Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah sorry, UChicago students of today aren't status obsessed? Every undergrad I know wants to go into consulting or finance. It has become an image of all the Ivies. Nowhere near as academically robust/focused as it used to be. The career center has taken emphasis which is respectable but not when it comes to the detriment of the culture UChicago had.

Students who truly desire "life of the mind" aren't going to UChicago anymore. They're going to LACs like Reed and Swarthmore. UChicago and all the other top universities have the same sort of profiles and interests among their groups- you could swap undergrads from one school to another and not see any meaningful change result.

Cite your source. This is just completely untrue. "Every undergrad I know?" is not a source.

My child goes to a private school and many of his friends are at UChicago. They themselves have said that finance/consulting is the most popular interest and that few these days desire to go to the academia/PhD route. The finance clubs are extremely competitive and there is now targeted recruiting for undergrads from many top investment banking/consulting firms due to the demand/interest.

http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/pdfs/uchicago-class-of-2016-outcomes.pdf

The #1 destination was Business and Financial Services at 27%. Add consulting and that number jumps to 38%.

Compare to Yale: http://ocs.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/OCS%20Stats%20pages/Public%20-%20Final%20Class%20of%202016%20Report%20(6%20months).pdf

Finance- 15.3%, Consulting- 12.9%, Business- 4.2% = 32.4%. The number 1 industry choice was Education.

Brown: https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/support/careerlab/sites/brown.edu.campus-life.support.careerlab/files/uploads/CLAB_By%20the%20Numbers%20APR17.pdf

Finance + Consulting = 26%

Obviously every undergrad is a hyperbole but there's no denying that UChicago is pretty similar to the Ivies in terms of post-grad destinations/interests.

Anonymous wrote:Yeah sorry, UChicago students of today aren't status obsessed? Every undergrad I know wants to go into consulting or finance. It has become an image of all the Ivies. Nowhere near as academically robust/focused as it used to be. The career center has taken emphasis which is respectable but not when it comes to the detriment of the culture UChicago had.

Students who truly desire "life of the mind" aren't going to UChicago anymore. They're going to LACs like Reed and Swarthmore. UChicago and all the other top universities have the same sort of profiles and interests among their groups- you could swap undergrads from one school to another and not see any meaningful change result.

.

Your post says more about the kinds of people you know than about UofC, I suspect. And some “life of the mind” kids want to go directly to the playground where the big kids hang out. They want to be around grad students and cutting-edge researchers and in a university with a myriad of course offerings. Those kids aren’t drawn to LACs. UofC certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on intellectual kids, but if you are not a life of the mind type, you’re probably not going to enjoy UofC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

This is bullshit. If the school isn't status obsessed why are they so obsessed with goosing their apps? Why do they shamelessly lie to prospies saying ACT/SAT doesn't matter? Why do they mail every senior in the US 10 pounds of glossy material, hats, shirts so they'll apply? Chicago is obsessed with status, obsessed with a higher rank, obsessed with building their brand. Lame ass college that lost it's niche. Full of grubby upper middle class strivers now. Not the Chicago I once knew.

Great school for KIDS who aren’t status-obsessed. I didn’t say anything about administrators, LOL!

Anonymous wrote:Yeah sorry, UChicago students of today aren't status obsessed? Every undergrad I know wants to go into consulting or finance. It has become an image of all the Ivies. Nowhere near as academically robust/focused as it used to be. The career center has taken emphasis which is respectable but not when it comes to the detriment of the culture UChicago had.

Students who truly desire "life of the mind" aren't going to UChicago anymore. They're going to LACs like Reed and Swarthmore. UChicago and all the other top universities have the same sort of profiles and interests among their groups- you could swap undergrads from one school to another and not see any meaningful change result.

Cite your source. This is just completely untrue. "Every undergrad I know?" is not a source.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound desperate OP. No one outside of the midwest cares about Chicago

One of the top ranks universities in the world with 92 Nobel Laureates. Yep, no one outside the Midwest cares.

Ok, no one outside the Midwest and Stockholm, LOL!

Well, yeah, but besides that...

Yeah sorry, UChicago students of today aren't status obsessed? Every undergrad I know wants to go into consulting or finance. It has become an image of all the Ivies. Nowhere near as academically robust/focused as it used to be. The career center has taken emphasis which is respectable but not when it comes to the detriment of the culture UChicago had.

Students who truly desire "life of the mind" aren't going to UChicago anymore. They're going to LACs like Reed and Swarthmore. UChicago and all the other top universities have the same sort of profiles and interests among their groups- you could swap undergrads from one school to another and not see any meaningful change result.

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

This is bullshit. If the school isn't status obsessed why are they so obsessed with goosing their apps? Why do they shamelessly lie to prospies saying ACT/SAT doesn't matter? Why do they mail every senior in the US 10 pounds of glossy material, hats, shirts so they'll apply? Chicago is obsessed with status, obsessed with a higher rank, obsessed with building their brand. Lame ass college that lost it's niche. Full of grubby upper middle class strivers now. Not the Chicago I once knew.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound desperate OP. No one outside of the midwest cares about Chicago

I'm from the Midwest. Most college-educated folks there have never heard of UChicago. And if they have heard of it, maybe 0.10% of them understand how hard it is to get in. Aside from Harvard and Stanford, getting into Michigan's engineering college or Notre Dame would be seen as a bigger accomplishment to almost everyone.

I'm from the midwest and every college-educated person I've met has heard of U Chicago and consider it to be equivalent to Harvard but better because it's closer to home.

My anecdote beats your anecdote.

She probably wins. Most college educated people wouldn’t know the difference between Penn and Penn State either. Your typical college educated person is a graduate of a local state school. There’s merit in saying people only know if two prestigious schools in America: Harvard and the locally known “best” state university.

Chicago is a fine school. It had a long history of academic excellence and was long used as a backup for bright kids not making the cut at the Ivies. Usually geeky kids without much of a hook and that doomed them with the Ivy applications committees. It’s become hot in recent years because sharply declining admissions rates has forced more people to look at Chicago.

Once you graduate, no one cares whether you went to Chicago or Penn or WUSTL or Dartmouth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

Exactly.

I would disagree on the networking and credentialing. Say you went to U of C and you're instantly pegged as very smart (true or not). The networking aspect is alive and well especially in a place like DC.

I understand what the poster was getting at. I think the networking and credentialing is a great by product of the rep. What I do like though is my perception that the social scene is not heavily affected by networking for it's own sake. Really friendly, inclusive campus.

I agree that you don’t have to sacrifice networking/credentialing to attend UChicago*, but in terms of how you’re going to spend your time in college, there will be a helluva lot more time spent studying than building your network.

*Depends on career goal, ability, alternative school(s).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

Exactly.

I would disagree on the networking and credentialing. Say you went to U of C and you're instantly pegged as very smart (true or not). The networking aspect is alive and well especially in a place like DC.

Honestly, if you went to Chicago for undergraduate you are still likely to be pegged as an egghead (smart but not very practical or blessed with social skills), although the student profile has changed quite a bit. It really does get a much higher percentage of students now who just missed out on HYP/Penn/Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

Exactly.

I would disagree on the networking and credentialing. Say you went to U of C and you're instantly pegged as very smart (true or not). The networking aspect is alive and well especially in a place like DC.

Anonymous wrote:Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

Exactly.

Lots of people who think highly of UofC did so long before the USNWR ranking. Basically, it’s a great school for kids who love academics, don’t mind hard work, and aren’t status-obsessed. Probably not the best choice for a kid who wants a more traditional American college experience (sports/frats/partying) or sees college as more about networking and credentialing than about learning.

Anonymous wrote:GPA crushing undergrad that makes grad school admissions far more challenging than they should & campus social life sucks. The hype for UChicago is 100% from type-A tiger parents and their annoying swots who are obsessed with US News ranks, which UChicago shamelessly manipulated.

Wow, this could not be further from the truth. I've worked with quite a few U of C undergrads and they have all been fantastic, friendly, hard-working, intellectual people. And they have loved their college experience.