Reply to What kind of kids go to University of Chicago now?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The weird thing about Chicago is that it easily a top 5 academic institution in the US -- just compare it to, say, Brown or Dartmouth -- yet the students they have decided go after are typically a tier below those who matriculate at ivies. The profile is well-known: private school, full pay, ED1 kids with 1500+ but weaker GPAs relative to the top performers, and often weaker ECs. The divide is very clear at my kid's top private (not in DC): none of the top decile of students, say, apply to Chicago at their ED school. It is typically the 3.6-3.7 UW kid with a 1520 -- that is, a relatively unremarkable record -- that is counseled into that strategy. But again, in purely academic terms it is a clear tier above (in most fields at least) a number of institutions we tend to think of as peers or even stronger in terms of prestige. [/quote]

That's an outlier in our neck of the woods: nearly all kids applying to Chicago are in the tip top academic group of the class. Top ACTs, SATs, GPAs. Four-year varsity athletes/captains, great ECs. How do I know: it's an independent so graduating classes are small enough, parents know the kids and their parents (especially if lifers), and your DCs know their classmates' performances (especially if they are also in the most rigorous classes with them). To a tee, nearly all these kids applying to Chicago love ideas, are intellectually engaged, etc. And they are also not legacy at HYPSMs. For example, a kid of a friend really wanted Yale, but parents had not attended college in US. The kid wanted to be one and done, so they EDed Chicago (and appears to be crushing it). Another wanted to be in a city, didn't think they could pull off Harvard w/no connection, didn't like Penn, and loved Chicago when they visited. So one and done.

One of the more recent Chicago admits falls in the PP description, but they are recruited athlete.

Maybe 10-20 years ago, a number of these kids - save the legacies who want to attend Chicago - might have tried their hands at HYPSMs. But these kids are pretty good at risk assessment, so they want to optimize their outcomes and Chicago is usually their best bet.

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