<p>Actually I am shocked that Byerly is advocating merit aid and athletics, some even at the D1 level.</p>
<p>Regardless, I think those recommendations and similar ones would serve U of C well. They have a stronger identity, due to the core, than many other highly rated schools. Their effort to market the school with humor and grace seems to be working. At least to a point.</p>
<p>The one concern I would have is how much of an impact the baby boomlet has had on the applications. Is the rise in SATs, acceptance, etc., due to the increase in the number of high school graduates or something else. If it is demographically influenced I would expect to see the numbers go the other way around 2011.</p>
<p>Your last point is perceptive. The inexorable demographic changes down the road are the reason so many colleges, including elites, are suddenly developing a social conscience - planning to mine the lowest economic quadrant and minority (soon to be majority) groups, particularly hispanics, to fill the seats. </p>
<p>Numbers are set to plunge among the core group of white suburbanites! The richest schools (HYPS) are positioning themselves for the new competitive environment. Some colleges with fewer resources will be hit hard - particularly small LACs in remote areas.</p>
<p>There are other trends as well. Stanford for one is taking the emphasis off of AP courses in order to remove some of the stress students are experiencing, others are reevaluating how EC's and test scores are looked upon in the admissions process. There will be many many factors to consider, and perhaps a clear consistent message will be more productive for Chicago and some others rather than a kind of "me too" approach. Time will tell, it will be interesting how all this plays out. In academe, however, Chicago has always had a unique reputation for scholarly inquiry, even when its admit rate was 77% (and that was not long ago). I don't see Chicago moving from that position any time soon, if anything I think they will build on it.</p>
<p>I think that is one type of competition at which I would have excelled! </p>
<p>There is a thread in the Parent Forum that has discussed this, along with a link to a podcast by a Stanford faculty member who is concerned with these issues. From the podcast, it appears things can get pretty ugly. I did not observe all that is discussed in the podcast happeing in my kid's school (which placed about 16 into Stanford alone), but it might be happeing.</p>
<p>Exactly. If you say grades don't count and SAT scores don't count, all you do is enrich the so-called "college counsellors" who say they know the secret about what DOES count, and promise to "relieve the stress" (at a price) by steering you through the narrows and the shoals to a hard landing at HYPS!</p>
<p>Has anybody heard the phrase: "a holistic approach" to admissions? Insofar as I can tell, its only sociological claptrap to dress up what I call the "Noah's Ark" approach to admissions. (Two of deese, and two of dose, until the ship is full of a "diverse" passenger list.)</p>