<p>Oh Slipper, when you said you’d pick NU over Chicago without a second thought, why is that? Chicago is now more selective, has a higher yield, has comparable alum loyalty (both Chicago and NU have around a ~35% Alum giving rate, comparable to UPenn, Columbia, etc.), and I can’t imagine that NU grads fare so much better than Chicago grads at top grad schools and for top jobs. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, you say you’d pick NU over Chicago without a second thought. Again, why is this? </p>
<p>I’m thinking it’s because you’re conflating what would be a better fit for you with quantitative measures of undergrad quality. When schools are roughly in the same ballpark for the metrics you mention, I would think that a holistic concept of fit would be the principle tool used to decide between two schools. If schools aren’t in the same ballpark, then perhaps the factors you list should play a more important role.</p>
<p>I’m wondering, for you, what constitutes being in different ballparks? Chicago has an 18% accept rate and about a 40% yield, a place like Dartmouth has a 13% accept rate and probably around a 50% yield in the open market (when adjusted for Dart’s use of ED). I’m assuming Dart sends about 33% of its law school-bound grads to top law schools, Chicago (from my rough estimates) would probably send about 25% of its LS-bound grads to top law schools. Dart probably has around a 85% accept rate to med school, Chicago is probably around 75%. </p>
<p>All of these stats indicate that, to me, these schools are roughly in the same ballpark, with Dart probably being quite consistent over a number of years, and Chicago on an upward trajectory. To me, then, I would see these two schools as peers, just as, to me, Duke, Chicago, NU, Columbia, Penn, and Brown are all essentially peers. After the very top 5 or so schools (i.e. HYPS), the next ten or so really seem muddled together to me, to the point where a 7% boost in law school accept rate isn’t enough to pick one over the other. </p>
<p>Again, given your propensity to pick NU over Chicago, I think you’re conflating fit with what you mistakenly mention are NU’s quantitative strengths over U of C (selectivity, alum loyalty, etc. - all of which tend to lean more toward U of C than NU).</p>