Why don't ppl want UChicago to surpass HYPSMC sometime?

<p>@hevydevy It doesn’t matter at all. However some people like others to know that they worked hard and got into one of the best universities in the world. </p>

<p>Your example of telling a professor that you go to U of C and getting recognition for that is very true, but what about this: You’re sitting at thanksgiving dinner with your distant cousins and the conversation turns to college and you mention that you’re on break from U of C. They respond with, “Why do you go to a state school when you’re out of state?” “I thought you were smart…” “Didn’t you get into Columbia? Why didn’t you go there?” </p>

<p>It’s situations like these that frustrate some of the more self-conscious of Chicago’s student body. Personally I don’t mind the lack of recognition, but I can see where people are coming from.</p>

<p>If your goal (the royal your) is to impress distant cousins, you (the royal you) are a sad sad human being.</p>

<p>I can understand the need for academic prestige among those that matter, but your distant cousins don’t. And while I do hate college rankings with a fiery passion, a simple smart-phone lookup to USNWR’s rankings will shut them up quickly.</p>

<p>Also, the same could be said for LACs. I don’t know about you guys, but I didn’t hear anything about Williams or Swarthmore until I started really looking into colleges roughly two years ago. I knew vaguely about Amherst and all three schools are on par with Ivies in terms of undergraduate education.</p>

<p>Why don’t people want UChicago to surpass HYPSMC sometime? Its the name of this thread. I do not see anywhere on it the word prestige. Reading all the post in this thread most people argued why UChicago WILL NEVER SURPASS HYPSCM. Some post argued that the endowment, history, etc. And now because its lack of prestige among the regular man. Which I already explain why it is so wrong. What it is really sad to me the amount of people attacking the University and its students just because its actual rankings. I do not see or read UcHICAGO students attacking other top schools. Life is about change, nothing is static. Everything, school and individuals, are in constant evolution. The rankings of this top schools are not written in stones, because the institutions are also changing. UChicago well deserved ranking is here to stay, its position among the top in US and the World as one of the top university is a reality. I do not see nor understand the need to downplay this fact just to satisfied some egos.The University and its great student body does not deserve it. Proud MOM of a Class 2016 student here !!</p>

<p>@hevydevy I’m not saying the main goal of attending uchicago is to impress your cousins. If you go to uchicago your goal is probably to get one of the best educations in the world, otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten in. I’m just saying some people like recognition for their accomplishments and there’s nothing wrong with that.</p>

<p>While it can be annoying to have conversations like this:</p>

<p>Person: So, Northwestern is really into football, right?</p>

<p>You: Um, I guess so, but I go to U Chicago so I really wouldn’t know that well.</p>

<p><em>Five minutes later</em></p>

<p>You: My school has a really good econ program, so I’ll probably take some classes in that department.</p>

<p>Person: Huh, I guess that makes sense, given Northwestern’s location in the commercial hub of the Midwest. </p>

<ul>
<li>you quickly forget them and the vast majority of the student body would categorize them as just that, very mild (at worst) nuisances that you quickly learn to shrug off. In my experience, the people here don’t really care that much about the school’s reputation with the average man on the street (whose knowledge of universities is usually limited to the best college football programs, regional schools and Harvard), and this isn’t because people feel superior to him or any reason of that sort. We know that when we apply to top med schools, law schools, PhD programs, job positions, etc., the people in charge of selecting WILL know what U Chicago is. Even then, nobody goes around talking about how special U Chicago is in the eyes of these people (because it isn’t, compared to other very high caliber schools).<br></li>
</ul>

<p>"The students also appear to be becoming increasingly smug and conceited (in the past Chicago’s students were admired for their humility). The very existence of this thread proves that current students are less sure of themselves than their predecessors. " </p>

<ul>
<li>So we’re smug and conceited yet less sure of ourselves? I am very much looking forward to you explaining that logic to me, as well as the research you’ve performed to arrive to this conclusion (you mention the existence of this thread, which is a very poor source of data, at best).</li>
</ul>

<p>@PMCM18 Smug and conceited because they crave the prestige of a top ranked school. Unsure of themselves because they are self-conscious about the amount of recognition they receive.</p>

<p>It’s a generalization but it makes sense if you can back it up somehow.</p>

<p>2400bro, the students of UChicago do not need the prestige of a top ranked school, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALREADY STUDENTS OF A TOP RANKED SCHOOL , AND THEY KNOW IT. I really don’t understand any of yours arguments about this craving recognition problem of the students there. My kid is very happy , and the least of her worries it is her school recognition factor. As well as her peers that I have the pleasure to meet. Happy, smart, well adjusted kids excited about their future and very proud of UChicago.</p>

<p>^ Key word being somehow. I don’t really mind when posters like objectiveperson rant about the school because, as harsh as their posts may be, their opinions are based on having had direct experience with the school. On the other hand, high school students who write whole essays about the “loss of the university’s soul” and what not, based on a few posts they’ve read on CC and the new aggressive marketing (which is something very stupid to criticize, at the end of the day the admissions committee can still choose a class full of nerds if they want to), come off as prone to jumping to conclusions and melodramatic, at best. I myself have made huge generalizations about other schools in CC, having had no direct contact with them, and now realize how stupid those posts were.</p>

<p>Look, I don’t want to be making any enemies here. I’m not saying a lot of students at Chicago want the recognition or prestige. Realeducation, I’m not saying your kid specifically wants prestige/recognition. I’m applying to the school because I want to be taught by world class professors and enjoy the benefits of living in one of the biggest intellectual powerhouses in the world. I don’t give a damn if people know that UChicago is great because <em>I</em> know that UChicago is great. </p>

<p>I’m just saying that the reasoning behind people wanting UChicago to “pass” HYPSM would be that they want prestige/recognition. I’m not saying that EVERYONE or even anyone wants this! I’m saying that the only logical conclusion for someone wanting Chicago to surpass HYPSM in ranking or prestige or ANYTHING would be that they want recognition. Chicago is already (in my opinion) the best school in the world. </p>

<p>I was not trying to imply that Chicago students want prestige. I’m simply answering the question OP posted.</p>

<p>Chicago is a great school, as the others top ranked schools. As I said ,it is not for everybody, as Harvard or MIT are not for everybody. Prestige should be the least weighed factor while choosing among this schools, or any other school. That decision is very personal, and should be based in ones aptitudes, personality and most important the department academic strength of the major desired. That said, I wish you the best of luck and sucess in your college applications.</p>

<p>Why can’t we all agree that the idea of thinking about universities as “surpassing” one another is just ridiculous?</p>

<p>@dunbar i second that</p>

<p>I went to college at the U of C in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Although I wanted to go to Yale, I didn’t get in and chose between Chicago and Columbia.</p>

<p>After I graduated, I went to Harvard for a masters and then to law school at Yale, and after about 10 years practicing law, I decided to go back to my first love: Academe. So I am now doing a PhD at Princeton. I think I have some first-hand experience with some of the schools that are being discussed in this thread. </p>

<p>My experience was that the U of C was the most rigorous and the most intellectually open of the schools I have attended. It was also tremendous fun for me. I spent a lot of time in student politics and at the Maroon and was fanatical about going to the different film societies on campus. I also really enjoyed exploring the city. Chicago had (and has) a tremendous small theater and arts scene, and had really great alternative music. As a native New Yorker, I was surprised to enjoy it as much as I did. </p>

<p>The only other school that I enjoyed nearly as much was Yale. Yale undergrads, in my experience, are generally very polished and confident, and they are intellectually interesting and interested, if slightly less passionate about what they do. I found Harvard too caught up in being self-satisfied and inward-looking. Because I spent some time in Oxbridge, I was not that impressed by its traditions. And Boston is not Chicago (or NY). It is a lot smaller, more expensive, just as cold in the winter, and with much less going on. I like Princeton tremendously, and am grateful to the university for having given me, as a somewhat unconventional student, the chance to do a PhD. For studying the things in which I am interested, it is an amazing place. But the undergraduates are very coddled, and don’t have to stretch themselves or be as creative as much as at other schools. There is something to not having everything presented to you on a platter that is good for the mind, I think. </p>

<p>To be clear: when I chose to go to the U of C, I was nervous and insecure about the decision. I had a lot of doubts. But after going there I was pretty sure I had made a good decision, and now with the experience of hindsight, I am very glad of my choice. </p>

<p>The biggest problem I thought the U of C had was its own tendency to self-lacerate and wear its insecurities on its sleeve. The university was not good at stressing its strengths. It did things that needlessly made it seem off-putting, such as printing admissions materials in black and white (which made it seem bleak); paying undergraduate student life comparatively little attention (dorms that lagged behind other schools, etc.); making the application process harder than it needed to be, and offering less student aid. All these things have improved tremendously. And the place feels more self-confident and less insecure. Chicagoans still seem – on the whole – less polished than Yalies, but less so. And less worried about it. </p>

<p>As for the question of comparative faculty strengths: The best professors are not always at the “best” school. For instance, in my field (which for the sake of anonymity I am not going to mention), Harvard is less strong than Princeton, I think. Yale has no one. Stanford has no one. And Chicago has someone very junior, who just graduated from Harvard and may (or may not) get tenure. Because there really is no “market” in many disciplines, especially in the humanities and social sciences – and because other things than the prestige of a school can dictate where a professor goes (such as whether her spouse can get a job nearby, whether uprooting her children at a particular age makes sense, whether the department has someone (even someone weaker) in the field already, etc.) the best (or most interesting) people in any given discipline may be at schools you don’t expect: At CUNY or the University of Indiana, Bloomington, for instance. Nonetheless, almost all the top schools have strong people in almost all the fields in which they offer instruction. And that is important. I found Chicago faculty members to be generally open and supportive of what I wanted to do, even if some of them seemed more interested in teaching graduate students. But that varies from person to person, and is true at almost all universities. </p>

<p>And finally a word about prestige: Prestige is not just a function of what university you attend, but also what field you study, with whom you develop close intellectual relationships and whether the networks you cultivate serve you well as you move on. Harvard is a great school, but it lags behind Yale in prestige in law. By a lot. And at the moment, I would hazard the thought that developing a close relationship with David Axelrod will serve you better if you want to go into politics or study political science, than majoring in Government at Harvard. Chicago is stronger than Princeton in some fields and not in others. And so on. </p>

<p>So my advice would be to go to the place where you think you will be most comfortable. Because if you don’t feel good in your environment, you won’t do your best work. Develop relationships with professors. Stretch yourself, and explore. Be passionate about what you do, and work hard at it. And you will do well.</p>

<p>Oh. And I never really met anyone who confused the U of C with UIC or Northwestern. I think that is an urban legend. </p>

<p>And, for the record, there are films that feature the U of C or are about the university: “When Harry Met Sally” (<a href=“When Harry Met Sally... - Wikipedia);%5B/url%5D”>When Harry Met Sally... - Wikipedia);</a>
“Swoon” (<a href=“Swoon (film) - Wikipedia);%5B/url%5D”>Swoon (film) - Wikipedia);</a> and
Hitchcock’s “Rope” ([Rope</a> (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_(film)]Rope”>Rope (film) - Wikipedia))</p>

<p>@2manyschools</p>

<p>“Oh. And I never really met anyone who confused the U of C with UIC or Northwestern. I think that is an urban legend.”</p>

<p>Loll this made me laugh. When I found out I got accepted to UChicago I told my counselor and she gave me a long speech about how great Chicago was, how she grew up there and everything, only to end by saying - “I’m so proud of you, UIC is a great school.”</p>

<p>Better get used to correcting them for the rest of my life, oh wells…</p>

<p>MusicRodent:</p>

<p>This is why the UChicago publicity office now calls the school “UChicago” rather than U of C or UC or just Chicago. It’s hard to confuse UChicago with anything else. If the confusion comes up, just use UChicago.</p>

<p>MusicRodent: Congratulations on your admission! Well done.</p>

<p>The size of the endowment has very little to do with University’s financial aid policies. The tuitions of the students, compared to the wealth of the school, are almost negligible. Stanford does not offer need-blind financial aid until very recently and is still need-sensitive to international applicants. But guess what, every single one of the stupid palm trees across its campus costs one student’s tuition. I would say UChicago definitely is rich enough to open a need-blind financial aid policy. So the problem is not about wealth, but the how badly the school admins want it.</p>

<p>I don’t see why some people are so sensitive to “prestige”. Is Yale more prestigious than UChicago? Yes. Is academics at Yale really inferior than those of UChicago? Are students at Yale really more conceited than those at UChicago? Not necessarily. The prestige of MIT probably equals that of Harvard. But that does not make the academic experience at MIT hollow and students snobbish. Quite on the contrary, MIT students work equally hard as, if not harder than UChicago students. Prestige does not go against academic rigor and humility.</p>

<p>In fact, much of the opposition to prestige boils down to the opposition to Harvard, which allegedly produces many snobs. But is that really the case? I don’t see Harvard students as intrinsically more arrogant. But rather, it is the masses themselves that shape the image of Harvard as a bunch of snobs, in the same way that they shape UChicago as a bunch of nerds!!! Go talk to Harvard people and I bet they are much more friendly than you have expected. Likewise, UChicago people are not just nerds!</p>