Schools that are like Chicago, but less selective (?)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>Showtunesguy: I'm not sure what you are so touchy about. If anyone suggested that your college was an easy score, that got corrected a long time ago. Of course, Chicago is not "at the top of the chart" for lots of students, just as it is at the top of the chart for others. The question isn't whether this school or that school is superior or inferior to another. The question is, for people who are drawn to Chicago, what other schools may also attract them, besides the obvious ones? (The obvious ones: the Ivy League, Swarthmore, Northwestern.) That question will be answered differently for each person, depending on what they value about Chicago: the city, the core, the math department, the economics department, the Gothic architecture, Scav Hunt, the midwest, the grad students, the masochism, etc.</p>

<p>It's no slam on any school that people who like a different college may also like it. My daughter, for example, felt completely at home at Wesleyan. She knows that she would have been perfectly happy there. She liked Chicago more for a variety of obvious reasons -- she preferred to be in a city, she wanted more people, she liked the idea of a core curriculum -- but that didn't mean that she couldn't appreciate what a great school Wesleyan might be for her. Ultimately, though, everyone has to choose one college, so they tend to obsess about the differences between them rather than their fundamental similarities.</p>

<p>Which brings me to icy9ff8:</p>

<p>I think you are obsessing about differences that are not as important as you think, and you are not being respectful enough of other people's perceptions. </p>

<p>My perception, based on a fair number of cases: The students at Brown and Chicago are interchangeable. They are basically the same people. I would also say, based on fewer cases, some of them a little out-of-date: The students at Reed and Chicago are very, very similar. Reed was very high on my daughter's list, and she would have applied if she hadn't gotten accepted EA at Chicago and concluded that she would choose Chicago over Reed. But she would have chosen Reed over 95% of the schools on unalove's list. (She saw Reed as a Pacific Northwest version of Swarthmore, and the Pennsylvania version of Swarthmore was too close to her parents' house to merit consideration.) Similarly, my son saw many of the things he liked about Chicago at Toronto (and some things he liked better). Did he like Chicago more? Sure. Could he have been happy and stimulated at Toronto? No doubt. </p>

<p>Northwestern hasn't come up in this discussion at all. Personally, I see Northwestern and Chicago as diametrically different, and I feign shock when I hear about people applying to both. Except I know perfectly well that lots of people like both and apply to both, and they are not deluded or irrational. I still have my prejudices -- the people I know who loved Northwestern would not have liked Chicago, the people I know who would have liked Chicago felt very ambivalent about their years at Northwestern -- but I am a little humble about them. None of us has comprehensive knowledge about experiences we haven't lived through (or even some we have lived through).</p>

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<p>JHS: I think you need to go back and read others posts more carefully, especially if you are going to make unfounded and erroneous personal attacks. A quick review of your recent postings suggests that you don't have a kind word for anybody. That is sad--but at least you have the consolation of always being right!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
unalove, by the way, I suggest that you don't propose a list to Chicago applicants-- I don't see many other top schools doing that, and I certainly don't think that you need to steer them in any direction.

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</p>

<p>I actually think people should make lists like this for more schools on these forums. I know when I was looking for colleges, the "people who applied here also applied to..." section in some books and on some sites was very hepful, but those were normally shorter/less varied lists than this. If UChicago is someone's first choice and they are looking for other schools to apply to in case they don't get in,* a list like this could be very helpful. Likewise, if someone likes certian aspects of UChicago and not others, that person might end up finding their perfect school from this list. And the same would obviously be true if such a list were compiled for other schools. </p>

<p>Now, we could argue that this list would be more useful if it were split up into catagories ("schools in city. Schools with a core, etc."), but it's certianly a good start. </p>

<p>*And that's not to say all of the schools here are easier to get into than UChicago. But as we all know, admissions is quirky, and someone could get into Brown or Wesleyan or JHU or [insert hard-to-get-into-school-here] and not UChicago--or visa versa.</p>

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<p>icy, how was JHS making any personal attacks? You chose to disagree with him and he chose to disagree with you.</p>

<p>I like Weskid's idea of splitting up the schools into categories -- maybe we could actually tack on reasons for similarity to the schools on the list?</p>

45

<p>Just read his first line addressed to me. Also his first line to showtunesguy. Although disagreeing is fine, there are less personal ways, and more intelligent methods of fashioning a point of view--whether argumentative or not. He simply needs to respect others opinions and experiences without the personal nastiness. After a quick review of his earlier posts to others, I realized that this is his way of asserting his unsupported opinions and find his disrespect toward others both ironic and sad.</p>

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<p>JHS is being completely rational. It's showtunes guy who came in here acting like everybody was being rude. What's so wrong about recommending schools similar to Chicago? Unalove never even suggested that Chicago was better than these schools.</p>

<p>Some of the posters over here are the nicest on CC but every once in a while a few people come claiming everybody here is rude for some absurd reason.</p>

47

<p>I can't see how JHS expressing his opinion is disrespectful in any way. </p>

<p>Basically all posters make assertions, and it would be tedious indeed if we prefaced every remark with, "I know it's only my opinion, but....." Those objecting to JHS made very strong assertions very positively.</p>

<p>I don't know where all this heat is coming from. This thread was started merely to be helpful; if it's not helpful to you so be it.</p>

48

<p>As I've stated elsewhere, I was displeased with the lack of guidance I got in choosing colleges, and though I do have qualms with the premise of this website (frequenter that I am), at least I feel others can get something out of it.</p>

<p>What was my college selection process? Take the USNWR lists. Slice out all the liberal arts schools. Slice out any school that's not ranked in the top 30. Slice out any school that might not fit, for one reason or another. Tack on an in-state safety. List is done.</p>

<p>Say I hadn't gotten into Chicago, but that I got into another top 30 school (I say top 30 because I think my cutoff for consideration was around NYU in the ranks). I'm sure I would have enjoyed it, to some extent or another. But would it have been the best school for me? Probably not.</p>

<p>That's why I like compiling lists of schools that I think are worthwhile and maybe not as obvious to those of us who think solely in terms of the Ivy League or Ivy League plus. One of the reasons I included Vassar and Wes was not because I think less of them than Chicago, but because I think they are undervalued as schools, even though I think they give amazing room for personal growth and being one's self. </p>

<p>What's important to me in a school? That the school can challenge you academically. That you can grow socially, academically, personally. That you can explore an area outside of a campus or college town. That you don't have to feel tied to a major, a program, a way of life, and can discover yourself more honestly.</p>

49

<p>
[quote]
Michigan (you can pretty much tell your chances based on stats, even out-of-state)

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</p>

<p>That would make it the OPPOSITE of UChicago. It's almost impossible to tell your chances of getting in solely based on stats. In my opinion, UChicago, more so than any other top school, views applicants truly in a holistic manner, placing particular emphasis on the essays.</p>

50

<p>Thanks for this thread. As much as my D loves U of C, it may not be in the cards for her due to selectivity and cost. It is great to get opinions (varied as they are) on schools with Chicago's "feel".</p>

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<p>If I were to choose one school as the most U of C, I would go with Barnard. Like the U of C, Barnard tends to draw in students who were not necessarily the all-stars in high school, but are academically motivated to boot. That, the liberal arts emphasis, and the urban location make me think that Barnard is the "most U of C" school of all of the ones on the list. I also know some Barnard/Columbia faculty and Barnard students and graduates-- to me, the schools are very similar.</p>

<p>In terms of a school that admits the menfolk too, I have more trouble pointing out one U of C- alike. I think Hopkins and WashU share some major characteristics, but maybe Swarthmore or Reed share more of the personality.</p>

<p>Ha, I have friends in Dodd-Mead. They're pretty crazy in general and crazy about their house. They do happen to have an amazing house website:</p>

<p><a href="http://dodd-mead-house.uchicago.edu/main.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://dodd-mead-house.uchicago.edu/main.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>^ unalove, this is so eerie -- Barnard and UChicago are my top two! Indeed, I think the decision of which I go to (provided I got accepted at both) will be made by money...</p>

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<p>I have one who looked at Reed (and absolutely loved it) because of the overlaps with Chicago, but not at Brown, Columbia, or other LACs, but <em>is</em> applying to UMich. I suspect it depends what one's criteria are that determines the "overlaps" between one college and another.</p>

54

<p>unalove & thricedotted....</p>

<p>whoaaa. CREEPY. Barnard + UChicago are ALSO my top two. I actually have my Barnard interview on Friday and my Chicago interview the very next day!!</p>

<p>I don't know what all the commotion is about. Unalove's list is extremely helpful to any jr/sr currently going through the college search process.</p>

<p>My list was very similar to unalove's during the summer. Of course, that list has now been narrowed down to 5 (6 including Chicago, of course :) ).</p>

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<p>Had Barnard not been in my backyard (like... literally), I would have definitely considered it tops alongside Chicago. The two problems for me were a) that it is in my backyard, and b) that I wasn't crazy about the male/female thing. I either wanted a women's college or a co-ed college; I didn't want somewhere that was quasi both.</p>

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<p>I feel the same way about Swarthmore. It's seriously a minute or two away. I don't even want to live a half hour away let alone that close. If I were to go to Swarthmore I'd probably be going to a lot of the same places as I do now. Weird.</p>

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<p>unalove: I think the perceived similarity is quite perceptive. My D goes to Barnard, and it is surprisingly rigorous and demanding as well as sophisticated and exciting.</p>

<p>S who was accepted at Chicago is a less structured person, even though he had higher STATs. Perhaps it's best he didn't go, but we both think so fondly of it.</p>

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<p>I can speak highly of Barnard women as a group in a way that I can't speak of any other schools' students as a group. I think that Barnard women go beyond "smart" as defined by SAT scores and GPA and are truly intellectuals and thinkers. The same goes for many womens' colleges, I think-- they attract students who will sacrifice aspects of social life for a quality education. A prospective Chicagoan has to make a similar sacrifice when he or she realizes that Chicago is less about partying and more about Marx. (That's not to say that there isn't a party scene here, but it is to say that it pales in comparison to other schools).</p>

<p>Barnard is somewhat more hipster/cosmopolitan than Chicago, but overall I think it attracts students looking for the same kind of undergraduate experience.</p>

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<p>Dress standards at Barnard were waaaay beyond anything I've seen in Hyde Park.</p>

60

<p>Yes. Definitely.</p>

<p>I've never imagined that so many students could wear math t-shirts on one campus... </p>

<p>That is not a good thing.</p>