Young alumni throw fundraising soiree to up University ranking

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
1

<p>A painless way of raising rankings?</p>

<p>(exerpt)
"When two U of C alumni saw their alma mater’s ranking in the most recent U.S. News and World Report slip to 15, they knew it was time for serious measures. Paul Grana and Pat Richards, who both graduated in 2003, called some friends, bought some alcohol, and threw a fundraising cocktail party last Saturday in their Ukrainian Village apartment.</p>

<p>Richards and Grana wanted to convince at least 100 friends to bring in $10 each, raking in $1,000 for the University and setting their sights on getting the U of C ranked among the top 10 universities nationwide. They titled their party “10 for 10,” employing the known correlation between alumni giving and universities’ rankings in U.S. News."</p>

<p><a href="http://maroon.uchicago.edu/news/articles/2005/11/11/young_alumni_throw_f.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://maroon.uchicago.edu/news/articles/2005/11/11/young_alumni_throw_f.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>That story is more than 4 months old - November 11, 2005.</p>

3

<p>I can certainly understand the emphasis on alumni giving... but isn't the stated goal of improving a US News ranking a bit odd for Chicago? The fact that Chicago is 15th is enough to discredit those rankings entirely for me.</p>

4

<p>In this case, it's not Chicago the institution but a couple of twenty-something alums that had a fairly clever idea for raising money, improving the sense of community among the alumni, and helping the rankings.</p>

5

<p>I agree. They're killing several birds with one stone and doing it all in a rather enjoyable fashion. More of this would not be a bad thing.</p>

6

<p>HEY....just because you do not care that many species of birds are endangered, doesn't mean you should go around condoning that kind of violent behavior</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
In this case, it's not Chicago the institution but a couple of twenty-something alums that had a fairly clever idea for raising money, improving the sense of community among the alumni, and helping the rankings.

[/quote]

Yeah... but alumni I've met generally seem to be proud of the fact that their school more or less disregards the US News rankings.</p>

8

<p>Not that they have an option ... until things turn around - as they can with effort.</p>

9

<p>And then Chicago can be just like Harvard:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/09.29/32-fair.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/09.29/32-fair.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

10

<p>Just what we want: to be like Harvard.</p>

<p>Let's hope that our kids graduate with a better perspective and appreciate the kind of education that they are getting from Chicago.</p>

11

<p>If the Harvard folks try hard they may even come up with something like this: <a href="http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/05/050505.scavhunt.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/05/050505.scavhunt.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

12

<p>
[quote]
Not that they have an option ... until things turn around - as they can with effort.

[/quote]

What is currently in need of being "turned around" at Chicago? The alumni giving seems to be the only thing lacking. And why might this be? This is entirely speculative, but maybe it's because Chicago turns out students who are more academically inclined and less likely to go into pure-money fields like investment banking.</p>

13

<p>Interesting point Randomperson. Princeton has the nation's highest rate of alumni giving (61%) but it also produces one of the highest, if not the highest, portion of students going into investment banking. Coincidence??</p>