first to admit that DC had a very narrow range of schools where they would have been happy. Niece had very high stats and was an impressive candidate from a very good private high school (not DMV), but now that I’ve experienced the school through DC, I understand why niece was not accepted. It’s not just about high stats or full pay, but they really are looking for a particular type of kid. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone said the ED acceptance rate is 80%? They don't publish the stats so I'm not sure if it is accurate.

I think what they were saying is that 80% of the class is admitted through EDs.
The ED acceptance rate is top secret. But the consensus is that if you don't have the chops for ivies, but nonetheless wants a T20 school, ED Chicago is the easiest way to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone said the ED acceptance rate is 80%? They don't publish the stats so I'm not sure if it is accurate.

I think what they were saying is that 80% of the class is admitted through EDs.
The ED acceptance rate is top secret. But the consensus is that if you don't have the chops for ivies, but nonetheless wants a T20 school, ED Chicago is the easiest way to go.

In fairness - "chops for ivies" = hooks. The kids from DC's school who wound up at Chicago had the same stats as the Ivy kids, but were missing that special sauce - athletics, national awards, fascinating backstory, and skin color still matters. Not winning a big award or having a wacky hobby hardly makes for a poor peer group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The mailers, good lord the daily mailers and emails.

This is silly, the amount of mailers and emails if your kid is NMSF or Commended is outrageous from EVERY school, it's out of control. UChicago was actually maybe 3 of the best mailers we got, extremely creative and funny, my kid loved them. The rest were just terrible, same old postcards, and Yale had at least 3, but of the sophisticated, "letter" variety, but still a solicitation and boring No one else has been absolutely inundated by the Bucknells, UTulsas, ASUs etc.??? This notion about UChicago is outdated.

[Anonymous]

If 80% of students are early decision admits, that's a HUGE percentage of the class. Basically if you want to go to UChicago, you have to ED. Does anyone know how many UChicago takes off the waitlist? It doesn't list that number like other colleges. YCBK claims UChicago is sneaky and puts students on the waitlist and then calls them to see if they would accept a spot. He thinks this is not very ethical and is done only to increase UChicago's yield which is 88%, higher than Harvard's and MIT's!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Harvard Westlake's matriculation for unhooked students:

Chicago takes kids all the way down to the 3.2-3.4 gpa band.
Northwestern takes kids from 3.4-3.6 gpa band.
JHU takes only kids in the 3.8-4.0 gpa band.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard Westlake's matriculation for unhooked students:

Chicago takes kids all the way down to the 3.2-3.4 gpa band.
Northwestern takes kids from 3.4-3.6 gpa band.
JHU takes only kids in the 3.8-4.0 gpa band.

How many times are you going to post the same stats for a school that has no relevance for 99 percent of the applicants?

From DC’s school, the only kids who get in (ED1/2) are top 10 percent kids with 35/1540 or higher stats. That’s why the median SAT score is 1540. And yes, UChicago is test optional but 75 percent of applicants submit their scores anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard Westlake's matriculation for unhooked students:

Chicago takes kids all the way down to the 3.2-3.4 gpa band.
Northwestern takes kids from 3.4-3.6 gpa band.
JHU takes only kids in the 3.8-4.0 gpa band.

This is meaninful in that it compares different academic standards applied by different colleges at the same high school. Johns Hopkins is way more rigorous than Chicago in accepting students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard Westlake's matriculation for unhooked students:

Chicago takes kids all the way down to the 3.2-3.4 gpa band.
Northwestern takes kids from 3.4-3.6 gpa band.
JHU takes only kids in the 3.8-4.0 gpa band.

This is meaninful in that it compares different academic standards applied by different colleges at the same high school. Johns Hopkins is way more rigorous than Chicago in accepting students.

This may be true for HW but not in general. It’s certainly not correct for DC’s school (in DMV).