<p>Starting soon, for many of you, the Nobel Prize news will start to come in. Not all will be good news. Not all will be what you hoped for or expected. Hang in there. Play with your grandkids and celebrate any good news, whatever it might be. In the long run, these things sort themselves out. In the long run, folks will care about what your kids do far more than what you did!</p>
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<p>I thought the Nobel news just came in a couple months ago. I was robbed.</p>
<p>Bovertine…the nobel committe frequently makes mistakes in who they choose to award thie prize, but it has nothing to do with your ability. I am positive you will go on to many great deeds and to win many great awards in the future. For example, while my D has never been awarded a nobel prize, she did win a free coke at McDonald’s recently, which we feel is the start of some great things for her. Good luck to you!</p>
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<p>There are actually some scientists who get all cranky every year around Nobel prize announcement season. The people around them know to be extra careful :)</p>
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<p>All of which gives me an actual basis for commenting. Unlike some people.</p>
<p>I don’t see why there is any need for Chicago bashing. Yes, Chicago puts itself out as offering a different experience, and one more focused on the life of the mind. And? So what? If it’s not appealing to you, don’t go or don’t send your kids there. Problem solved.</p>
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<p>It’s okay. It lost some of its prestige for me when Carol Greider won it. She went to UCSB of all places.</p>
<p>UCSB??? And the world stayed on it’s access? Amazing.</p>
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<p>Was this an intentional “slip”? As in internet “access”? As opposed to “axis”. Perhaps the new definer???</p>
<p>intentional slip. Just kidding around. ;)</p>
<p>I thought I was in a college <em>discussion</em> forum. I put in my two cents about my family’s impression of the Chicago “intellectual” “Life of the Mind” marketing strategy. </p>
<p>I teach high school students. I have yet to meet an “intellectual” at the age of eighteen. But then I am defining intellectual as something more than a kid who likes to read and talk about stuff. I love to read (and sometimes talk about stuff)–I’m not an intellectual. My kid is very bright but surely not an “intellectual.” Frankly, I kind of didn’t want him attending a university that goes out of its way to tell impressionable young people that they are the be all and end all simply because they are matriculating at Chicago. Perhaps it would be helpful to define “intellectual.” I don’t think kids have had a chance even by age 20 to have learned enough to define themselves as such. That’s all. It seems to me Chicago must know that too-- so in sum the “Life of the Mind” mantra irritates me a bit, I admit. Every halfway decent university offers a “life of the mind” for those interested in seeking it out. One doesn’t need to attend Chicago to find it. But the strategy has obviously been successful (this generation has been raised being told how super-special they are) and the increased application numbers will surely ultimately boost them even more in the rankings.</p>
<p>^ I agree. I hate the term “intellectual” when defining a campus. “Intellectual” feel does not always equate to sucess. In fact, I am not sure what it really means. </p>
<p>I also used to get a kick out of some posters who insisted on defining the “quality” of an undergraduate institution by the number of students who go on to pursue PHD’s. That is another insignificant measurement used to defend certain institutions and exclude others.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the subjective definition of “intellectualism” and the quest for a PHD are not that important to everyone.</p>
<p>Mummom, I shudder to think that as a teacher of high school students you don’t realize that many, many, many important scholars are(were) often a tender age. From scientists to poets…some of the greatest minds were young ones. Seriously, please don’t be so dismissive of potential.</p>
<p>Hekau: potential vs. accomplishment is exactly what I was differentiating between.</p>
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<p>You have had limited experience, then. Most high-level academics/professors were deep thinkers very early on. It’s not something that you take a class in and then become that way. And, on top of that, many top students have already taken the equivalent of a college curriculum by the time they graduate from high school, so they are not only deep thinkers but also somewhat intellectually mature and advanced. </p>
<p>As for University of Chicago, I imagine they take the best students they can get. Not everybody will be an academic superstar. I do think that having a different value system does have consequences, though, both in who they pick, the culture of the student body, and the curriculum.</p>
<p>What disturbs me most of all about the strategy is how deeply cynical it is.</p>
<p>mummom, most top universities have got propaganda they throw out there.</p>
<p>True. Somehow this one bothers me more. So I’m done annoying people now… :)</p>
<p>I actually think the “life of the mind” branding is a very powerful, and well done one. I thought of this as a “differentiated positioning” more than anything else, NOT putting down other universities for being not intellectual enough. </p>
<p>When I first read about this mantra, I took it as, I think, they meant. Meaning, this is not a school for huge sport scenes, hectic social scenes dominated by Greeks and drinking, and J Crew and whatever-your-favorite-luxury-brand-name here- preppy types walking around with luxury goods at a tender age of 18-22. That this is a school where thoughtful engagement of the mind is a treasured and respected pass time, rather than be made fun of and dismissed as being “uncool”, and where the kids with intellectual aspiration and leaning are likely to find like minded young people who can discuss the meaning of life well into the wee hours.</p>
<p>This convinced me that it’s a perfect school for S1. He has the potential for developing his intellectual side - in fact, much to his dismay and chagrin, I consider him to be an intellectual in his outlook and the way he approaches issues, problems, and other life events. However, he wants to join Wall Street as soon as he graduates. This is all the more reason why he needs to go to Chicago. Once he misses this opportunity, his chosen field and ambition is such that he may just be completely engrossed in the world of material things and tangible goods. Thus, I felt that this is a reason why HE has to go to Chicago more than the kids who are planning to go to a Ph.D. program where they will have ample second and third chance to live the “life of the mind”. </p>
<p>I can understand why some people consider U Chicago simply not their cup of tea. Just as Notre Dame University with all the manifest Catholic emphasis will not be a right choice for my S1, U Chicago will be terrible choice for others - including my S2 who has a very different disposition from his older brother, who will thrive and succeed in a different environment that is a perfect fit for him.</p>
<p>However, I fail to understand the animosity some posters express about this “intellectual” side of the university’s branding. Are you equally offended by religious affiliation of certain schools? </p>
<p>BTW: reports coming from S1 amply reinforce the life of the mind mantra as being real, and not just a cynical marketing ploy. No, not everybody is sitting till wee hours discussing philosophy, but there are AMPLE resources available to kids who want to do that, with live-in faculty at dorm with an open door policy well into the night and early morning hours to engage 18 year olds with intellectual curiosity who just “dropped by”, courses with fewer than 20 kids where professors renowned in their fields are shredding the 18 year olds’ papers to pieces - sentence by sentence, and the upper class man who can hold court with comparative critiques on various version of Greek tragedy translations. S1 is telling me that he is finally learning to “read” truly with a one one one guidance from a faculty he respects very much (he has always been a voracious reader, but now he claims he did not really READ before). This is not what I am hearing from other kids in other colleges. So, this is what Chicago sells - this is their product differentiation, and I am a happy customer. Certainly not for everyone, but they are delivering the goods they are advertising. It’s a fair deal.</p>
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<p>Do you mean a complete college curriculum? Maybe a handful, but I think that’s exceedingly rare. I don’t think I’ve even read many profiles on this website that come close, and I’ve read some fairly impressive stats on here.</p>
<p>For example - I think it is fairly rare to see kids on here get out of high school with Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra and ODE. I think even I took those at the end of my Freshman year or in my Sophmore year in college, and I certainly learned a lot more after that.</p>