@JBStillFlying asserts that, for the Chicago Class of 2003, “a good number never finished.”
Really? What makes you say that? If I recall, by 2003 (or shortly thereafter) Chicago’s 6 yr graduation rate was around 85%. The vast majority finished. (Now, I believe the 6 yr grad rate is around 92%.) The “bad” years were really more in the 60s-80s and early 90s.
As you can see in the link below, O’Neill’s goal was to keep admissions a “human and small-scale” enterprise.
There’s no reason to think, by the way, that small-scale admissions (coupled with positive structural/environmental changes in the College) couldn’t work today. Great small colleges keep that sort of admissions structure (receiving less than 10k apps, and accepting 1/3-1/4 of them), and their classes have great graduation rates and exit outcomes.
Chicago now has a massive admissions machine sucking in 35k+ apps - but for what? All we have to show, apparently, is a 7 point increase in the grad rate, and an SAT percentile that went from the 98th percentile to the 99th percentile.
Don’t get me wrong, Nondorf is great for optics, and the better fin aid has led to more diverse classes, but O’Neill’s final classes at Chicago were very strong.
Also, re O’Neill and Behnke - as I understand it, they complemented each other very nicely. Behnke’s job was to recruit and bring suitable applicants to the door (which he did, with good incremental increases each year, going from around 5k apps when they started, to about 12k apps 11 years later). Year over year, that was steady - but not crazy - growth. O’Neill’s job was to use his “Chicago-style” approach to decide who to admit.
(Btw, in about nine years, Nondorf has increased the app pool by ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY percent - the growth has been much more frenzied under his watch.)
O’Neill and Behnke both exited at a similar time because, I believe, after many years together, they saw the writing on the wall - the admin was looking to take the admissions numbers into hyperdrive. Neither really wanted to be part of the frenzy. As I recall, it was much more symbiotic than you present - otherwise, it wouldn’t have lasted more than a decade…
(Also, for those interested, here’s a great speech O’Neill gave to his last incoming class: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/662082-ted-oneill-to-leave-uchicago-admissions.html - he didn’t need to be as buttoned-up as Nondorf needs to be in today’s climate.)