"Grad schools KNOW about UChicago, as in they know how much you've...suffered..." <--Director of the Econ program, I believe...Mrs. Tsiang said something like this. She elaborated more about this, but the thing is that UChicago prepares you mucho mucho for the rigors of grad school, like you wouldn't believe.
PS: "Where Fun Comes to Die" is a t-shirt slogan made for fundraising for a house in Reynolds Club. I truly agree that it's not the number of hours of homework/piles of work that make UChicago rigorous. It is how they teach you that is different. I relate this a lot to my experiences doing high school debate. It requires rigorous research and logical reasoning applied in creative situations.
@ UCLA, Ph.D: I understand your cynicism towards their ignorance, but hey, for the most part these are opinions coming from the knowledge pool of the general public. I wouldn't expect them to know insider facts about the UChicago, and as anxious juniors/seniors/typical CC-posters or parents of deciding amongst schools they've only heard about from time to time, you would expect it. Conclusions are made without much basis except for hearsay and people act on it, e.g. that UChi is "where fun comes to die" and academics will kill your life....so these people don't apply, and this would be why UChi is *self-selecting*****...
UChicago is sweet. UChicago is delicious. Go to the U of Chicago. Or don't if you are not a UChicago type.