<p>Which is stronger in terms of opportunities and benefits from the alumni network?
Which has better school spirit (which both are lacking according to many threads on CC). but I don't just mean school spirit in the traditional athletic sense, which student body is more proud of the school?
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>These are hard to answer unless someone has attended both schools.</p>
<p>Oh and as Uchicago student, I think there is a great deal of school spirit, pride, and love for our school. That’s just my observation though. I’m sure it’s the same for Columbia. Students at both will be proud of their schools. What they’re proud of may be different though.</p>
<p>“What they’re proud of may be different though.” Do you care to elaborate on that?</p>
<p>Things like the nature of the students, traditions, strong departments, famous professors, classes, good restaurant on campus, academic qualities, the campus itself, etc. It’s these unique qualities that make each school individual and thus make students proud in different ways.</p>
<p>In the most obvious way, the alumni networks are likely to be strongest in the areas where most of the alums live: So if you planning a future in/around NYC, Columbia will have a better alum network. If you are planning a future in/around Chicago, UChicago will have the best network. If you see yourself making a career in industries that are strongest in NYC, then you want to go to college there so you can tap into the alum network for internships, informational interviews, etc…and vice versa. </p>
<p>Whether Columbia or Chicago has the most ‘helpful’ alums is hard to say since there’s no objective way to measure it. What you might want to do though, is stop by the alumni relations center when you are visiting, and the career planning center, and find out what kind of alumni resources the school lets undergrads tap into for purposes of job hunting, finding a social group in a new city, staying connected after you graduate, etc…Some alumni clubs are very active depending on the city and the level of support the school provides.</p>
<p>University of Chicago alumni are very proud of their school.
Two expressions you are unlikely ever to hear us utter are “alumni network” and “school spirit”. However, as we ride the subways and cruise the bars of life, we do continually ping out words and phrases like:</p>
<p>“life of the mind”
“intellectual”
“Great Books”
“Common Core”
“Robert Maynard Hutchins”
“The Greeks”</p>
<p>This is how we find each other. This is how we network.</p>
<p>Example:<br>
“Hey Paul! This is Joe Smith! Remember me from Vincent House at the University of Chicago? I’m new in town and was just wondering if you’d like to join my Great Books discussion every Wednesday night … oh, and by the way, do you happen to know anyone with a spare 50 mill or so to fund my new start-up? Weren’t you tight with that un-intellectual kid who transfered to Columbia and founded InfoBIZ. Paul? … Paul?”</p>
<p>We rarely use this exact line, since 83% of Chicago alumni are college professors not entrepreneurs … but you get the idea. I’m told a variation is popular among the other 12% of Chicago alumni who are advisors to President Obama.</p>
<p>
This is certainly true nowadays, at least among undergraduates. Judging from CC, enthusiasm is far from lacking among Chicago students and parents.</p>
<p>There are many Chicago alums from the 80s and 90s who are decidedly apathetic about their college experience, however. Given the former quality of life, with good reason! I still remember with some bemusement how my Chicago interviewer spent about half of the interview convincing me to apply instead to Swarthmore or the top 10 LAC at which he taught.</p>