<p>It says this section is optional on the Uncommon App. So is it alright if I leave it BLANK? And will UChi hold it against me if I'm applying to a certain school or schools?</p>
<p>i would not include many of the schools that typically probably draw u of chicago admitted students away i.e. harvard, yale, princeton, stanford, mit, etc. its cool to list maybe one or two that are more prestigious, but i wouldnt put em all down.</p>
<p>I put 6 schools, and I got in. But I'm not applying to any Ivies. I put, like, Swarthmore, Reed, Wesleyan U, Haverford, Grinnell, and UNC Chapel Hill.</p>
<p>My S listed 6 other schools, including ivies, and he was accepted EA. We believe in transparency in the application process. I don 't think Chicago is all that worried about their yield; they accept who they want to accept and hope that they all matriculate.</p>
<p>I didn't list any; I was kind of confused/scared.</p>
<p>On a slightly related note, I talked to a Columbia alumnus who interviews for the school, and he said that when he looks for candidates who really want to go to Columbia, he likes to see students who apply to schools LIKE Columbia, and he explicitly mentioned the University of Chicago, since it has a core as well. He said that he can tell applicants who apply to schools such as Brown, which has absolutely no core curriculum, in addition to Columbia, don't really want to go to Columbia.</p>
<p>So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you're applying to schools that are similar to Chicago, perhaps it might be a good idea to list them. But, after all, it is Chicago, and they are quite bizarre.</p>
<p>eeeeek....im not sure how similar these schools are to uchicago: amherst, rice, pomona, washu, wesleyan, dartmouth, grinnell, carleton, university of puget sound, and KU.....kinda looks like chicago's the only real university here except for washu.....crap....</p>
<p>ok, looking at that list, it does make one wonder why you'd even be interested in chicago. honestly, what attracts you to it if you're attracted to a school like wesleyan or wash u.? the schools feel like polar opposites, and i don't mean to cast either in a negative light. i think what the interviewer said is true. however, i also don't think that this is an absolutely crucial issue to your status as an applicant. the question is most probably just for their records, so they know what type of applicant they're marketing to in the future, with the bonus of serving to paint an even more accurate picture of you, the applicant of the present.</p>
<p>I think the common thread is that Kosuke has picked schools that are less pre-professionally oriented and have a long history of preparing kids for academic careers. Washington U might be the sole exception, but, with the amount of literature they send out, ppl are boound to make mistakes. :)</p>