"Affirmative action for the rich and famous"

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>Interesting read:</p>

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A friend who serves as President of one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges, told me a few years back that the three most overrated schools in the country were Duke, Georgetown (now becoming known as Wahhabi U), and Middlebury. The President’s daughter had passed up Harvard to attend the University of Chicago, and spent a summer at a program at Duke. </p>

<p>She was appalled at the lack of drive, and the relative “softness” of the Duke program, compared to the U of C (that could be said for many Ivies compared to U of C as well). Today the Wall Street Journal provides a fascinating look ($link) at how Duke and Brown lowered their admissions standards to accept children of celebrities and the uber wealthy. Obviously there was an implied quid pro quo of future contributions.

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<p><a href="http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/060909.chicago-thinker.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/06/060909.chicago-thinker.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I don't think there is a direct connection between rigor of curriculum and "Affirmative action for the rich and famous." The number of such students is probably not large enough to have any significant impact on how the curriculum is designed or how much grade inflation there is. Family connections help those who have them but they are unlikely to impact the academic experience of those who don't. I think UofC is definitely more rigorous than Duke and Brown, but I don't see a connection between this and "Affirmative action for the rich and famous."</p>

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She was appalled at the lack of drive, and the relative “softness” of the Duke program, compared to the U of C (that could be said for many Ivies compared to U of C as well).

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<p>My S had a similar reaction to a top Ivy this summer.</p>