Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very simple. Chicago has huge budget defecits and always had a nerd no fun school reputation. They will feed on full pay social climbers at nerdy full pay city shools on the East Coast.

Chicago’s financial situation is not much different from that of other top schools. It’s a place for real thinkers and that’s great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This board is full of people who either never played in the big leagues or who went to elite universities before embarking on painfully mediocre careers. Anybody knocking Chicago on here is out of their mind. And anybody who thinks there is a material difference among top 20-30 schools for the vast majority of undergrads is also out of their mind. Chicago is a very risky and respectable choice for anybody. It is not for people who run with the herd intellectually, which, unfortunately, describes most of the talented but perfectly average parents who raise their kids in the DMV. Now go back to the NYT Books section to find out what you should be reading this week.

+1

The selective Chicago bashing on here puzzles me. Harvard has a Z-list and all of the Ivies admit wealthy legacies, public figures, and insane donors who have unremarkable kids. IMO, that’s a worse practice than admitting full pay private school kids who haven’t donated.

I think many on DCUM see Sidwell kids as a social group that’s “closer” or more “attainable” to them — whereas the wealthy donors and celebrities exist in circles they can’t even imagine. It’s easier to feel intense jealousy and hatred for people who could be your neighbor than people who seem so distant from you.

Anonymous wrote:Very simple. Chicago has huge budget defecits and always had a nerd no fun school reputation. They will feed on full pay social climbers at nerdy full pay city shools on the East Coast.

Anonymous wrote:This board is full of people who either never played in the big leagues or who went to elite universities before embarking on painfully mediocre careers. Anybody knocking Chicago on here is out of their mind. And anybody who thinks there is a material difference among top 20-30 schools for the vast majority of undergrads is also out of their mind. Chicago is a very risky and respectable choice for anybody. It is not for people who run with the herd intellectually, which, unfortunately, describes most of the talented but perfectly average parents who raise their kids in the DMV. Now go back to the NYT Books section to find out what you should be reading this week.

Anonymous wrote:This board is full of people who either never played in the big leagues or who went to elite universities before embarking on painfully mediocre careers. Anybody knocking Chicago on here is out of their mind. And anybody who thinks there is a material difference among top 20-30 schools for the vast majority of undergrads is also out of their mind. Chicago is a very risky and respectable choice for anybody. It is not for people who run with the herd intellectually, which, unfortunately, describes most of the talented but perfectly average parents who raise their kids in the DMV. Now go back to the NYT Books section to find out what you should be reading this week.

Anonymous wrote:This board is full of people who either never played in the big leagues or who went to elite universities before embarking on painfully mediocre careers. Anybody knocking Chicago on here is out of their mind. And anybody who thinks there is a material difference among top 20-30 schools for the vast majority of undergrads is also out of their mind. Chicago is a very risky and respectable choice for anybody. It is not for people who run with the herd intellectually, which, unfortunately, describes most of the talented but perfectly average parents who raise their kids in the DMV. Now go back to the NYT Books section to find out what you should be reading this week.

Anonymous wrote:This board is full of people who either never played in the big leagues or who went to elite universities before embarking on painfully mediocre careers. Anybody knocking Chicago on here is out of their mind. And anybody who thinks there is a material difference among top 20-30 schools for the vast majority of undergrads is also out of their mind. Chicago is a very risky and respectable choice for anybody. It is not for people who run with the herd intellectually, which, unfortunately, describes most of the talented but perfectly average parents who raise their kids in the DMV. Now go back to the NYT Books section to find out what you should be reading this week.

Anonymous wrote:What percent of the graduating class is 12 at Sidwell?

Anonymous wrote:I think it's the synergy of private school CCOs wanting students settled satisfactorily ASAP, UChicago having ED0 and ED2, and a sort of general UMC agreement that Chicago is a "good" school. Combine that with an unpredictable admissions environment and fear of bad outcomes in RD. Kids apply SCEA/REA/ED, get deferred or rejected, and then jump to Chicago as the universal rescue plan, encouraged by counselors.

But my own kid who liked Chicago during his visit became very hesitant about it because he knew so many private school and other affluent but not super intellectual kids going. I think this kind of thing can backfire in the longer term, because it erodes the qualities that originally attracted everyone to the school. Long term kids don't want to go to a school that is every wealthy kid's backup plan.