^ I remember reading this article! On its face it sounds wonderful and Ted O’Neill the kind of admissions guy who is thoughtful, articulate, and has the right touch.
Reality tells a different story.
First of all, the Newsweek’s 1-in-7 number actually refers to matriculants vs. applicants. Unravelling that ratio reveals that nearly 50% of the applicants were admitted, and about 30% of those matriculated. Of those 30%, a good number never finished.
Many on CC like to site UChicago’s ongoing financial struggles, but a clear one shorly before the year 2000 was that the College was a significantly underutilized asset. This mismanagement was not only hurting the university financially, it was also seriously jeopardizing its ability to remain a top institution.
Boyer, in his history of the University of Chicago, describes the “intervention” of hiring Michael Behnke in '97 to help turn around the College’s fortunes. Nondorf now has the dual role of Admissions and Enrollment head honcho. But in 1997 it was Behnke who was put in charge of Enrollment while O’Neill, apparently, continued in his position at Admissions. What followed, according to Boyer, account, was interesting:
- It was Behnke - and not O'Neill - who bluntly told the university the ugly truth that the College was considered a third or fourth choice for a good number of applicants who, ultimately, were not happy about their admission or matriculation and who, in large numbers, would leave.
- It was Behnke - and not O'Neill - who was responsible for the increasing application numbers by about 124% (from 5,500 in '97 to to about 12,400 in '09).
- It was Behnke - and not O'Neill - who who first turned around admissions and yields in the face of the expanding college size, from about 61% in '97 to about 28% in '09.
It’s almost as if Behnke was doing O’Neill’s job. In fact, in this particular chapter of Boyer’s History, O’Neill doesn’t appear to be mentioned at all.
O’Neill’s announced retirement (conveniently timed with Behnke’s, it appears) was appropriate laudatory with a shout out to the improved application numbers. But O’Neill apparently had little - if anything - to do with it. Why would Boyer neglect to mention O’Neill if he was contributing to the solution? One is really left with the impression that O’Neill was part of the problem with the only solution being a “run around” the position to bring in someone more competent.
It bears pointing out that a good number of the kids who O’Neill was admitting prior to the Behnke intervention did NOT represent that core of self-selected scholars the faculty felt were out there. O’Neill, for all his thoughtfulness and pursuit of “potential,” wasn’t finding them.
We have to be realistic about the College’s past and not romanticize it. “‘But we are the University of Chicago,’ O’Neill reminds his colleagues. ‘We can do what we damn well please, so long as we have good reasons.’ Moments later, Rebecca is admitted.” So reports the Newsweek article.
I truly wonder how long “Rebecca” lasted there.