<p>The more I read about this University makes me want to apply along with the Ivy Leagues. There is no financial aid estimator, can anyone tell me how good it is?</p>
<p>On purely academic criteria, it yields little or nothing to the Ivies. For social prestige and networking, though, it would be a least a step or two (perhaps several) behind. It really depends upon how you weight such factors.</p>
<p>How good what is?</p>
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<p>this is a very narrow view. Yes, the gas attendant in a small central Wyoming town of 500 surely has no clue about about Chicago. Most “ordinary” middle class people may have a vague recognition of Darthmouth and Brown, while they have no idea about Chicago.</p>
<p>However, where it matters, U Chicago has a major fire power. S1 (freshman now) interned in Wall Street this summer. From CEO down to CFO, when they first introduced S2 as someone who is going to U Chicago in the fall, they all returned a (good natured) teasing remark of “Oh, where the fun comes to die. we need to show XXX some good time before the summer is over” One supervisor jokingly told him “Surely, you don’t need further explanation for this, you are going to Chicago”. Of course it’s well known that Chicago has unparalleled reputation in Academia. So, lack of prestige in whose eyes should the kids be concerned about? (In my own field - high tech - we hardly hear about Chicago, because it’s not an engineering school)</p>
<p>Another matter to consider, if you go into any international elite business, science, professional community, Chicago will have far more mileage than the likes of Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, and U Penn. Along side HYPSM, Caltech, and Columbia, Chicago is known to be one of the top global institutions. Chicago’s international reputation is far stronger than their domestic reputation. In a global work place, you need to think about this also. My relatives in different continents in opposite side have no idea about the likes of Brown, Duke, Dartmouth and Penn, but they know Chicago very well as a top elite institution with a global prestige.</p>
<p>I agree that at the other side of the world obviously Chicago means something awesome. Probably parallel with Harvard in overall prestige wise, but perhaps better than any other school. When young men go to college they open their textbook and learn Chicago School of something with undoubted admirations. At least in academia, the awesome perception is not different at this side of the world too.</p>
<p>I have a question similar to the OP’s-- how good is UChicago’s financial aid? Especially with reference to internationals?</p>
<p>UChicago has a very decent oversea reputation as I agree with hyeonjlee ~My dad does not recognize Brown too well,but he definitely admires UofC.As for FA regarding internationals,this school only considers to offer need-based grant to international students when they apply under RD.I racall seeing stats that the number of intl students receiving FA from UofC falls between the bracket of 11~50…And I don’t quite often hear people from my area getting FA from the school.I hope this helps at least a little bit.</p>
<p>This is a bit much (“unparalleled reputation” in academica). I am affilated with UChicago and think very highly of it, but let’s not go overboard here. I am also an international, and I can assure you that Chicago’s reputation is very high in some parts of the world, and somewhat less so in others. And as good as Chicago is academically, I don’t think that most in academia would consider it superior in this regard to places such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc.
It also bears consideration that most students will end up neither on Wall Street nor academia - but rather somewhere in between such places and “gas stations.” In the majority of such places, I have little doubt that a Harvard or Yale degree would get you more mileage, at least at the beginning. This is not a trivial matter when one is looking for one’s first job.
I realize that you are (justifiably) proud of your son for attending Chicago, but this place is one of a handful of great institutions in the United States. It has distinctive characteristics that command the respect and affection of many (myself included), but these characteristics are not valued as highly by everyone.
I was simply trying to point out the ‘pluses and minuses’ of the place. I personally don’t think the minuses add up to all that much, but others might have a different perspective.</p>
<p>Tigerton - define your terms. It’s unhelpful when an applicant lumps all 8 ivy league schools together. Do you ask whether Chicago is comparable - overall (academics, networks, etc.) - to a Princeton or Yale? Probably not. Is Chicago comparable to a Penn or Cornell on this front overall? Sure. What schools are you comparing to Chicago specifically?</p>
<p>I am comparing Chicago academically to HYP. Also financial aid compared to the top schools, such as Stanford or Princeton. Also comparing the reputation it has for graduate school. Such as a U of C graduate applying for Harvard Law School.</p>
<p>Tigerton - I think academically, Chicago compares quite favorably to HYP. In terms of financial aid, networking, or general connections to avenues of power, it falls off the pace considerably when compared to HYP. </p>
<p>If your goal is to go into academia following undergrad, Chicago will serve you pretty much just as well as Harvard, Yale, etc. If goals include Harvard Law or Stanford med, HYP do a significantly better job than Chicago. Chicago would be closer to a Penn or Cornell on this front.</p>
<p>i think you should stop worrying so much about rankings and name and more about where you will develop as a mature young adult</p>
<p>Yeah >.<. I am a little insecure, so I want to see the opportunity. I will have trouble get into Chicago to be honest. If I got in I’d be ecstatic. I mostly just want to know about financial aid now. I’m sold on the academics.</p>
<p>HonorsCentaur - in terms of “developing as a young adult” there’s tremendous overlap between all the top schools. Nowadays, I think key differentiating factors between top schools are elements such as location, strength of particular departments and programs, etc. All of these schools don’t differ drastically in how they prepare young adults - the OP could be fine in this regard at Chicago or Brown or Rice or Yale.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I do think there are significant differences in the factors I mentioned above between, say, Chicago and Yale. Rankings and name are awful barometers, but they can serve as a proxy to indicate gaps in opportunity. It’s worthwhile for applicants to consider this.</p>
<p>why are HYP the top 3? Columbia is also very good. And like any school, U of Chicago is known for what its good at and particularly economics and I believe physics. Prestige shouldn’t matter to you, its all about the knowledge</p>
<p>Since no one has really answered this yet…
I’m currently getting fairly decent financial aid from the school. It covers roughly 75% of the total cost of tuition + room and board. However, my family is not very wealthy and is more or less average compared to America’s average household income. </p>
<p>That said, UChicago financial aid is nothing compared to Harvard, Yale or Princeton’s. If I got in one of those schools, I would have most likely not had to pay anything because I know some people in similar financial situations doing so. </p>
<p>It might just be that the numbers worked out for me, but as a percentage of tuition + room and board covered, Uchicago was the highest need based financial aid I received.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about international financial aid, but from what i know you pretty much arn’t going to get any money from any school in the states unless you at least have a green card.</p>
<p>mrstreak101 - I actually don’t agree that it’s “all about the knowledge.” I cite from this work often, and while some of it is outdated now, the book “The Chosen” by James Karabel does a good job of explaining how, in actuality, schools are in the business of much more than dispensing knowledge at the undergrad level. Indeed, elite schools function as a connection between undergraduates and systems of power. Some schools do this better than others. </p>
<p>With this in mind, when I meet the few students choosing between Chicago and a HYP school, even as a proud alum, I find it difficult to wholeheartedly recommend Chicago. On an academic level, Chicago compares favorably. In terms of placement at professional schools, connecting graduates to systems of power, Chicago falls off the pace. I think there is still some weight given to attending the most “illustrious” of American colleges.</p>
<p>Academically, in terms of the education one receives, I would give Chicago the edge over HYP. Notoriety is still the province of those schools. At HYP it is often the ECs that are emphasized over the classroom experience, which is another difference.</p>
<p>Chicago is not Ivy League because it is Div III in sports. :)</p>
<p>Seriously, as others have said, how you compare to Chicago depends to a great degree on what you expect from your college education. On the one hand, we have the philosophy espoused by Cue7 that higher ed is about “connections” and grad school placement as much as about “knowledge” (not that anyone would even agree on that!). On the other hand, you have those that believe college is about knowledge and personal growth. Finally, we have the elephant in the room - prestige. </p>
<p>Only you as an applicant can decide what is important. </p>
<p>Regarding financial aid, with endowments suffering as they are, you can expect this to be a volatile year everywhere. And since you can’t predict very well in advance what your award will be anywhere (just read past posts regarding any “all need” college to see what I mean - awards have a lot of variance), you might consider waiting to see what award you get rather than worry about it now. You have no control anyway.</p>
<p>BTW, another example of the respect Chicago gets: When my D interviewed for a well known national post college scholarship as a UofC senior, quite a few questions lobbed to her were about what she thought of the difficulty of UofC. In other words, they knew the place expects a lot of its students, and she felt they had great respect for her background (the UofC part…)</p>
<p>This is somewhat OT, but it’s worth saying.</p>
<p>The U of C is a “sleeper” school. The people who care about university prestige (and academia, etc.) know it and know it well. People in Chicago confuse it with the University of Illinois-Chicago. And hey, my relatives who went to Michigan thought I was going to Illinois and made all sorts of disparaging comments until I corrected them ;-)</p>
<p>As a high school student, I think it makes sense that you want to go to a school that has a great name and a great reputation. However, based on my family’s experiences (four degrees across three different Ivies), that reputation can be a setback as well. Two of my immediate family members entered fields where Ivy grads don’t traditionally go, and both of them had to “overcome” their degree. One, who was a career-changer, had to basically prove that she wasn’t a “snob” and the other, who had just finished an undergrad, came from a school that wasn’t a “target” for the employers. In a way, the “University of Chicago” sounds perfectly unassuming. Of course, if you know it, it’s a different story ;-)</p>
<p>So what I’m saying is that an Ivy degree or a Chicago degree does not beat out all degrees in all the hiring situations you’ll be in for the rest of your lives. Of course, this situation is further complicated or even becomes moot once you add in other variables, like networking and previous experience.</p>