<p>bavycroft, I refuse to believe that you have no ties to Chicago. Your posting history is replete with references to what I believe is your real alma mater. Of course, I could be wrong. But I don’t think I am. Why would a Stanford student be so completely consumed by the University of Chicago? It makes absolutely no sense. You definitely seem to have an agenda. </p>
<p>Having said that, goldenboy needs to tone it down a notch. He has no reason to be on these forums bad mouthing Chicago or proclaiming Duke’s superiority over it. Specially now that he is purportedly at one of the most prestigious grad schools in the world. Obviously we each make our own subjective determinations about a school’s quality. Healthy debate should be encouraged, but the behavior of some posters on this forum is reprehensible and unbecoming of highly educated individuals.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen goldenboy ■■■■■■■■ here before but to be fair to him, what he said above may be true, especially with regards to professional placement (unfortunately). However, this is a function of UoC’s culture of academia and I think UoC will eventually surpass Duke in these areas in the future.</p>
<p>@JHS: It almost goes without saying, but the most important figures who have shaped the U of C as an institution have come from Yale. Harper was at Yale before he became the first President of Chicago, and Hutchins was Dean of YLS before he came out to the Midway.</p>
<p>It’s important that the U. of C. limits the number of admits this year to control over enrollment. For example if only 2700 get admitted, then those who are admitted will be more likely to attend because they won’t have to fear the repercussions of too large a first-year class. If 3000 are admitted, it will appear as more reckless growth and ignoring the Pierce demolition.</p>
<p>rhg3rd - I disagree… I see it as highly doubful that an applicant would turn down his/her UChicago acceptance for a fear of “too large a first-year class”…</p>
<p>I would say most admitted students don’t take the time to do the math themselves and figure out # admitted, yield rate, intended class size, ect. They trust the administration will work things out. So I also respectfully disagree.</p>
<p>One of my classmates called Simon received an SAT score in the 1500-1600 range and got an email from UChicago. Of course when he received it, we all made noise over it because we thought it meant they were specifically interested in him. Of course, now I’m a lot more familiar with everything and know it meant nothing. Simon never found the time to apply anyway; at the time we didn’t even know how prestigious the university was. He is in a turkish university now. I happen to like UChicago mostly because of its quirky essay topics.</p>
<p>Does the U of C really market itself to high school students more aggressively than other schools? When my older sister (who has since graduated from college) scored just under 200 on the PSAT as a sophomore, she got letters from every college under the sun–Ivies included. I had the same experience a few years later, and I don’t remember Chicago sending significantly more stuff than other schools. There were the usual letters, a few postcards here and there, and a useful little prospectus (which is actually on my shelf at school as I write this, squeezed in between an “Aims of Education” anthology and a cheap copy of “Moby Dick”). </p>
<p>My guess is that most of the rise is due to a broader shift in the school’s reputation among high school students. Switching to the common app, portraying itself as a generally elite college instead of a self-selective one, and subsequently rising in the U.S. News rankings can change perceptions in just the few years it takes for a fresh batch of high schoolers to emerge. None of that necessarily requires “aggressive marketing;” Chicago just had a little more unrealized potential to work with.</p>
<p>Dunno if the percentage acceptance got answered already, but I just went to a thingy in SF where the Dean of Admissions said it was going to be 9% this year. Also learned that the dorm they’re tearing down used to be an insane asylum lol.</p>
<p>@dunbar. You bet they market more. I had to dig through all my college mail when I was writing apps. Uchic sent me about 6 pieces of really nice mail and a t-shirt, whereas, other schools sent me one pamphlet of something. After getting admitted you get another t-shirt, a hat, a pen, a scarf, some other stuff and some weird admitted students party with a trustee member and the Dean of Admissions. True, none of the other schools I got accepted to EA are as good as Uchic, but all I’ve gotten are some random emails. It’s really quite effective. I’d rather go to Uchic over Cornell now, and I’d never have considered that 5 years ago. </p>
<p>Also for the PSAT thing. Basically if you take the PSAT, you get sent mail. Colleges get the names of PSAT test takers and SAT test takers. They don’t care about the score. The only time I’ve noticed it being addressed is for NMSF. I think if you score a 2400 you get something else, but I’ve only known someone who’s done that, and can’t be sure.</p>
<p>Actually I am happy to see U of C get so many applications. We have visited twice for their full visit days and each time I am blown away on how much it has to offer. Great location, interesting students amd top professors. We have toured nearly all top 20 universities and LACs over the last four years and U of C is one of my top five schools.</p>
<p>My DD was sent a lot of material and invited to their diversity flyin event. She decided not to apply because it was too close to home. If we lived anywhere else, I am sure she would have applied. One of her key things is that she wants to go away to college.</p>
<p>@Wendeli: The dorm that is coming down, Pierce Tower, was never an insane asylum. It was built by UChicago and opened in1960 as an undergraduate dorm. It had its good and bad points - the rooms were smallish, so residents tended to socialize a lot in the lounges and public spaces when I was a student there. It was taller than anything else around it and the views could be amazing – especially as the sun set over the city. I’ll be very curious to see what the University builds to replace it.</p>
<p>S got few mailings from UChicago (he made a point of not checking the PSAT box), was admitted EA and is a very happy first year. What’s making me roll my eyes is the continued avalanche of postcards from Macalaster and Kenyon; why don’t they clean-up their marketing lists every year?</p>
<p>@Wendeli yeah that SF reception was fun. There was a mashed potato bar and really cool uChicago pens. I think the 9% stat was rounded down, I’m sure that it’s below 10% though which is what matters psychologically.</p>
<p>All the advertising definitely works though. Another STAT they threw out is that the average UChig admit got a 1515/1600 SAT. Not the highest, somewhere in the 2250-2300 range.</p>
<p>Yesterdays stats @SF were: 1530 SAT ave and 33ACT ave. 10% of Stanfords current law school class graduated from Uchicago. NMSF/F and Commended made up half of you there. Stats are nice indicators but so are the opportunities academically, socially and work wise. They seemed to have tons of all. D liked the vibe, arts center and eagerness for UG’s to have a good experience! Not big on the kids focused on the above stats. What did you think?</p>
<p>I liked a lot of the people we met in SF and what a beautiful day and view of the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz! Might be a bit chillier for those of you that go to Uchicago next year. You should be very proud of yourselves. You guys are a talented group.</p>
I was only considering pre-application marketing; if you apply and get in it’s hardly intrusive or desperate for them to send you a scarf or invite you to a regional event. And the fact that colleges don’t really care about your PSAT score was kind of my point. How is UChicago’s marketing all that different from the deluge of letters and special offers other colleges are sending? As for the tee shirt, I believe you have to check the box on exam day to send your SAT scores to the U of C–not many people do that for any school.</p>
<p>I’m not saying there can’t be anything Chicago is doing that significantly sets it apart from other schools, but if there is I’m not familiar with it (and it isn’t necessary to explain the recent surge in applicants).</p>
<p>I think rhg3rd and goldenboy are the same person. Caught a glimpse of what you wrote before you edited it. Not surprising to me.</p>
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<p>I have never been a fan of Pierce’s architecture. It is one of the campus eyesores they really need to demolish. Love the people there though - warm and kind.</p>