<p>it has always been a great place, but clearly, its on the rise</p>
<p>admissions rate now 36....</p>
<p>That link doesn't say 36, it's says 404, as in "HTTP 404 - Link not found"</p>
<p>urs works for some reason.....</p>
<p>The others were trying to go the link with the .... actually in it.</p>
<p>i presume you got in and are going, bball...?</p>
<p>BBall, Chicago has not improved just because its acceptance rate dropped from 40% to 36%. You cannot possibly rate a university of Chicago's calibre based on so shallow and meaningless a criterion.</p>
<p>
[quote]
it has always been a great place, but clearly, its on the rise</p>
<p>admissions rate now 36....
[/quote]
oye vey. The last college that should tout acceptance rate is Chicago. It just makes Chicago less credible when they say they have a self-selecting applicant pool if they celebrate a 4 percent drop in acceptance rate.</p>
<p>chicago, has one of the most self-selectin pools in the country...i am just saying, that its nice to see at least, from a prospective student (admitted as a freshman and transfer), that it cares about its image, i mean, come on, for a school that has one of the most academically talented student bodies in the country, it is a shame that no one gives them credit for it</p>
<p>most ppl on these boards, when they consider selectivity, they fail to see chicago as selective, when in fact, if a kid with a SAT of 1350 applies, his chances of acceptance regardless of his essays is VERY SLIM, their range is like 1350-1530, which is dam impressive, and their average SAT verbal is higher than every ivy minus h,y,p, so plz take a moment to look at the students to go there, b/c they are truly worthy of ppl's praise as much as ppl from any other school</p>
<p>here's another thought: we REALLy don't know what these schools look at in considering applicants. The best we can do is speculate. Maybe they really do put a lot of emphasis into SATs in the app process, whereas another school would prefer candidates with special non-academic talents. Maybe they're competitive b/c they attract enough very high-end students but they still have a wide range. We're really not going to know. I do know a girl accepted by Chicago but rejected by Midd. My guess is Chicago is what it wants to be, and it's right for some and not for others, not necessarily better or worse than other schools.</p>
<p>I'm glad you were accepted, bball, but I fear you are after some intellectual holy grail. As long as you enjoy the journey, that's fine, but make sure you aren't hoping to find some sort of magic enlightenment, otherwise you might be disappointed. Intelligence can't be ranked into infinity; there's no such thing and there's really no point, no "truth" to be discovered by the smartest brain and you might not be transformed by being around higher SATs.</p>
<p>bball87, you don't have to try to convince me that Chicago is a great school - trust me, I think very, very highly of it. I just find it dissapointing to read quotes like:</p>
<p>
[quote]
If the admissions office had anticipated a higher yield, they could have accepted a smaller percentage of students from the applicant pool, thus upping the U of Cs selctivity.
[/quote]
Chicago has always been about not sacrificing an amazing education and academic atmosphere in order to get artificial bumps in acceptance rate. Seeing the university celebrate lowering its acceptance rate makes it seem as petty as other universities, and the Chicago I know is better than that. They always knew that the school's quality is determined by the applicants that matriculate and not the ones that they reject.</p>
<p>
[quote]
While the admissions office currently has no plans to switch to the Common Application, its always something we consider, ONeill said.
[/quote]
This also really scares me. As it is now, Chicago's application is so unique, and they're essay prompts are actually stimulating. I always thought that Chicago was able to get the student body it wanted (academic, off-beat, motivated, intelligent, etc.) precisely because they're so different from you're standard top 25 school. If they go to the common app just to lower their acceptance rate (a really useless stat I might add), I will lose a lot of respect for the school.</p>
<p>cghen...ur failing to realize, there is a business here, colleges are worried about their reputation</p>
<p>are u sayin u lost ur respect for Northwestern and UPenn, that just went to the common ap</p>
<p>why do u think both made the move? its very clear, both wanted to increase their pools, to get the best possible students, and to lower their admit rates, it is a game my friend</p>
<p>Wash U, now is statistically one of the hardest schools in the country to get into, and acceptance rate feeds the frenzy, it now is at 19 percent, when 10 years ago, it was like 45 percent...and it has the student body to go along with that 19 percent....</p>
<p>i wouldn't lose ur respect for a school that wants to maintain it</p>
<p>I agree with Cghen. Nobody who matters cares about acceptance rates. Acceptance rates do not determine the quality of the student body. If we were talking about a school that only had 100 students, that arguement would hold water. But in schools that have 4,000+ undergrads, you are going to have an amazing pool of diverse talent, whether you accept 10% of 50% of the applicants.</p>
<p>
[quote]
cghen...ur failing to realize, there is a business here, colleges are worried about their reputation
[/quote]
Most colleges aren't run like businesses are - i.e. generating profits - but rather to maximize the ability to give out quality education as well as preserving the schools longevity. You do this through solid investment strategies as well as producing alumni who will a) be successful and b) attribute that success to Chicago so they donate lots of money.</p>
<p>
[quote]
are u sayin u lost ur respect for Northwestern and UPenn, that just went to the common ap
[/quote]
Well I know nothing about what UPenn used before, but I did apply to Northwestern on their app, and it was nothing special. The Chicago application, on other hand, is called the uncommon application for a reason, and goes a long way towards getting the student body I thought they wanted. </p>
<p>
[quote]
why do u think both made the move? its very clear, both wanted to increase their pools, to get the best possible students, and to lower their admit rates
[/quote]
See, you're assuming that if you have more applicants - no matter who they are - you'll end up with a better student body. I'd argue that this isn't the case for Chicago at all. Rather, they want students who are willing to fill out an individual, different application for Chicago. If students aren't going to go through that trouble for a college, they probably don't think very highly of it, do they? Chicago wants students who look at the standard college application and think "this is ridiculous - this application doesn't tell the college anything about who I am. I want a school that celebrates my own creativity - not limit it." That's why the uncommon app is special. They could get rid of interviews too, because those might also discourage people from applying, but they're are also an important gauge on the applicants' quality. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Wash U, now is statistically one of the hardest schools in the country to get into, and acceptance rate feeds the frenzy, it now is at 19 percent, when 10 years ago, it was like 45 percent...and it has the student body to go along with that 19 percent....
[/quote]
Great, you want Chicago to be more like WUSTL. Let me ask you this, do you really want to go to college with students who "fed in the frenzy", who only went because it had a low acceptance rate, or do you want to go to a school then genuinely cares about giving a quality education and is willing to accept that it has to sacrifice some reputation with the unimportant layman to achieve it. If you answer the former, you might be going to the wrong school.</p>
<p>^ Actually, it kind of does. If you were a college, would you rather have 8,000 students to choose the best and brightest from, or 20,000? I'm sure almost all of the applicants are bright and wonderful and all, but what if in those 8,000 kids you've missed out on a student that would have been great for your school?</p>
<p>Collegedude, some universities believe in the spirit of education. Chicago is one such school. Yes, some schools may have more applicants, but more isn't better if the majority of those students do not fit the profile.</p>