Reality check: social scene at UChicago

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Uchicago's social scene is very fragmented and cliquey. On one hand, they have the traditional nerdy STEM kids that are introverted, geeky, and love the theoretical Uchicago education.

On the other end, there are hordes of elite prep school products enrolled in Econ and trying to land finance jobs. These kids are responsible for revitalizing Uchicago's greek system and creating a much less egalitarian social hierarchy than in previous generations.

The swarm of prep school kids at Chicago has also created an environment where questions like "where did you go to high school?" now get tossed around, and students from the elite, famous prep schools have access to a lot of campus social capital. If you attended Andover, Choate, or Horace Mann, then there's tons of your classmates floating around campus and they can loop you into the exclusive campus groups, etc.

My kid goes to Chicago and this post made me LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt tends to self-select for a lot of "smart, but social" kids who play down their intelligence and care about campus popularity. However, this has changed sooooo much at Vanderbilt, and it's no longer the southern party playpen it was in the early 2000s. The student body at Vandy is more similar to the Ivies/UChicago than in previous eras, because it has aggressively courted super-high scorers (35+ ACT, 1560+ SAT) with the goal of boosting their reputation.

UChicago has also transformed because they've gone after the social elites at top private day and boarding schools. Look at the matriculation data at any top private school, and you'll see 30+ UChicago vs maybe 10 at HYPS over a 5 year span. Choate has 63 UChicago matriculants over the past 5 years.

They're probably more similar than you think, but Vandy has the school spirit edge because of their D1 sports programs.

Vanderbilt's student body is not similar to Ivies. 395 students submitted an SAT score, of which only 99 have an SAT 1560 or above.

Vanderbilt
1,635 freshman
99 have SAT 1560 or above
6% of freshman class

Harvard
1,641 freshman
446 have SAT 1560 or above
27% of freshman class

Yale
1,633 freshman
289 have SAT 1560 or above
17% of freshman class

Princeton
1,404 freshman
212 have SAT 1560 or above
15% of freshman class

There’s no effective difference between a 1500 and 1560

Of course there is.

What a silly thing to say.

Getting a 1500 (plus a sufficient high GPA) gets your application reviewed but that review is holistic and doesn't ignore your SAT score just because you got the bare minimum to justify a look.

The difference between a 1500 and 1560 is about two or three questions. The question for a very busy junior in high school shooting for competitive schools is whether it is worth all the extra time to study for those extra two or three questions, when there are a lot of other things they could be doing. And the answer is no. At the 1500/34 mark, the ECs become far more important. Every top school will take the 1500 with great ECs over the 1560 who isn't really bringing anything else.

You said "There’s no effective difference between a 1500 and 1560"
So all things being equal, there is no practical difference between the two.
If you want to compare a 1560 with NOTHING else to a 1500 that brings EVERYTHING else, I guess you're right but tis is usually not the way we compare apples to apples.

Going from a 1500 to a 1560 is an extreme amount of work.
As you get closer and closer to 1600, the more work it is to improve your score.
This is in part what makes the 1560 more impressive than the 1500.
1560s are far more rare than 1500s.

10% of all asians that take the test get a 1500.

Let me say that again, 10 percent of ALL ASIANS that take the test get a 1500.

That is how common a 1500 is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused. So some parents said that the Chicago private kids are unhooked, while other parents said they are hooked so they can get finance jobs. So which one is true?

They're connected, not hooked.

Their parents are in finance or law or something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt tends to self-select for a lot of "smart, but social" kids who play down their intelligence and care about campus popularity. However, this has changed sooooo much at Vanderbilt, and it's no longer the southern party playpen it was in the early 2000s. The student body at Vandy is more similar to the Ivies/UChicago than in previous eras, because it has aggressively courted super-high scorers (35+ ACT, 1560+ SAT) with the goal of boosting their reputation.

UChicago has also transformed because they've gone after the social elites at top private day and boarding schools. Look at the matriculation data at any top private school, and you'll see 30+ UChicago vs maybe 10 at HYPS over a 5 year span. Choate has 63 UChicago matriculants over the past 5 years.

They're probably more similar than you think, but Vandy has the school spirit edge because of their D1 sports programs.

Vanderbilt's student body is not similar to Ivies. 395 students submitted an SAT score, of which only 99 have an SAT 1560 or above.

Vanderbilt
1,635 freshman
99 have SAT 1560 or above
6% of freshman class

Harvard
1,641 freshman
446 have SAT 1560 or above
27% of freshman class

Yale
1,633 freshman
289 have SAT 1560 or above
17% of freshman class

Princeton
1,404 freshman
212 have SAT 1560 or above
15% of freshman class

There’s no effective difference between a 1500 and 1560

Of course there is.

What a silly thing to say.

Getting a 1500 (plus a sufficient high GPA) gets your application reviewed but that review is holistic and doesn't ignore your SAT score just because you got the bare minimum to justify a look.

The difference between a 1500 and 1560 is about two or three questions. The question for a very busy junior in high school shooting for competitive schools is whether it is worth all the extra time to study for those extra two or three questions, when there are a lot of other things they could be doing. And the answer is no. At the 1500/34 mark, the ECs become far more important. Every top school will take the 1500 with great ECs over the 1560 who isn't really bringing anything else.

You said "There’s no effective difference between a 1500 and 1560"
So all things being equal, there is no practical difference between the two.
If you want to compare a 1560 with NOTHING else to a 1500 that brings EVERYTHING else, I guess you're right but tis is usually not the way we compare apples to apples.

Going from a 1500 to a 1560 is an extreme amount of work.
As you get closer and closer to 1600, the more work it is to improve your score.
This is in part what makes the 1560 more impressive than the 1500.
1560s are far more rare than 1500s.

10% of all asians that take the test get a 1500.

Let me say that again, 10 percent of ALL ASIANS that take the test get a 1500.

That is how common a 1500 is!

I am Asian with a PhD in Biostats and I still don't follow your logic. Are you saying that if 10% (that is 1 out of 10) of all Asians (approx. 7% of US population) --> that is 0.1 x 7% = 0.7% get exactly 1500 in SAT, then a score of 1500 must be "common"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vanderbilt tends to self-select for a lot of "smart, but social" kids who play down their intelligence and care about campus popularity. However, this has changed sooooo much at Vanderbilt, and it's no longer the southern party playpen it was in the early 2000s. The student body at Vandy is more similar to the Ivies/UChicago than in previous eras, because it has aggressively courted super-high scorers (35+ ACT, 1560+ SAT) with the goal of boosting their reputation.

UChicago has also transformed because they've gone after the social elites at top private day and boarding schools. Look at the matriculation data at any top private school, and you'll see 30+ UChicago vs maybe 10 at HYPS over a 5 year span. Choate has 63 UChicago matriculants over the past 5 years.

They're probably more similar than you think, but Vandy has the school spirit edge because of their D1 sports programs.

Vanderbilt's student body is not similar to Ivies. 395 students submitted an SAT score, of which only 99 have an SAT 1560 or above.

Vanderbilt
1,635 freshman
99 have SAT 1560 or above
6% of freshman class

Harvard
1,641 freshman
446 have SAT 1560 or above
27% of freshman class

Yale
1,633 freshman
289 have SAT 1560 or above
17% of freshman class

Princeton
1,404 freshman
212 have SAT 1560 or above
15% of freshman class

There’s no effective difference between a 1500 and 1560

Of course there is.

What a silly thing to say.

Getting a 1500 (plus a sufficient high GPA) gets your application reviewed but that review is holistic and doesn't ignore your SAT score just because you got the bare minimum to justify a look.

The difference between a 1500 and 1560 is about two or three questions. The question for a very busy junior in high school shooting for competitive schools is whether it is worth all the extra time to study for those extra two or three questions, when there are a lot of other things they could be doing. And the answer is no. At the 1500/34 mark, the ECs become far more important. Every top school will take the 1500 with great ECs over the 1560 who isn't really bringing anything else.

You said "There’s no effective difference between a 1500 and 1560"
So all things being equal, there is no practical difference between the two.
If you want to compare a 1560 with NOTHING else to a 1500 that brings EVERYTHING else, I guess you're right but tis is usually not the way we compare apples to apples.

Going from a 1500 to a 1560 is an extreme amount of work.
As you get closer and closer to 1600, the more work it is to improve your score.
This is in part what makes the 1560 more impressive than the 1500.
1560s are far more rare than 1500s.

10% of all asians that take the test get a 1500.

Let me say that again, 10 percent of ALL ASIANS that take the test get a 1500.

That is how common a 1500 is!

I am Asian with a PhD in Biostats and I still don't follow your logic. Are you saying that if 10% (that is 1 out of 10) of all Asians (approx. 7% of US population) --> that is 0.1 x 7% = 0.7% get exactly 1500 in SAT, then a score of 1500 must be "common"?

lol OMG. I doubt it you have a PhD. Moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UChicago today is a very different institution than 15 years ago. I don't think the old "where fun goes to die" and "awkward nerd" stereotype still applies.

They've aggressively targeted kids from prestigious private schools, oftentimes taking 15-20+ kids annually from places like Andover/Exeter/Choate/Horace Mann, etc. This has resulted in a far more socially polished and culturally elite student body than they've historically had. These are the sorts of kids that dominated the Ivies in the 80's/90's and that the Ivies now shun for "equity" reasons.

NP I completely agree with this. From our feeder private (the kind this board hates: 30%+ to T10 outside of DMV), the savvy, well groomed, full pay B+/A- kids are headed to U Chicago, the brilliant but awkward 3.95 kids (no one gets all As at our school), a fair amount scholarship kids and first gens are headed to HYP. If I have to bet, the 2nd group will graduate and eventually work as researchers, academia, community leaders/in non profits or similar while the first group graduate to work on Wall Street/ go into consulting. The 2nd group are smart and driven too, but they know how to network, not spend too much time studying and still make good grades (though not top grades). Based on who I see admitted, U Chicago may get higher donations per alumni donor from this new crop of admits at least from our n=1 small private school. I can totally see the HYP first-gen kids come back to teach at our school whereas the U Chicago kids will come back to buy our school for their private equity firms.

These are a lot of assumptions to draw based on the small dataset of kids from one high school. This pattern is different at my kids’ school, where the ivy kids are mostly very polished and preprofessional and often very athletic.

Same here. Top private.

Polished, super smart: Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale

Top non-polished, frankly often kids of immigrants: Harvard and Stanford

Second level kids of both types who want high academics and/or prestige: Chicago

Lot of athletes and polished kids go to Harvard from our private. Princeton is the Ivy most interested in low income, This is the dumbest of threads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our private is not a feeder to UChicago. About one or two per year go there. Quirky, interested in a niche topic, not in top grade band.

Ours too, maybe one kid goes a year, so far, all have been quirky and very smart. About 20 percent of class goes to Ivy/Yale/MIT/Cal Tech.