Another "Prestige" Issue

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
21

<p>I feel like U Chicago will always remain UChicago, even if it is ranked ninth, even with the use of the common application. The overall focus on academics means that the school will remain an academic school, and, while wonderful for the students there and those in the know, will remain as obscure to the general population as it is currently.</p>

<p>I'm sure if you talk to students at schools like Swarthmore or Amherst or Reed, they'll know people who wonder why they're not at Michigan State, or Texas Christian U., like the rest of the family, or at Harvard, where stereotypically brilliant people go.</p>

22

<p>"Ours is an academic family, and while neither his dad nor I have attended U. Chicago, we are in awe of its status, as are all of our professor and professional friends.</p>

<p>Yup - pretty much sums it up. Attend a football school if you want universal recognition.</p>

23

<p>Arguably the best school in the world if one is only looking at the quality of undergraduate education.</p>

24

<p>
[quote]
I was having lunch not too long ago with a partner from a major, multibillion dollar NY investment firm. He was a valedictorian at Stanford and earned a Ph.D. from Oxford. When he learned I attended Chicago, he sat back and rather longingly said, "That is my only regret in life." I asked what he meant. He said, "I wished I had attended the University of Chicago."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>"my only regret in life"? That sounds kinda dumb and tacky. It's hard to believe it's coming from someone that successful. </p>

<p>JMJM8879,</p>

<p>There's H-bomb but not really ivy bomb. Many people don't know Ivies like Brown and Dartmouth either. Don't worry about what those who don't matter think. Employers and recruiters definitely know about UC.</p>

25

<p>{8 ivies MIT, Stanford, Caltech and Uchicago} = academic powerhouses!</p>

26

<p>Sam Lee: That is what made the comment so surprising and compelling, it was said with real sincerity.</p>

27

<p>I'd just like to say, from an international point of view, with Asian parents and friends who have lived in Asia for many many years, Chicago definetly has international prestige.
Even from where I am living (new zealand), Chicago has much more of a name-recognition than Princeton.. Yale is well known and most definetly Harvard but people go, "Price-ton? Prince-something?"</p>

<p>As for international recognitions, Chicago > Amherst, Swarthmore, Caltech, Dartmouth, Penn, Williams, Georgetown, etc...
And I know for sure that most employers in korea (my dad's friends) do not recognise colleges like LACs, dartmouth, wustl, rice, georgetown</p>

28

<p>i agree with NoFx</p>

29

<p>idad, I mentioned that anecdote in my Why Uchicago essay. Thank you!</p>

30

<p>To NoFX: really? My asian parents and my relatives back in China had no idea about Chicago until I pounded the school into their heads.</p>

<p>I do agree however that Chicago is more known then second tier ivies like Dartmouth (although ppl in my area known brown quite well) and LACs.</p>

31

<p>ya, I'm living abroad and going to an int'l school. only the Americans know how great UChicago is, let alone what it is. Kids here only apply to Ivy league schools if they apply to the USA becuz they think those r the only good American universities...now that's frustrating</p>

32

<p>^ yeah, i hear you. no one here knows UChic either, but they are all looking at Ivys. it's their loss...</p>

33

<p>Even though I mostly didn't care about the prestige issue, I totally understand - it's definitely frustrating that a great deal of people don't know about how great Chicago is. I was really tempted to be an ass and tell people I was going to Columbia just to get the reaction, and then say "Well actually no but I'm going to a school just as good that you wouldn't care about nearly as much."</p>

<p>Really, don't worry about it, just tell your friends to lighten up and not be so petty.</p>

34

<p>Yea, I was thinking about using Columbia too. They seem so much a like: both in a big city, both ranked the same, both have a core. It's just, Columbia is Ivy, and UChicago is Ivy plus :). Sometimes, I get tired, and just say Chicago is an ivy league school....</p>

35

<p>Pretty funny topic that's been debated since the late 19th century, I reckon...</p>

<p>I'm a Lab School /UChicago grad who also went to grad school at Columbia and believe me, there's no comparison between these two schools. Chicago is an intellectual hotbed where cleverness, insight and erudition are demanded from students and teachers alike. The quest for knowledge and personal intellectual growth are the pillars on which the Chicago culture is built.</p>

<p>Columbia, although a perfectly good school, reminded me of a large cafeteria where indifferent students stand in line to get their weekly dole of soup and crackers. There is an astounding lack of intellectual discourse at Columbia that stunned me when I got there. The undergrads show up for their classes, do their assignments with a minimum amount of fuss and interaction with profs. and then stealthily graduate after 4 years. It reminded me more of a large, wealthy public high school than a community of scholars. The school was a tremendous disappointment, to say the least.</p>

<p>On a related note, my father, a former professor at Cornell University, told me when I was applying to schools that the grad students and professors that impressed him the most during his career were from Chicago. With Harvard and Yale, he said, you never knew what you were going to get. Some were very bright, some were rather dim. In contrast, the people that left lasting impressions on him were, bye and large, from Chicago. </p>

<p>As I've gotten older, I've also come to appreciate my Chicago degree more and more. A degree from Harvard, for instance, acts as a sort of crimson albatross about one's neck; telling people that you went to Harvard is a bit like announcing that you own a $250,000 Enzo Ferrari. Its a bit tasteless and embarrassing and most people will think that you're an ass.</p>

<p>Telling people that you went to UChicago has quite the opposite effect. A Chicago degree is rare, it marks you as an intellectual heavyweight (even if you're not :)), it elicits immediate respect from people who are informed enough to know, and you automatically have a psychological advantage in any debate with someone who had the misfortune of attending a school other than Chicago :) </p>

<p>So, in conclusion, no, UChicago is most definitely not an Ivy League school. Heaven forbid that we ever travel down THAT path.</p>

36

<p>Bravo tk89! I couldn't have said it better.</p>

37

<p>Since I live in one of the poorest areas in California, pretty much nobody knows of any schools except the UCs, CSUs, and HYPMS. I think UChicago sometimes give out their information at too high of a level, meaning that only the smart, educated, and important people can understand their academic articles and use them in their daily lives. This can be seen as a huge honor as UChicago is recognized in many coperate business and governments. </p>

<p>But of the "common people"? The reason they might "know" of a school is if they interact with it at their level. For example, USC is really well known here, even though it's in SoCal, because everybody watches their football. </p>

<p>Obviously UChicago's sports is nothing to brag about, but I think the admissions office, or the whole school for that matter can think of innovative ways to reach out to students and adults in different areas by talking in a language that everyone is used to. This is the surest way to increase not prestiege, but general respect and recognition without losing any pieces of soul.</p>

<p>Kinda confusing, but I hope you guys get the point.</p>