<p>Sam Lee - that’s a very good point. I think all schools have the same goals in mind, but the levels of priority and possibility of resources expended vary tremendously. I think we’re both on the same page about this - virtually all the top schools, UChicago, Columbia, NU, Cornell, Duke, etc. etc. that are not at the very tippy top want to get there. The possibility of expending the resources necessary to do this, however, varies significantly.</p>
<p>Of late, primarily lead by a very ambitious college dean (Dean Boyer), UChicago has focused heavily on its college. This includes not just heavy investment in the admissions dept, but also big donations ($100M) to financial aid, lots of investment in the physical plant, etc. </p>
<p>If you asked President Schapiro if he’d like NU to be in the top 5 or top 10, surely he’d like that. As you astutely suggest, though, schools have limited resources and varying priorities. Based on structure, UChicago has just one college, whereas NU’s undergrad divisions are a bunch of moving parts. It’s then much easier for UChicago to focus on fewer goals/priorities than NU. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, each school is trying to be the best it can be, but this plays out in various ways. At the same time, I think it’s important to realize that schools make all sorts of self-serving decisions (e.g. ED or marketing), and again, I’m not sure it’s worth parsing what approaches are more or less honorable than others. The entire situation, I think, is getting out of control.</p>