<p>Thanks Tarhunt, your sarcasm was duly appreciated.</p>
<p>No, I mentioned it because I've heard Unalove and many other Chicago students I know in the real (aka non-CC) world mention Tufts as a similar school. I, five years ago, when applying to undergrad, considered both schools seriously for many of the same reasons.</p>
<p>lolabelle:</p>
<p>Why don't you just go make up new lyrics to "O Come all Ye Faithful." I'm sure the African-Americans at Tufts will appreciate it.</p>
<p>^
That's WAY out of line. :mad:</p>
<p>Snippy remarks are one reason I've decided not to post anymore. It's not like other people don't promote their own schools.</p>
<p>Tufts works-- it didn't make it to the original list, but it's got the city and the same undergrad population as Chicago. It was towards the top of my college list.</p>
<p>I would not say that Tufts is much like Chicago. When people ask this question, I think "flavor." When asked, "What flavors are a lot like chicken?" I can probably come up with a number of alternatives. If someone asks, "What flavors are a lot like licorice," I'm a bit stumped. Surely, I could only find a few other flavors that come close.</p>
<p>To me, Chicago is definitely licorice. It's a very strong flavor, and there just aren't many other flavors like it. The culture there is very strong and very specific. It drives student behaviors in very specific ways that are unlike those at most other institutions. And, like licorice, it's a flavor some people like and some people hate.</p>
<p>Culturally, I cannot agree with very many of the schools put forward as being roughly the same flavor as Chicago. Culturally, Tufts is not at all like Chicago. There are many people who would love Tufts' culture who would hate Chicago, and vice versa.</p>
<p>I have nothing against Tufts. Two of my children have been accepted there but decided not to attend. It's just that I don't see Tufts being at all "like" Chicago except in very superficial ways that, generally, count for very little.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's not like other people don't promote their own schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I never have and I never will. Yes, there are other people who are convinced that their school is the best school in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD (Golly gee, Mr. Wizard). That's because they're stuck in post-decisional behavior, which I find extremely unbecoming, especially on a board that's supposed to give advice to others about what's best for THEM. Not the poster.</p>
<p>So, when Alexandre suggests that the University of Michigan is the best possible place in the universe, or when huskem suggests that Connecticut College should be considered for a program of study consisting of exactly three faculty members, I find that sort of misleading stuff to be harmful to the people coming here for information. </p>
<p>I'll call them on it again, if necessary.</p>
<p>Back on-topic...</p>
<p>Chicago is a flavor, and it's hard to find schools with exactly our vibe. People often mention Reed and Swat for having Chicago "vibes," but as a prospective college applicant I did not feel drawn to Reed or Swarthmore the way I felt drawn to Chicago. Reed felt too "weird," Swarthmore too "competitive." To my friends at S and R who chose those schools over Chicago, Chicago was too "cold," too "unfriendly," not all that "innovative." It all depends on point of view.</p>
<p>Were I to choose another school to attend, I would probably choose Oberlin, Bryn Mawr, or Barnard. I like the idea of an academically passionate undergraduate body where the students didn't necessarily have the perfect scores and perfect grades upon arrival.</p>
<p>Chicago and Tufts overlap in the way that I as a Chicagoan could see myself happy at Tufts; I would probably be happier at Tufts than I would at other schools I could think of, and I'm sure a portion of Tufts kids would be happy here. It's not going to be everybody's favorite school, but that's fine. What's important for the sake of this thread is that Tufts is a school worth looking into if one likes what one sees at Chicago.</p>
<p>The longer this post continues, the more I realize how unique the U of C is.
Schools like Swarthmore have an overwhelmingly political bent that is not at all overwhelming at Chicago. Reed has a drug culture that is not Chicago either.
I say this as someone who works at the U of C, whose daughter on her "college trip" last fall loved Swarthmore, and whose nephew goes to Reed.
The University of Chicago is unique pure and simple.
There are no substitutes.</p>
<p>I don't see any similarities between Chicago and Cornell. Urban v. rural, economics powerhouse v. so-so economics program, fairly strong athletics D1 v. D111........</p>
<p>In my opinion, Cornell is an imitation of Chicago.
Urban vs,rural? U of C students rarely venture downtown. Athletics at Cornell? Are you kidding? What athletics?
Both schools have lots of hard working students who take their intellectual development very, very seriously. Maybe because they didn't get into Harvard or Stanford. Hey, that's one motivator among many. Super bright kids all the same.</p>
<p>While I personally don't see the connection, I could understand somebody else making one.</p>
<p>I don't agree with that. </p>
<p>Yes there is a degree of overlap.</p>
<p>But the majority of students at Cornell attend specialized programs of study outside of the traditional liberal arts. Arts & Sciences students are a minority at Cornell. Whereas at Chicago that's all its about.</p>
<p>Cornell has one of the largest intramural athletics programs around, actually, IIRC. Lots of people there get into hockey and lacrosse. </p>
<p>Cornell has a huge frat scene that substantially influences social life. I don't think Chicago does.</p>
<p>Even focusing just on Arts & sciences, Cornell Arts & Sciences students live in dorms together with people in the Ag School, Human Ecology, Architects, Engineers, etc, Hopefully they specifically want to have that diversity in the types of people they will be encountering and living with. And attending classes with. But people at Cornell are likely more different from each other than people at Chicago are, and this does affect life there to a degree I believe. For better or for worse. But I think it's probably a somewhat different experience than if it just consisted of an Arts & Sciences college.</p>
<p>Chicago has a core curriculum. Cornell doesn't. </p>
<p>Cornell is in Ithaca, NY. Chicago is in, well, Chicago. This is a huge difference.</p>
<p>Cornell attracts a diversity of students, but there is one faction that sees "Ivy League"and basically only went there for that; the prestige-mongers, if you will.They need their BMW. This is by no means a majority, but they are represented. This one faction is probably not as highly represented at Chicago. There is more of a pre-professional bent to a number of the students at Cornell, more Northwestern-like than Chicago-like. It's a big school, so both these factions are represented. And others.</p>
<p>But not identical to Chicago, In many ways.</p>
<p>I'd agree that both schools have quality Arts & Sciences programs, with plenty of intellectually driven students. In an environment heavily influenced by their excellent grad schools. To that (lone?) extent they are similar.</p>
<p>And Kurt Vonnegut attended both. But he was an engineering student at Cornell, I believe, and hated it. Though he liked working on the newspaper. I think he much preferred Chicago.</p>
<p>monydad...
I don't have any disagreements with your post.
I live in Hyde Park and the high school students who are attracted to the U of C are also attracted to Cornell. These tend to be "intellectual" kids who don't quite have the numbers for Stanford or Harvard. Unlikely to go into Ag Science or Hotel Management, but intellectual kids nonetheless.
Maybe I have a "Hyde Park" perspective.</p>
<p>As I said, such people will indeed be well represented at Cornell.</p>
<p>However, so will zillions of other types, with completely different objectives and personalities. And they will be there to study completely different things as well.</p>
<p>There will be your people in Hyde Park tooling up their applications.</p>
<p>And, at the same time, the people in rural upstate New York tooling up theirs.</p>
<p>And the people tooling up their applications whose other schools of choice are Northwestern and Penn, not Chicago.</p>
<p>Cornell will be a prospective home to all these people, with their vastly different agendas and interests. Your Hyde Park group is just one of a number of viable contingents there.</p>
<p>It is a very heterogeneous place.</p>
<p>Makes me want to find out more about Cornell for my last (just turned 12)!</p>