<p>intparent, I think I get your causal connection. But my point was just that if UChicago is losing its uniqueness, then maybe it would be a kind of “blessing in disguise” if someone you love does not get accepted.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m not convinced it is losing its uniqueness in a major way. But fearing that the school is getting worse while also fearing that it’s getting so difficult to get into just seemed to me like a slightly odd combination of fears.</p>
<p>Here is what it all comes down to, IMHO:</p>
<p>I believe the surge in popularity is mainly due to one thing: UChicago’s unique voice is so loud and it’s marketing so good, that finally, FINALLY! the kids who were a square peg in high school realize that they have some place to go. We can talk about EA vs ED, growing numbers, stats, selectivity, etc etc etc, until we can’t talk anymore, but I think something more basic is going on. Super smart, genius kids almost NEVER fit in, anywhere. They are beyond their peers in thought and deed and are either very mature or a little immature. They are not perfect, but unique, with a thirst for knowledge that has never quite been met. They are terrified of Big State U because they know it will be more of the same. I know my daughter was mostly miserable in grade, jr, and high school. She cared about her school work, she wanted to learn so very badly, and she was basically on her own. She was not picked on too often, she was just left alone. She was biding her time and waiting for college. When she heard about UChicago and began to catch the vibe of the school she was hooked, and very intent on attending. She wanted so very badly to fit it, she wanted friends who were like her and valued learning and growing in an intense academic community.
There are SO MANY of these types of kids. When we first started our college search for her, we only really focused on IVY because we honestly thought that that was where she would be challenged and find a place. The more we learned about UChicago (their marketing helped, but we visited and did a lot of research on our own) the more we knew that this school was where she could thrive. And be herself, her glorious, square peg self, and be accepted.<br>
I really believe that with UChicago’s increase in marketing, more kids who never fit in in at their high schools recognize that this could be their place, they can finally be with others like them. They are longing to go to Hyde Park.
Maybe I’m wrong, and I’m not so naive that I believe this to be the case for every applicant, but really…across this great country of ours there are thousands upon thousands of kids. Many of them are above average intelligence, maybe even genius, and with UChicago’s new high profile, this school is no longer a secret. These unique kids are flocking to the school, hoping to find some square holes to fit in to.</p>
<p>UchiMon , as the proud Mom of another wonderful square peg I totally agreed with you. She is the happiest UCHICAGO student !</p>
<p>UChimom, I’m very happy that your daughter has found a place to fit in. It’s sad how many people end up at a school where they cannot thrive.</p>
<p>That being said, most of the students I know from the “current generation” were not miserable in school nor were they afraid of big state schools. I don’t your generalization can fit to all the students. It may very well be true for some or even many, but not every UChicago student was such a “square peg” or such an outsider. </p>
<p>But again, I’m happy your daughter has made a good choice in college selection!</p>
<p>For last several times,we took airline from Washington,D.C. area to Chicago. Anyone knows if there is a train available from DC to Chicago?</p>
<p>Hi Chaudhuri,</p>
<p>Go to [Train</a> and Bus Tickets, Other Thruway Services - USA and Canada | Amtrak.com](<a href=“http://www.amtrak.com%5DTrain”>http://www.amtrak.com) to make reservations and find pricing & schedules. </p>
<p>There is the Capitol Limited which is a daily train from D.C. to Chicago and the trip takes about 18 hours. </p>
<p>There is also the Cardinal, but I think it takes a little longer and is not a daily train.</p>
<p>Typically, the sooner you book, the lower the cost. Coach fares are pretty cheap. There are sleeping compartments too, if it is in your price range and they include meals and typically sleep two, although there are family bedrooms, also.</p>
<p>If it is for a student, you can sign up for Student Advantage for a $20 fee and save 15% off the coach fares all year long (not sleeping accommodations). You can also use Triple AAA for a 10% discount. I believe for both of those you need to book at least 3 days in advance.</p>
<p>Also, if you end up deciding to take the train, you should sign up for Amtrak Guest Rewards - a free program, which accrues points for every trip you take and those points can eventually be used for free travel.</p>
<p>The trains can be late sometimes, but usually not too bad.</p>
<p>Apptmom,
Your link is helpful. I booked one ticket for my trip.
I have two weeks vacation time left,I am not in a hurry, 18 hours trip is not that long…
Thank you.</p>
<p>hello there UChicago parents!
As a current applicant, I was just wondering when the scholarship recipients will be notified in the EA pool? (assuming that I even get in…) Because whether or not I may qualify for a scholarship will affect my decisions to which RD schools to apply to (if any) if I get in EA.
Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>jamesbond1, my son had to wait until mid April before he was awarded merit scholarship plus some need based aid. I think most EA admits that year didn’t have to wait that long. Several got theirs in December itself.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Hi UWHuskyDad, did your son apply EA? If so, it seems pretty odd to me that there is such a big gap. Do you think it has to do with the budget of the school and how much FA is given out?</p>
<p>My EA-admit S got his merit notification the first week of February. I believe somewhere on the UChi website (admissions page, probably) it states that the merit “deciders” meet periodically and rewards are therefore made in bunches periodically.</p>
<p>Edited to add: he had not yet notified the school of his intention to attend when he received his scholarship. I wonder if there is a correlation with merit being used as inducement…</p>
<p>jamesbond1, yes, my son got in through EA.
I think a bunch of people get their FA packages soon after Ivy results come out.</p>
<p>Father of round peg here. S, accepted EA 4 years ago, learned about scholarship around the third week in March.</p>
<p>thanks for all the replies guys! seems like there isn’t a set date on which the scholarships are released 
but nevertheless, thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Anyone else a might disturbed about the fruit fly infestation and mouse droppings that have caused the temporary closing of Cathey Dining Hall (in South)? Luckily, my 1st year is not too upset despite the fact that it inconveniences her.</p>
<p>I heard the South Campus dining hall is temporarily closed. Lunch time is extended to 4 o’clock every day in other dining halls.</p>
<p><a href=“Saul Bellow, dead at 89 – Chicago Maroon”>Saul Bellow, dead at 89 – Chicago Maroon;
<p>Yes Momzhood…a might disturbing indeed. The dining halls in a university such as UChicago should have a more than adequate pest control plan. It is inexcusable not to, really. It tells me that the workers are lazy and do not keep up with cleanliness. Fruit flies come because of food left out. Mice come because of food left out. Be it on a counter, behind the cooler, or in a corner of the kitchen floor. Somewhere, maybe everywhere, the food is not sufficiently cleaned up and put away. Or thrown away. Yuck. </p>
<p>Hopefully, as a result of the closing, more acceptable kitchen practices will be adopted.</p>
<p>A very interesting article on college admission.</p>
<p>The Myth of American Meritocracy
How corrupt are Ivy League admissions?</p>
<p>[The</a> Myth of American Meritocracy | The American Conservative](<a href=“http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-myth-of-american-meritocracy/]The”>http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-myth-of-american-meritocracy/)</p>
<p>“…But as we saw earlier, even more significant are racial factors, with black ancestry being worth the equivalent of 310 points, Hispanics gaining 130 points, and Asian students being penalized by 140 points, all relative to white applicants on the 1600 point Math and Reading SAT scale. …”</p>
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<p>[Career</a> treks with partner universities bring together students and employers | UChicago News](<a href=“Career treks with partner universities bring together students and employers | University of Chicago News”>Career treks with partner universities bring together students and employers | University of Chicago News)</p>
<p>UChicago’s Office of Career Advancement, in a first-time partnership with Wake Forest and Stanford universities, is sending students over winter break to the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C. and Chicago to meet prospective employers and make vital career connections. </p>
<p>Student treks to prospective employers are unique to the University of Chicago, and allow students to visit companies that are hungry for new talent but are not always able to recruit on campus.</p>
<p>Meredith Daw, assistant vice president and director of the Office of Career Advancement, was one of the early champions of inviting other schools—with connections to new and different companies—to join UChicago students on these treks.</p>
<p>“This is a great way to give students access to important networks and career opportunities on both coasts, as well as here in Chicago,” Daw said. The idea for the joint trek came when Daw was working with the vice president for personal and career development at Wake Forest. Inviting Stanford was the natural next step.</p>
<p>Stanford, with its deep connections to Silicon Valley, will lead students who are interested in careers in entrepreneurship and technology to eight employers in the Bay Area. Wake Forest will lead students on a trek to visit political and consulting firms, while UChicago will lead a visit of Chicago employers in consumer packaged goods and in the arts.</p>
<p>“Organizations in San Francisco and Washington are already excited to meet our students,” Daw said. “Working with Stanford and Wake Forest is a revolutionary opportunity for all of us to introduce our students to companies that aren’t among our traditional recruiters and give students a much wider range of possibilities for finding the best fit in their careers.”</p>
<p>The combined trek to San Francisco and Silicon Valley came at the perfect time for John Faughnan. “I want to work near home when I graduate,” said the third-year economics student, originally from Oakland, Calif., “but it’s hard to divine what’s actually available on the business side of these start-ups from job postings.”</p>
<p>Over the course of the two-day trek, Faughnan will visit online giants Google and Facebook, as well as younger companies like Box.com, Sugar Inc., and RocketSpace. He hopes to build networks within the companies that he visits, as well as with his peers from Stanford and Wake Forest.</p>
<p>“It will be great to meet these students and to make these connections,” Faughnan said.</p>
<p>Faughnan applied for this trek through Career Advancement, as did all the students who are fanning out across the country this winter break to visit prospective employers.</p>
<p>“With the large variety and number of companies involved in these combined treks, every student should get a sense of the options for finding the most satisfying internship or employment,” said Sara Bosworth, assistant director of experiential education in Career Advancement at UChicago. She has overseen the details of the collaboration with Stanford and Wake Forest, and has been overwhelmed by the response from students at all three schools. More than 100 students will travel on these career treks.</p>
<p>“We have a wait list for every trek,” said Lori Sykes, the employer outreach manager at Wake Forest. “Partnering with another university is giving students outside the finance and marketing majors a chance to explore their options all over the country,” she said.</p>
<p>Stanford, too, has found that demand outpaced the number of spaces available on each trek. “The vast majority of companies that come to our campus to recruit are here for the engineering students,” said Erin Grant, program coordinator for Career Development at Stanford. “This program has been a great resource for our humanities and sciences students,” she said. </p>
<p>Career Advancement’s pre-professional treks have become increasingly popular among UChicago students who use their breaks from classes to think about life after graduation. Ashley Edwards, a fourth-year economics major, trekked to New York City with Career Advancement during winter break last year, and said she got invaluable information on the multiple banks and firms that she visited.</p>
<p>“I didn’t have to claw my way to talk to people at all levels in the companies—I was able to get all my questions answered and to get a feel for each of the different work environments,” she said. Edwards has accepted an offer to work at J.P. Morgan as soon as she graduates next spring.</p>
<p>UChicago students will also go on a business and banking trek to New York City this winter break. Before the academic year ends, 16 separate groups of students will have gone on career treks to Minneapolis, Cairo, Los Angeles, Santiago, Chile, among others.</p>
<p>Sykes said her students at Wake Forest are already asking her to plan another trek: “The question I get most often now is: ‘Can we do this again next year?’”</p>