@SaphireNY haha yeah I know it’s cold in Chicago but hopefully not quite as bad as winter in Ithaca. But I see where you’re coming from about not getting much name recognition. I think it’s a pretty practical concern too, but I feel like most people where I’m from know what UChicago is. I mean less people know about UChicago than Columbia, for example, but I feel like the recognition is better than commonly stated to be.
Definitely still an issue.
Last weekend I was at a grad party sitting at a table with 5 of my friends. 4 were going to Berkeley and 1 to UCLA. A parent came over and asked us where we were going to school- and her jaw dropped as she heard 4 Cal’s and a UCLA, and commented that we must be very smart. She came to me last, and when I told her about Chicago, I could glimpse a disgusted look on her face. Then she tried to correct herself and said “they have a pretty good engineering program, right?”
And this problem will continue unless a multi-billionaire writes a big check to change the University’s name. But at the end of the day, who cares? The people who matter know. As for when you tell those who don’t, they will probably know you were smart, so will go home and look up UChicago- and will be in for a surprise.
It all depends on who you talk to. Chicago has been renowned as a research powerhouse from the founding day. It has been famous to the academia circle and to those who matter. This fact has been consistent for over a century before the dramatic drop in acceptance rate and noticeable rise in their yield. Now with a solid high ranking placement with USNWR for many years, the Chicago name is gradually and on a regular basis being talked about within the same sentence with Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, etc. (I noticed that in my own parents circle.)
The name of the school does not need to be changed. The perception of Chicago is gradually changing among the common folks across the nation if not around the globe. My speculation is that in the next seven to ten years, Chicago will not need further introduction when the name is mentioned. It will project the image as one of the most intellectually stimulating academic research powerhouse, just as it has been known for for over a century to people in the know.
Be proud that you are fortunate enough and smart enough to get admitted to one of the best schools in the world as some students and professors believe that it is the best without comparison.
Thank you for the supportive posts.
@Pizzagirl “There are plenty of people in California who think all those little states in the northeast are interchangeable” we in the NE sometimes think so too. In fact I doubt anyone in New York or New Jersey who does not ski could tell you which one was further east, Vermont or New Hampsire or even which was the furthest north in the NE.
@puzzled123 I wonder where she thought you were going? U of Illinois? That is exactly what I mean as though if I tell people I turned down Emory to go to Chicago (as an example), they look at me as though it was making a decision between two equal schools and maybe I should have factored in that good Atlanta weather, meanwhile it is not even a close decision. They definitely know it but in the manner of a Boston College or Tulane (fine schools). Not as a peer of Columbia or Stanford. The people that do really know because they are in this or their kid got rejected or wait listed do a certain type of double take that underscores the ones that do not.
University of Pennsylvania manages just fine with University in the title and with that name it really should be a state school, half the time when I was researching I would end up on Penn State’s website.
@theluckystar I agree that in a few years the name recognition will be there. Especially with the Common App resulting in single digit admissions, it would just be more fun to have it now but I guess we will have it forever once we graduate
The thing I haven’t seen mentioned here is the actual pleasure (you could call it reverse snobbery) that a fair number of U. of C. students and alumni feel when confronted with non-recognition of the excellence of their school. It’s a similar feeling to that of making or hearing a reference in conversation to, say, Wittgenstein or Proust, accompanied by uncomprehending reactions. Yes, there’s definitely a smugness in feeling that you and an elect few are in on the secret. I reckon that’s a forgivable sin, however. St. John tells us that we ought to keep the good book away from bad people so they can’t read it and get saved… More seriously, this avoidance of the supposed reward of name recognition taps into a long tradition at Chicago which holds that learning is what you pursue for its own sake, not some consequential or ancillary effect. Believing this, you might feel that your ideal is tainted if attached to a shiny brand name like that of an Ivy League school. Being at Harvard says that you’re smart, but it may also say that you want to dine out on being smart. Being at Chicago doesn’t set up that ambiguity. Chicago is the un-Ivy! Famously, a Harvard President of days gone by defended such things as the quota on Jewish students and favoritism for old families, private schools and sporty types by one simple and, he thought, irrefutable argument. To introduce meritocracy to Harvard would make it “become like the University of Chicago.” Shiver. Q.E.D.
I am very intrigued by this post because this is my step-daughters first choice school. I worked in finance in both the states and now here in Asia, and unfortunately, I think U Chicago’s reputation lags. To the common person it is virtually unknown, and even in the finance world, people respect Ivies+Stanford+MIT so much more. But, as I tell my step-daughter, happiness and social ability matter more in life than a school’s name. I do think U chicago does hurt your career prospects compared to an ivy, but I am confident she can excel academically and socially, and with a high GPA from Chicago she will do fine.
Just curious.
Ivy consists of 8 schools. I think people in Asia may know Harvard and Yale well. Do people know Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn well?
UChicago had a reputation of grade deflation before. It may be gone a bit but it is still not easy to get a high GPA. Someone has said the average GPA is around 3.4 or 3.5.
@jwong945 I think UChicago has improved its career placement significantly over the last few years, and beats out the lower ivies (Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell) in terms of career placement for students who are actually interested in top finance and consulting jobs. There is nothing like UChicago’s career advising and pre-professional programs at most ivies, and its placement is improving miles every year. Take a look at some recent ibanking placement data from 2014:
When accounting for class size at these schools, UChicago beats out many of the top schools/ivies, despite finance/consulting not being a priority for the school (21% of students go onto education/academia). And take a look at the huge growth in placement it had from 2013 to 2014.
Moreover, UChicago placed multiple undergrads into very coveted positions last year: Quantitative Analysts at Hedge Funds, Private Equity Analysts, and some even broke into Venture Capital. This is all when many of the very top students are much more interested in being Rhodes Scholars (and become them too).
And the best thing for UChicago is that it is on an upward trend in career placement, while most other schools are stagnant. With an extremely strong business, law, and medical school, UChicago has alumni that are leaders in many different fields, and undergrads are taking advantage of this with the Metcalf programs. Who knows where UChicago will be in the next 5-10 years?
I don’t know what you’re all talking about. The U Chicago has been a well-known top school like forever.
As was stated above, it has long been an academic powerhouse.
Its graduate law and business schools have been perennial top-fives, usually top three, like forever, IIRC.
There are many who prefer the coasts to the heartland, but in the many fields that require degrees from good schools I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a lot of people who haven’t hear of the University of Chicago.
As for the proverbial “man on the street”, to get his attention you might need a football.
It is very common for a person in Asia not knowing UChicago. They only know HYPSM. Many have no idea of Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and UPenn. In my country, the finance sector definitely knows about UChicago.
@marlowe1, I just read this thread. That’s an absolutely great quote in your post #24!
@puzzled123 Thanks for the info! Yeah, I agree with most people on this thread. I think the common person and to a lesser degree finance people (non americans), really only know and respect HYPSM. Few can name all the ivies, and at least in Asia, some really consider Brown and Cornell to be joke ivies. (Especially Brown because they have no strength in STEM subjects.) I think amongst people who know Chicago is definitely on par if not better than Brown and Cornell.
@jwong945 that is interesting. Especially as I have always heard the opposite, that internationally Chicago is well known and I think ranked #11 in the world. There was a time when their law school ranked #1 and it is always one of the top 5 or as some likes to say one of the top 6 schools in the top 5.
I think most people know Penn because of Wharton and I think Columbia also has an international reputation. Brown used to be amazing internationally decades ago.
@marlowe1 my cousin really enjoyed your post. As I started by saying, she would use Chicago in order to get a sense of people’s background and still does.
Puzzled, I loved the statement about your parents’ friends on the cons. So classic.
I do think everything about Chicago is changing. I keep hearing that in 5 years you will not recognize it. The new dorm for 2016 will change the atmosphere and student life, I think this will make it even more popular when people come to visit. The common app and the low acceptance rate are making it more known (interesting that a 100 year old school has to get better known by rejecting people). One thing that is interesting is the Hogwarts connection. When my cousin went BJ was just a remote dorm near the law school. The Phoenix was just some bird on a maroon background. Interesting how that tied in to the theme. A little more grade inflation would make me feel better. Nervous about being able to get into professional school more because of the amount of work it will take rather than Chicago’s name recognition, it has always had that.
I have had two instances of recognition among my parent’s friends in the last week, one by someone whose son was wait listed but not accepted a few years ago and he thought it was an honor to be wait listed and another by someone whose co worker’s son visited but was too intimidated to apply because 70% of the students had perfect SAT or ACT scores (I doubt it but who knows), I guess I will be in the bottom 30. She was way more impressed with me that people normally are, it was almost embarrassing. I doubt Chicago will ever get to the point where you have to say “I go to school in Illinois” like people that go to Harvard say they go to school in Boston. However not everyone knows it, my friend who considered Vassar, her mother thought it was a nice school, on par with maybe Haverford. I think most people who are college aware but have not applied think it is a good school, either in the top 20 or 30
@monydad: “As for the proverbial “man on the street”, to get his attention you might need a football.”
I not even sure that would work. Have you ever heard the famous Second City skit about football returning to the University of Chicago? It’s incredibly funny.
Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd_-1Zlo2hM
[In fairness to the Monsters of the Midway, U of C actually does have a Division III football team.]
I think my man on the street is a little more educated than most people are thinking of. I am talking about the man on the street who goes to Emory, UCLA or Cornell or whose kid does. Some of the other schools I visted barely had a football team. I am not talking about the man on the street who works at the dry cleaners and barely graduated high school
@SaphireNY Absolutely, U Chicago does very well in both domestic and global rankings. But, rankings are easily manipulated and no one really bothers to look at what criteria are used in the rankings. For example, a global ranking puts University of College London in front of Harvard. I don’t think anyone – including UCL alumni – honestly believe that. With that being said, the US News domestic ranking does a very good job, and Chicago is placed very high. After more years of consistent top 5 rankings, I think U Chicago’s reputation amongst the average person will rise. Yes, rankings are unreliable and sort of inane-- but reasonable rankings like US News are important to one’s reputation.
So what are you saying…
a) you feel that a significant proportion of people who attend : Emory, UCLA or Cornell have not heard of U Chicago??
b) Most men who attend Emory, UCLA, or Cornell find themselves out on the street?
c) {something else]?
Talking about the general public.
It takes time to advertise (make people know) a product. It takes longer if the product is not among the things people are most interested in. E.g., it is easier to make impression on the cutting edge of new tech instead of dull daily office products.
The higher education is not the most interesting thing people pay attention to (it may be for a while in their lifetime). While football is one of the interesting things many people do constantly.
Advertising higher education to general public takes a lot of time. In Harvard’s case it is the oldest and has been known to the general public for a long time via various channels. In Chicago’s case it is relatively young and has not had significant awareness among general public due to various reasons.
I think in 15 or 20 years (a generation since Zimmer came) UChicago’s reputation among general public will improve significantly if the trajectory remains. The high school students from the past decade become older and their kids may start applying colleges. In that time you have both parents and kids who are ware of UChicago. And the words they spread.
They have heard of UChicago, just as they have heard of URochester but many of them would not argue if you said they were equivalent schools (and I am not talking about those peer rated surveys where Princeton claims SUNY Oswego as its peer because some professor taught at both). I would bet at least half would get the question of whether either was a state school wrong.
This year UChicago is ranked #4 (for whatever that is worth). Northwestern and WashU and Duke are not ranked anywhere near as high, somewhere around #10 or lower. WashU is certainly not known for their sports. I am certain that 8/10 times the average top 100 educated college person would be more impressed if I said I was going to any of those 3 than UChicago. The midwestern location does not help but even among midwestern schools it is not as well known.
UChicago is celebrating 125 years, hardly seems new.
I think the Common App has done the most to change the reputation. I am not sure I would have applied without it
“I would bet at least half would get the question of whether either was a state school wrong.”
That means at least they have not really heard what UChicago is about. At a minimum not heard of rankings, admission rates, etc.
What I meant is that both future parents and their kids know UChicago is a top 10 school from their college application experiences (searching schools, rankings, admission rates, financial aids, words out of mouth). It should have some connections with them when the name is mentioned. Those future parents and kids will become a portion of general public eventually.
“I think the Common App has done the most to change the reputation. I am not sure I would have applied without it”.
Common Application makes it easy to apply for more schools but it does not make schools known to general public. When you applied to UChicago did you know it was a good school or just another U in a city?