sick of people thinking University of Chicago is all that

College Search & Selection
81

<p>I have nothing better to do with my life. I'm actually only replying so that high school kids don't get the wrong impression of Chicago.</p>

<p>I'll start by saying that UChicago is my favorite school in the nation. I would certainly be going there next year if Harvard had not offered me such a wonderful FA package. Regardless, I can assure you that the acceptance rate is so high because the only people that take the time to work through their application actually deserve to go. Their application essays are world famous and require a unique intellectual approach. Go check them out if you don't believe me. Of the students that get in, almost all seem to be deciding between the countries top schools, I know of more then two dozen that turned down either Harvard, Yale, or Princeton to come to Chicago.</p>

<p>The school and its students could care less about the rankings. It was never mentioned in their presentations or in any discussions of why we should come. Students who come love to learn, above all other things. If knowledge is your goal, you couldn't go to a better school. The first day I visited campus, Gary Becker invited me into his office and talked with me for 20 mintutes and gave me a article to read. Not bad for a man who has won the Nobel Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and is one of the most influential Economist alive.</p>

<p>Finally, Chicago is only Prestigious when it counts. Most people you will meat will have never heard of it. However, well educated people will be VERY impressed. When people asked me where I was going and I said Chicago, they either thought I was going to a community college or one of the top schools in the world.</p>

82

<p>
[quote]
Why Chicago is prestigious:
Top 10 business school
Top 14 Law school
Top 10 med school
Top PhD programs across the board in Economics (#1 or 2), History, Sciences, the list is too long for me to list
Most Nobel Prize winers of any college
Where the atomic bomb was developed
Many famous alums like Kurt Vonnegut

[/quote]
</p>

<p>And Indiana Jones. He's pretty amazing. :-p</p>

83

<p>Acceptance rate doesn't define prestigious. There are a multitude of factors that affect the total number of applicants to a particular school. Also, there are many factors that affect the designation of prestigious when defining a college or university. Claiming the U. of Chicago can't be prestigious because of a 40% acceptance rate is ignorance at best and stupidity at worst. Nobody in their right mind should accept that rationale.</p>

84

<p>It doesn't matter. The OP is gonna come back and retort that "UChicago has a 40% acceptance rate der der der and dats not prestiguos and dont desrve to b top 10 wah wah wah its a black sheep bahhh."</p>

85

<p>How the hell do you get more prestigious than a school that created its own school of economics?</p>

86

<p>"sick of people thinking University of Chicago is all that </p>

<hr>

<p>University of Chicago has a FORTY PERCENT acceptance rate.</p>

<p>that is ridiculous; a school that is so easy to get into has no business being prestigious, though the average sat scores are high I admit"</p>

<p>HEY WHY ARE YOU BASHING U OF CHICAGO???I´VE READ SOME OF YOUR COMMENTS AND ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT YOU HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT...MAYBE YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE WRONG CROWD..U OF C IS ASSOCIATED WITH 81 NOBEL PRIZES...JUST READ A LITLE ABOUT IT...</p>

87

<p>LOL, I love how everybody has jumped on this thread before I got a turn at feeding the troll. I just have to say... wow.... what support from CC-ers who have no official affiliation with the U of C!</p>

<p>So, here's what I can add:</p>

<p>University of Chicago-affiliated people have done lots of famous, infamous, groundbreaking, life-changing things. That's really cool, and that historical relevance has something to do with prestige, just like the way I think UVA will always be prestigious because it has Tommy J. ** However, you're probably not going to do that stuff, so the fact that somebody once did something famous at a school you're considering shouldn't matter to you in choosing a college.**</p>

<p>So yeah, U of C has some basis for people considering it prestigious. Historical. Interesting. Whatever. </p>

<p>(Personally, I find it fascinating that the reason you read poetry in English class the way you do is largely thanks to a bunch of people who met as undergraduates at Vanderbilt, but New Criticism has become so apparent it's hard to explain why it's important, and Vanderbilt falls on the bubble of what CC people consider as "prestigious," so it's often ignored). </p>

<p>But what is prestige, anyway, and why is it important? What constitutes a "top 10" school, and why is a "top 10" important? Are you enough of an expert on every school to feel qualified to set out 10 as they "very best?" And why only 10, and not 37 or 48?</p>

<p>If the examination of the U of C comes from the disparity between acceptance rate and rank and why that is the way it is, I think arbiter213 made a great observation. If you can sell something in a way that everybody and their dog wants it, it doesn't mean it's a great product, it means that it's either desirable on its own merits or it was sold in a way that makes you want it. Or both. My impression is that the U of C is not the best choice for a lot of aspiring college applicants for a variety of reasons, and that's perfectly okay with me. It is a great choice for a lot of people, though.</p>

88

<p>Eh, I'd say out of the top 10 schools on USNWR, Chicago is the LEAST known, which really means if anything, people don't think it's all that as much as they should. However, I would say that if I ranked it I wouldn't rank it number 9, I'd probably switch Chicago with Cornell, but anyway 3 spots isn't really much.</p>

89

<p>Unalove, I was wondering when you were going to come out and play! :)</p>

90

<p>CountingDown-- believe it or not, I have a job that isn't surfing CC, and I didn't catch this thread until I came home from work. I read the thread not particularly carefully, and I cried tears of laughter and joy all the way through. :-)</p>

91

<p>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA</p>

<p>I'm sorry, I realize that it doesn't matter that you make grammatical errors because this is the Internet and you probably weren't really paying attention, but, Mr. Harvard, I laughed. Most people you will that most people you will meat will have never heard of it; I'm not that smart, but I've never seen someone mix up "meat" and "meet," let alone a Harvard student.</p>

<p>Sorry.</p>

<p>I read a pretty good argument about how it doesn't matter how many famous alumni the school "produces" shouldn't matter.</p>

<p>University of Chicago-affiliated people have done lots of famous, infamous, groundbreaking, life-changing things. That's really cool, and that historical relevance has something to do with prestige, just like the way I think UVA will always be prestigious because it has Tommy J. However, you're probably not going to do that stuff, so the fact that somebody once did something famous at a school you're considering shouldn't matter to you in choosing a college.</p>

92

<p>Seriously, would it have mattered where Einstein went to college?</p>

<p>He would've been a genius physicist whereever he went to college.</p>

<p>Also, it's pretty hypocritical that you're calling me the troll when you are the one who said that rice will never be or touch UC.</p>

<p>There are plenty of people that debate the rankings, and I never said that Rice or Dartmouth is better than UC; I just think that UC shouldn't be top 10.
There is no such thing as one university being better than another, because "better" means different things to different people.</p>

93

<p>I didn't spell it out, but my argument (the one you're citing there), is threefold:</p>

<p>1) If we are going to have a barroom brawl about the top 10/15 most prestigious schools (because that never happens on CC), I think Chicago has a legitimate argument for being in the top 15, top 10 or maybe even top 5 in a very superficial and silly way using almost any data points you want to support your argument. I've seen almost every kind of ranking imaginable and Chicago tends to place pretty predictably. (Somewhere between 5 and 15, usually). The only ranking I could think of where Chicago would not place as highly is a rank of colleges based on acceptance rate. Then, I think Deep Springs would lead the pack. And we all know how many CC kids talk endlessly about their dreams to go to DS!</p>

<p>2) These prestige arguments are ultimately stupid, for many reasons. That we know. If you want to go somewhere where people will either a) know your school, or b) make a comment on your school when they hear its name, think about where you will live after graduation, and if nothing else, choose a school that's big on football, like Michigan or Penn State or Notre Dame. (I think it's impossible not to like Notre Dame after seeing "Rudy"). Don't assume everybody knows about the ivy league.</p>

<p>3) Even with my ire towards ranks and prestige, I think that Chicago stands very well on its own merits the way I think that a lot of other schools also stand well on their own merits. Chicago does not need prestige to make it a good place to be. I do not need to think of it as a "top 10" or "non top 10" school to have a lot of pride in it.</p>

<p>I'm just getting very fed up with poster-"experts" who feel the need to tier or rank colleges. I could give you a list of colleges that make me feel yummy inside and that list probably wouldn't correspond to any "official" college rank. So what's the big deal about Chicago being a part of this vaunted "top 10" or not? Why don't we just wonder if it's a good school on its own terms?</p>

94

<p>I thought Vonnegut went to Cornell...</p>

95

<p>I agree with Neo. He (or she) is The One (who's right about self-selectivity).</p>

<p>Sorry, just a failed Matrix joke attempt. I try.</p>

96

<p>"There is no such thing as one university being better than another, because "better" means different things to different people."</p>

<p>Why ever then did you start this thread?</p>

97

<p>Vonnegut attended Cornell for three years but never graduated. He was drafted by the Army in '44, and subsequently studied a bit at CMU. While at Cornell he was pretty caught up in student activities, studying to be an engineer while active in his fraternity and the managing editor for the daily paper.</p>

<p>Upon return to the country after the war he enrolled in a MA program in Anthropology at UChicago. But the faculty rejected his thesis and no degree was awarded. That is, until, he published Cat's Cradle, which the faculty deemed worthy of a degree.</p>

<p>So his only academic degree is a masters, not a bachelors. Cornell doesn't bestow any sort of honorary degrees, so he would have had to complete his credits in Ithaca to earn his undergraduate degree.</p>

<p>I had the chance to meet Vonnegut before he died. A national treasure. </p>

<p>And so it goes.</p>

98

<p>
[quote]
Wow this thread epitomizes all that is wrong with College Confidential. Congratulations.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>No, this thread epitomizes CollegeConfidential. Scary, isn't it?</p>

<p>
[quote]
Are these the kinds of things you think about when the lights are off and you're alone in your room?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think the fact that this sadly valid point went unaddressed indicates the answer to be a reluctant "yes."</p>

99

<p>no.</p>

<p>i think about girls and football.</p>

<p>Why would I obsess over the fact that I think UC shouldn't be ranked as high?</p>

<p>It's not like it matters to me; it's just an opinion I have.</p>

<p>Also, was I the only one that thought the Harvard student confusing "meet" with "meat" hilarious?</p>

100

<p>
[quote]
Even with my ire towards ranks and prestige, I think that Chicago stands very well on its own merits the way I think that a lot of other schools also stand well on their own merits. Chicago does not need prestige to make it a good place to be. I do not need to think of it as a "top 10" or "non top 10" school to have a lot of pride in it.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well stated, unalove.
If your liking of your school is dependent upon whether it makes everyone else's top 10 list, then I submit you're too dependent on other people's opinions. And that's the very antithesis of being "smart." There's nothing "smart" about being dependent on or needing validation by other people's opinions.</p>