<p>I’m reposting this - about a year later. I still haven’t heard any valid reasons why, in comparison to very similarly situated schools (both in terms of mission and size) UChicago lags behind its peers (e.g. Stanford, Yale, Duke, etc.) for fundraising. </p>
<p>I didn’t buy the “UChicago has a smaller alumni base and fewer wealthy alums” because corporate giving is now so substantial.</p>
<p>I didn’t buy the “it’s like comparing apples and oranges” argument, because UChicago is quite similar to these other schools both in terms of size and mission (outside of not having an engineering school - which is still just one component of a school, and doesn’t explain the hundreds of millions of dollars gap between UChicago and these other schools).</p>
<p>I didn’t buy the “well things are looking up” argument, because it’s increasingly hard to win fundraising dollars in this economy.</p>
<p>Sadly, from my perspective, as a research “powerhouse,” UChicago seems to be a bit backwater and, increasingly, becoming a bit niche (more resembling Princeton than Stanford, say), which is NOT it’s educational mission. I wonder if, in the next 5-7 years, as Harvard and Stanford (especially Stanford) continue to grow across all fields, UChicago will begin to resemble more of a niche research school. </p>
<p>Curious if there are any other thoughts on this.</p>