<p>I at least speak from having actually attended some elite schools along with my spouse. We also speak from experience having 2 kids who attend the TOP schools in the country…for that matter…maybe the world…</p>
<p>Wow. Here’s a Kleenex for your nosebleed.</p>
<p>I guess I need to go for a PhD to compete. I’ll thank you for the motivation. </p>
<p>The ivy league schools or the top ranking colleges from US News are the elite ones.</p>
<p>@hidall1: Most people in the Midwest know of Duke as well (it is one of the two regions that are most in to college sports, after all).</p>
<p>With the inclusion of Oxbridge (which most people outside the UK who know anything at all about the current state of English higher education just don’t rate all that highly), I’m guessing he/she are either the UK or maybe the prep school crowd in the Northeast.</p>
<p>Yes, Midwesterners know Duke well.</p>
<p>Great school.</p>
<p>@hidall1, looks like I might go after that PhD in Econ from Chicago after all. Hehe </p>
<p>@prezbucky I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with your statement that Chicago students are of the same calibre as Stanford and MIT students though! Unfortunately, I don’t believe that for a moment.</p>
<p>Tier 1: HYPSM
Tier 2a: Columbia, Duke, Penn, Caltech
Tier 2b: Chicago, Dartmouth, Brown
Tier 2c: Cornell, NU, JHU</p>
<p>@hidall1 </p>
<p>Based on what, though? U Chicago admits’ test scores are higher than Stanford’s and competitive with MIT’s. </p>
<p>(Though way below Caltech’s and slightly below HYP’s)</p>
<p>I’ll understand if you mean that U Chicago students are weaker in ECs, though that seems subjective.</p>
<p>Maybe some of my backing of U Chicago comes from my Midwest bias; I’ll acknowledge that.</p>
<p>It just seems that, based on their academics and student strength, their rep should be stronger than it is.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt’s SAT scores are also higher than Stanford’s. Less prestigious schools often have less holistic admissions practices. Check out WUSTL’s SAT scores. Compare them to Penn’s. Which is the better school in your opinion? </p>
<p>Also look at what percentage of Chicago’s class submits SAT scores vs ACT scores. The ACT is more popular in the Midwest. At the end of the day, Chicago ranks 243rd on Payscale’s ROI ranking and 21st on Forbes magazine’s ‘Grateful Grad Index’. So clearly the high test scores aren’t translating into great outcomes (although I completely acknowledge the fact that these rankings can only serve as general indicators and are never 100% accurate).
It just seems like people are getting caught up in the hysteria as far as Chicago is concerned. That’s just my opinion. No one has to agree! At the end of the day, people will always be biased towards their alma maters. So opinions on this website will always be a little biased. It seems like the Chicago representation on CC is particularly strong for some reason. Perhaps that plays a role in influencing the way the school is perceived. It’s a great school. Don’t get me wrong! But it’s no Stanford. At least not in my book. Cheers!</p>
<p><a href=“The 50 Top ROI Colleges 2014: The Grateful Grads Index”>http://www.forbes.com/sites/schifrin/2014/03/27/the-50-top-roi-colleges-2014-the-grateful-grads-index/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value-2013”>http://www.payscale.com/college-education-value-2013</a></p>
<p>@hidall1:</p>
<p>In my experience, the intra-school difference in quality of the students in all 3 of Stanford, MIT, and Chicago is far bigger than the inter-school difference. If you were actually out in the working world, you’d recognize that. There are some Chicago grads I know who would blow away the MIT students I know.</p>
<p>@hidall1:</p>
<p>If you use Payscale data, Chicago grads’ 10-19 years experience salaries actually top Princeton grads’ 10-19 years experience salaries. Look it up. I have no idea how Payscale is calculating ROI.</p>
<p>And Chicago tops Columbia in the “Grateful Grads” index.</p>
<p>If you look at grad outcomes, Chicago would be in the middle of the Ivies while WashU would be below and Vandy would be far below.</p>
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<p>Nice guess! My childhood was split between the Midwest, Sweden, and Japan. In my experience, the only American college you could count on people in the latter two places knowing was Harvard, and perhaps MIT --they feature so prominently in American movies. In Sweden, many of the very best students would go to England, and a smattering to top US unis. I was admitted to Duke, and a huge proportion of my acquaintances had heard of it, but knew nothing more about it (those who did, generally followed college basketball).</p>
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<p>Sorry but that’s just not true. In both Sweden and Japan, the very smartest students (who went abroad) went to some combination of Oxbridge and the Ivy League/Stanford. It’s true that Oxbridge is not that highly rated in the US, but that’s partly because most Americans who go overseas are those who are not competitive for the Ivies but don’t want to go to a second-tier school.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I actually couldn’t find any evidence to back up your assertion that “Chicago grads’ 10-19 years experience salaries top Princeton grads’ 10-19 years experience salaries”. It would be great if you could provide a link!</p>
<p>ROI is as much a function of desired career path as it is a function of academic worth.</p>
<p>Some people go after PhDs. </p>
<p>Others go after fortune.</p>
<p>But some jobs requiring education are not high-paying.</p>
<p>I’d prefer it if we kept “career prospects” rankings separate from “academic excellence” rankings.</p>
<p>Chicago has more Nobels than Stanford and Duke (no offense hidall) and UW-Madison. Clearly they’re doing great and important things at U Chicago worth academic praise.</p>
<p>@keepittoyourself Surely you won’t deny that Oxford and Cambridge simply don’t have the resources to keep up with schools like Princeton and Stanford in the long run. Honestly, I can see schools like Penn and Duke eclipsing them in the coming decades. It all boils down to finances at the end of the day! You can’t buy Oxbridge’s history though. That’s not for sale! I personally would love to experience studying at Oxbridge, but I have no qualms about claiming that they are objectively not on par with HYPSM. </p>
<p>@hidall1:</p>
<p><a href=“University of Chicago Salary | PayScale”>University of Chicago Salary | PayScale;
<a href=“Princeton University Salary | PayScale”>Princeton University Salary | PayScale;
<p>OK,it looks like Chicago grads trail Princeton grads ever so slightly now in salary at the 10-19 year point (when I had looked a few weeks ago, Chicago was ahead).</p>
<p>@keepittoyourself:</p>
<p>“I was admitted to Duke, and a huge proportion of my acquaintances had heard of it, but knew nothing more about it”</p>
<p>Acquaintances where and of what age?</p>
<p>“It’s true that Oxbridge is not that highly rated in the US, but that’s partly because most Americans who go overseas are those who are not competitive for the Ivies but don’t want to go to a second-tier school.”</p>
<p>They’re also not highly rated in Hong Kong. At least among those going in to STEM fields.</p>
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<p>I think I do deny it, for three reasons. First, English schools have just seen a large funding increase in the past two years. Second, their undergraduate admissions process is much fairer and more transparent, so (like CalTech) they will always attract many of the best students. Third, much of the extra money American universities have seems to be spent/wasted on the ‘college experience’, as far as I can see.</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan I don’t mean to suggest that Chicago is on par with schools like Vandy and WUSTL (I was just using them to make a point). I simply don’t understand how it can be considered on par with Stanford. As far as outcomes are concerned Duke clearly outperforms Chicago on average, but I would never go so far as to say that Duke is at exactly the same level as Stanford. I see no reason why Chicago should be considered equivalent to a school that is 3 times as wealthy and significantly more sought-after. It’s not much worse by any means. But anyone who believes that there is no distinction between the schools is not acquainted with the facts. </p>
<p>@keepittoyourself:</p>
<p>You seem to be young. If you were older, you’d realize that American research universities spend the bulk of their money on research (which includes paying professors), and that’s an area where Oxbridge has not been competitive for talent for generations now.</p>