<p>Just thought of this and I wanted to know your opinions. Do you think Obama’s affiliation with the university have anything to do with the huge increase in applications? I supect they’re getting a whole slew of Obama essays…</p>
<p>I think Obama’s affiliation may have played a factor somewhat in quite a few applicants’ decisions to apply, however I don’t think he is a major factor in those decisions. </p>
<p>As for the Obama essays, I’d like to think that people smart enough to apply to Chicago are original enough to not use the very cliche “first African American president inspiration to us all” kind of essay. And honestly, if I was in the Admissions Department, those essays wouldn’t tell me much about the writer unless it was VERY well written. They would focus on Obama and his contributions to Chicago (which have been very minimal in recent years considering that he’s been in DC and was a lecturer in the Law School, not the College), not the applicant.</p>
<p>It doesn’t strike me that there are Uncommon Supplement prompts that would particularly lend themselves to Obama essays anyway…</p>
<p>I haven’t heard of a huge increase in apps to Oxy or Columbia, where he attended UG.</p>
<p>^^ Or Harvard where he went to Law School… but they don’t really need any more applications lol.</p>
<p>@GatitaZ: It’s so kind of you to tell me all this! Anyway, waiting for soo long a time is not enjoyable for anyone I believe, especially for me!!! hope everyone good luck…</p>
<p>@Kvasek:
EIGHTEEN PERCENT OVERALL!!!
are you sure ? USNews printed the overall admission rate is 27.9%(2008) so admission must be rarely offered to international students，and this means, a nightmarish nightmare ~><em><~ ~></em><~ ~><em><~ ~></em><~</p>
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<p>The acceptance rate for internationals for the Class of 2012 is 15%. For the Class of 2013, there are about 140 internationals, only two received financial aid.</p>
<p>@dawncoming: Were you really expecting international students to be accepted as easily as domestic students??</p>
<p>^Yeah, I thought 18% sounded kind of high.</p>
<p>@PBush: Yes. I thought so. I was quite ignorant, huh? Once I even thought that an international would be easier to get in than a domestic.American universities emphasize a lot on cultural diversity so I was so bold to think they prefer internationals! Now everything’s done, I can only expect good fortune. …</p>
<p>@Divine Comedy: so based on your information, to be a 2014er of UChicago will be much harder?(generally speaking)</p>
<p>The more selective Chicago gets, the better it is for the people who get accepted- their degrees will mean more. Yeah, it sucks for all of us applying, but it’s better for the university as far as peer opinions and rankings. And that means a lot when you’re applying for your first job out of college, or grad school.</p>
<p>^Don’t overanalyze the value of admissions selectivity. Most informer employers (aka. the sort you’d want to work for) bank their faith not upon the USNWR rankings (probably the most visible place where ‘selectivity’ plays a part) but upon their qualified assessments about the quality of job applicants a college has produced. True, Chicago’s increased application numbers might mean a higher chance at attracting better brains (and blah blah, you know how the argument goes) but it may also be an ‘empty’ increase without results that U of C will see in its incoming class, either because the numbers were driven by (a) underqualified people who are tempted by the relatively high rate of admission in a T10 school (resulting in an unfortunate loss of Chicago’s self-selective applicant pool) or (b) overqualified people who realize that applying EA to Chicago is a smart idea before they apply for HYPMS in the regular round (a non-binding opportunity to know if you’re safely in at a T10 school early in the process). In either case, all the trends you mention (which are derived from the strength of the incoming class rather than the group that was accepted) might not hold true.</p>
<p>About the Obama affiliation a few posts back…i think if anything affected people applying it wasnt that he taught at UChic but rather that he lives right across the street practically…that would explain why Columbia didnt get any more apps…cuz he has no presence there. But he may sometimes come bck to visit his Chicago home and that may be a reason some applied…</p>
<p>And on another note, rankings dont matter that much in the real world. Yes name of a school will leave some impressed…but many employers also know of grade inflation…a 3.8 at Stanford is not equivalent to a 3.8 at Chicago, considering Stanford normally gives out higher grades.KitKat i think that for the students it will be nice to go to a better ranked school, but other than that, it wont have much effect. Haha lets face it, if your employer is looking at a Harvard grad v. a Yale grad or Stanford,etc, he’s not gonna look at rankings…they are all high caliber and thats all that matters</p>
<p>^ That’s a pretty dumb reason to apply; that on the off chance Barack Obama might visit his home sometime in the next 4 years. Otoh, you could make the case that the Obama presence was a negative for some.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it’s marketing and the increase in rankings/prestige. I know a lot of my friends who are applying to Chicago just because it’s ranked higher (in comparison to past rankings)</p>
<p>I think it doe matter what rank your school is when you’re going for internships or first jobs. I mean, if you’re not in the HPYS, then you’re somehow considered below those people… then it does matter. I know Chicago is #8 with Columbia, but I think it’s more impressive to academics than to the average employer. I know a lot of people who didn’t even know the U of C existed before Obama. And even then, some still don’t know, whereas the name recognition alone for HPYS is ridiculous. If you’re being compared to someone from one of those top ivies for an internship or whatever, there is going to be a certain consideration of name recognition. I think someone from Columbia might be at an advantage over some from U of C because it’s an ivy and just has that brand name. </p>
<p>So, it might not be ranking- but I think it’s more of a name recognition thing that comes along with rank. My parents didn’t know about U of C until I applied, but they knew the other 24 out of the top 30. </p>
<p>We all want to deny it, but name recognition is pretty important when you’re just out of school. UChicago definitely has it in academic and economics and all of those types of fields, but other schools have it in those fields + professional fields. That said, UChicago still has great name recognition.</p>
<p>It’s hard to admit this, seeing as it’s one of my top choices, but it is something to consider if you’re thinking about stepping outside of academia. I know some graduates from UChicago, and they have done extremely well in academia- maybe from their own character, or maybe with the help of the brand name. I also know a couple grads who aren’t doing well at all. I think it’s definitely dependent on the individual person, but they’ve given me advice about the school that is relevant.</p>
<p>I still love U of C!!!</p>
<p>Hm, just received an information from University of Arizona that I was admitted. It was by far the easiest school to get into of all that I have applied (or rather intend to apply if UChicago doesn’t work out) but still it is nice to hear that at least some university wants me. Well, it’s not top-ranked, but it has a decent business program and I’d love the weather. I’m also glad, since it was hard to guess how competitive I am as an applicant from Poland. But still - it was the easy part. The fun won’t start until next week.</p>
<p>Congrats Kvasek :). I sent you the critique of your essay thing as well, so check gmail.</p>
<p>As for the discussion of name-recognition…it matters to some extent. When an employer is evaluating a prospective employee and sees some special and positive qualities in the prospective employee, then the fact that they went to a certain school confirms their preliminary beliefs. They figure, if I think that this person is amazing, and Harvard/Chicago/whatever thinks the same thing (aka they were admitted to these schools and knowing how hard it is to get into these schools, they must have thought that this person was impressive as well) then this person seems like they would be a great facet for the company/whatever.</p>
<p>However, it MUST be noted that any ‘prestige’ associated with a university is only done so because of the implicit assumption that a degree from such and such institution = X. For UChicago, that X would be having a well-rounded education, being in an intellectual-esque (I know it’s not a word, but it’s still awesome) environment for four years (and having some of that rub off on you), etc. However, that X for Harvard may be generally the same thing, but along with it comes the fact that Harvard only admits a very low percentage of its applicants and there must have been something extremely special about you that got you accepted. Since you were one of those few, then, they might view you as being one of the ‘elite’ in the country (I understand that some may very well be in disagreement with this, but whatever) and hence might view you higher than they did before. In essence, the prestige associated with the degree is only there because individuals from the University are usually associated to have such qualities (whatever highly respected qualities they may be).</p>
<p>However, it will only help you so much. If you went to Harvard and did not develop yourself to the extent that you could have elsewhere, then your going to Harvard was a waste. If you went to the university that would have let you flourish into something extraordinary, the university that would have best allowed you to become the human being that you wanted to become, the university that would have helped you in understanding the world and all its mysteries, or the university that would have given you the greatest opportunities (research, internships, etc.) to prepare what you would face ahead of you, then you would have been better there than you would be at Harvard. The fact of the matter is that your choice of University essentially will shape the rest of your life, and I do not mean this in terms of what jobs you will get and what you will accomplish. Rather, I mean it in terms of who you will become as a person. If you go to a university such as UChicago, then the atmosphere you run into there, the people you meet, the opportunities you’re given, and the classes that you take will all end up helping to shape you in ways that, at this moment, you probably can’t even comprehend. And that, in the end, is the whole reasoning behind a college education. Not to get a triple figure job when you graduate. Not to get high-level connections. Rather, it is meant to allow yourself to become the greatest person that you can possibly become, to test your mind like you never have before, to gain experiences that you never will be able to gain again in your life. Just remember, the only thing that you can control in our unpredictable world is yourself, and your skills and who you are stay the same, whether you’re employed or unemployed, in poverty or swimming in money. For all you know, in 20 years Harvard and Yale might not be viewed nearly as highly as they are nowadays (one excellent example of this is Harvard’s philosophy department - before 2000, they had Nozick, Rawls, Quine, Putnam, but now the first 3 are dead and the 4th is most likely going to die soon (he’s pretty old). They used to be considered as the greatest philosophy department in the world, but even though they’re still good, they’re not held as highly as they used to be - not in my opinion at least :)). Indeed, for all you know, they might not even be in existence anymore and out of the memory of many people. As unlikely as that sounds, just remember that name recognition is not everything, and that who you become as a person (as a result of going to a certain University) is much more important than the name recognition of the University.</p>
<p>Sorry if parts don’t make sense - I’ve been listening to a remix of Biggie Smalls and Hannah Montana lol. I’d really love to see the guy who decided that mixing such a great rapper and Hannah Montana was a good idea.</p>
<p>Kitkatkatie,
I agree with you completely and I thank you for breaking the politically correct mold of saying rankings aren’t important. I don’t think a tenth of the applicants choose Uchicago if it was ranked lower than 50. They would find an other place with a wonderful environment (as there are many highly ranked schools with wonderful environments). Yes Chicago is awesome, yes it is a cool place to be for 4 years and the professors are great. But the fact that it has prestige brings these things to our attention, so brand names serve a purpose. And I also admit that I won’t be so successful in maintaining my modesty if I got into Harvard or Chicago, though I could feign it. Some level of bragging right have to be associated with that; a temporary ego boost is fun for everyone.</p>
<p>I have only met two kinds of individuals in my experience: shallow people and qualified shallow people. The latter group can justify their position, and I think I fit comfortably in this category.</p>
<p>Sorry for being a cynic. :)</p>
<p>50% increase, 5855 applications…well ■■■. How many applications do they usually take?</p>
<p>Also, I think we should give UofC a lot more credit. A friend of mine who moved here last year from Korea asked me where I was applying, and when I said “University of Chicago”, her eyes lit up. She’s definitely heard of it and assures me that its fame isn’t limited to the US alone.</p>