<p>As you may have noticed from a previous post of mine, I am deciding primarily between UChicago and Dartmouth. I'm honestly in a dead lock tie for which school I want to go to. My gut feeling is that right now, Uchicago is roughly equivalent to Dartmouth in terms of overall name recognition and prestige. I read somewhere that as recently as 2008, the accept rate was 37% and of course is now 8.8% in '13. As silly as this may seem, the overall reputation of the school in the long run could be the tipping point in my decision. Is there reason to believe that by '16-'17 when I'm signing full-time offers, we would be seen as a Harvard/Yale/Princeton equivalent to neutral recruiters?</p>
<p>Right now, by those in academia, Chicago is seen as virtually equivalent of the top ivies in most respects. Its always ranked near the same level, it has comparable PhD production and its able to recruit famous and world- renowned faculty. Its going to be a while before the public views it the same way, but a graduate of Chicago and a graduate of Yale or Harvard will be looked on in virtually the same light (if you eliminate ivy bias) by job recruiters and graduate schools.</p>
<p>It’s not “silly” but it is misguided, as your notions of “prestige” seem a bit monolithic. Specifically, prestigious for what, and in whose eyes? </p>
<p>UChicago will never enjoy the prestige among gas station attendants, etc., of HYP. My guess, based on nothing more than your post, is that you will be happier at Dartmouth. Go there!</p>
<p>For graduate school, yes it is viewed at about the same level I think. For recruiters, I’m not so sure, though I think in terms of projecting reputation, it’s probably a better bet than dartmouth. Probably. Maybe.</p>
<p>Yeah, haha, even a waiter at a restaurant in my hometown that I like, when I told him I was applying to Upenn and Uchicago, was like, “why would you go to either of them when you’ve got ga tech and uga at free price?” My guess is that he wouldn’t know Dart either. But for me, it only matters that my employers and potential grad school know about my school’s rep and how well they see it.</p>
<p>If you’re looking for prestige in the upper ranks, Chicago’s probably got a bit of ground on Dartmouth. Chicago has a top 5 law and business school, both of which are renowned for their rigor and well-known among the elite class. Most top employers already view Chicago as being on par with HYP, and some employers even respect it more than HYP because of its truly rigorous academics. </p>
<p>Really the only thing that has changed over the last 5 years is the fact that Chicago is catching more and more of the attention of the general population, and Chicago’s career services have basically catapulted the University into being a monster at producing extremely-qualified business-oriented talent. Apparently, Goldman Sachs hired more people from UChicago last year than from another university, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other top consulting firms and investment banks did likewise.</p>
<p>I think Chicago has a leg up on Dartmouth in terms of prestige and academics. I think Chicago’s closest peer in this regard is Columbia.</p>
<p>Honestly, this whole discussion is a load of crap. Chicago’s and Dartmouth’s “reputations” in any market basically amount to a giant Venn diagram with very indeterminate and fuzzy shapes that overwhelmingly overlap. Ex ante, you have no idea where you, personally, will fall in either college’s zone, except that it’s overwhelmingly likely that where you wind up will be someplace where the different reputations of the colleges make no difference.</p>
<p>And that’s assuming, questionably, that their general reputations make any difference at all, ever. At most, the college’s general reputation may make a 2-3% difference when you are looking for your first job, and nothing after that (when you are dealing with the difference between Chicago and Dartmouth – either one vs. East Podunk State or St. Localbusiness may continue to matter a teeny amount). The overwhelming majority of what matters is what you have done in college, what you have learned, how you present yourself. That’s why you need to stop worrying about how others see reputation and focus on which college is going to inspire you and engage you most. Because differences in your level of inspiration, engagement, and achievement will completely swamp any differential effect of reputation.</p>
<p>Do what makes you the best person. Then you win twice: You get to be a better person, and you will be more attractive to employers. It’s really as simple as that. And either Chicago or Dartmouth can work perfectly well in that regard. Personally, I would choose Chicago over Dartmouth in a heartbeat, but Dartmouth never appealed to me. I know tons of people who adored their time at Dartmouth and have thrived ever since. If your gut tells you Dartmouth is the place, go for it.</p>
<p>I don’t quite agree that where you go to college makes only 2-3% difference in your initial job OR that it never matters after that. I am very sure that my degrees (from two “CC top universities”) have definitely opened doors for me (and similarly my husband’s for him) for the last 30 years. We are spending large $$ to send our kids to “highly ranked” schools for the same reason. (Frankly, if there was no likely ROI to spend the money, we would have sent them to the schools that offered them significant scholarships.) Granted, you can totally screw up your career after a great education; similarly, you can make it big (as many people have demonstrated) without big credentials. </p>
<p>That being said, I agree that there is absolutely no difference (as far as my comments above go) between Dartmouth and UChicago! But they are very different environments, so you need to go where you fit… and that might surprise you! My daughter will be going to UChicago next year - which she fell in love with on our first visit. I would have sworn that she’d like Dartmouth more (where she would have been a legacy and had visited several times)… and she wouldn’t even apply there!</p>
<p>Visit if you can… and go where you feel right. They are both FABULOUS schools!</p>
<p>They’re both in cold places. UChicago had more wind. Dartmouth accumulates up to a persons height in packed snow during the winter </p>
<p>Dartmouth is in the boondocks. uchi Is in a big city’s rougher south side. </p>
<p>Which one has more. Rand cache? To the northeastern old rich, Dartmouth. To the northeastern nouveau riche circa 1920-after, UChicago. To the California tanned rich, no one outside of California means ****e.</p>
<p>I agree that fit is a better reason attend a school than reputation or ranking, especially when they are as similar as Chicago and Dartmouth. The differences between the rural setting and the urban alone should give you a clue as to what might suit you for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>That being said, international reputation and rankings tend to favor large universities over colleges like Dartmouth. These rankings are all open to question—absolutely—but Chicago tends to fare very well in international reputation even versus the Ivies. See:
[World</a> University Rankings 2012-2013 - Times Higher Education](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2012-13/world-ranking]World”>World University Rankings 2013-14 | Times Higher Education (THE))</p>
<p>@notrecentgrad, Dartmouth is a full-fledged research university, despite its name. So the apples-to-apples comparison is valid.</p>
<p>I love the World University Ranking system that constantly rewards Caltech with #1. This is probably the only school in USA that admits based on meritocracy alone. So proud they accepted my DS early. He will not matriculate there, other options were better for various reasons, but I salute this school for their admission policies. </p>
<p>As for U Chicago (DS also admitted early), it was always my favorite school, an all over academic powerhouse. I love the core curriculum ! BUT I think the increased marketing has a lot to do with lower acceptance rate. NONE other school have showed our family as much love as U Chicago. DS was getting so many mailings, that I laughed one day thinking that it will be so funny if he gets rejected 
And those little postcards were really smart and really cute. Second place in love showing goes , again to Caltech :)</p>
<p>Just noticed that US News has updated its rankings for 2013. It’s now</p>
<h1>1 Harvard & Princeton</h1>
<h1>3 Yale</h1>
<h1>4 Columbia & Chicago</h1>
<h1>6 MIT & Stanford</h1>
<h1>8 Duke</h1>
<h1>9 U Penn</h1>
<h1>10 Caltech</h1>
<p>Kelowna, I like how you think about it My son also got a lot of mailings from Chicago, and even parents got some nice gifts. Then Stanford started showering him with gifts and personal letters. Caltech sent sunglasses. Princeton sent a t-shirt. I hope he doesn’t get spoiled!</p>
<p>@yolochka
I could not see any change, Upenn is still at #8 with Duke. You did update.</p>
<p>[National</a> University Rankings | Top National Universities | US News Best Colleges](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities?int=a557e6]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities?int=a557e6)</p>
<p>oops, my error. You are right Upenn and Duke share #8.
I meant I just noticed rankings for 2013 and they are slightly different from 2012. You seem to be ahead of me.</p>
<p>I remember the 2013 USNWR ranking came out on Sept. 13, 2012, seven months ago. 2014 ranking will come out in five months. Strongly believe UChicago will be still in # 4 position, may stand alone, maybe tie with Columbia, and/or Stanford, and/or MIT.</p>
<p>U Chicago was not even on the map for my HS junior D until she started getting bombarded by mailings. Now she intends to apply. She’s thinking, “They really want me.” Being more cynical, I’m thinking, “They just want you to apply.” More applicants = more rejections = lower acceptance rate = higher ranking. Also, as long as their mailing costs per applicant are less than the application fee, they are making a profit. Nevertheless, the postcards are cute, it’s a great school, and so she’ll probably throw her hat in the ring.</p>
<p>I’m not following the ratings religiously and don’t know when they are updated
I read somewhere on cc that selectivity is only a tiny portion of the calculations. DGDzDad, I recommend you and your daughter to look closely whether UChicago has what she needs. Check out core and her potential major/s. For example, my son applied because his major (math) is known as one of the top in the country. We liked the university very much when we visited. It would fit his needs very well. However, UChicago doesn’t have an engineering school, and for this reason my son will probably matriculate to another school that has both top math and top engineering, just in case he becomes interested in something applied.</p>