<p>NSM: Well, I don’t think that’s what I want Chicago to say. My S was accepted and turned them down. There is just too much BS involved in the whole “Chicago-esque” thing as far as he was concerned. But then, according to people here, just by thinking that way he didn’t belong there in the first place. hardehar.</p>
<p>Pizzagrl: Your comments are the only ones inflamming this discussion. If anyone has repeatedly expressed “upset” it is you.</p>
<p>I’m baffled, too, why anyone would create a name reflecting a hate of U Chicago. Why bother?</p>
<p>There are lots of universities that I wouldn’t want to attend nor to have my kids attend. However, I don’t hate them and wouldn’t bother going on line to flame them. I assume that anyone who has such hate for a university has a personal reason for that such as being rejected or having alum parents but not applying because the student knew they’d be rejected by the school.</p>
<p>Going to such lengths to express hate for a college just reflects badly on oneself and makes people like me wonder what’s missing in your life and causing you to be so preoccupied with something that’s of such little consequence.</p>
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<p>Well, if he didn’t like the BS of the Chicago-esque thing, why did he apply in the first place? Certainly no one held a gun to his head. </p>
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<p>Hardly, mummom. You came out swinging at U of Chicago on this and other threads. For some reason you don’t like it, and you don’t like that other people “defend” it. I neither defend it or don’t defend it – it is what it is. They like to be different. Oh well.</p>
<p>“NSM: Well, I don’t think that’s what I want Chicago to say. My S was accepted and turned them down. There is just too much BS involved in the whole “Chicago-esque” thing as far as he was concerned. But then, according to people here, just by thinking that way he didn’t belong there in the first place. hardehar”</p>
<p>But why care so much about U Chicago? My sons turned down various colleges because they felt the colleges weren’t good fits. Neither they nor I bother to post negative things about the colleges. What my family doesn’t like may be perfect for other people.</p>
<p>And why did your son bother to apply to a school that he considered to be BS? Seems like doing so was a waste of his time so I don’t think that originally he thought it was a BS school. I am left wondering if he and you are angry because he wasn’t awarded merit aid there and consequently didn’t go there. I can’t think of any other reason that you’d be spending so much time saying bad things about Chicago. </p>
<p>As for Chicago, it wasn’t a college that would have been a good fit for my sons (even if sons had gotten the grades it required) or for me. However, one of my mentees is a freshman there, and told me the other day that he chose it due to my recommendation. He’s having a wonderful time there, and I’m happy for him. It’s a great place for some students.</p>
<p>Frankly, it is astonishing to me that you can’t refrain from making personal attacks.
Do you think that reflects positively on you?
Certainly, discussing a school, essay prompts, etc. is very different from continually berating and insulting me personally. I do not consider myself “flaming” anything. I began by posting some comments from the NYT blog. This led to further debate about the school.
I have not make any personal attacks toward anyone, even when jym stated that I had previously begun a thread about UofC (I did not, and have never started a thread).
Even IHateUofC has a right to his opinion. I believe he matriculated at the college. This is a college discussion board, for pete’s sake. I hope, in the face of the criticism I have taken from you, that I may be permitted to say–get over yourselves, already.
I’m going out to enjoy the sunshine. Have a nice day, ladies.</p>
<p>Chicago has built its atmosphere and reputation around students who pride themselves in being different, and their application appears to encourage kids to express the unusual aspects of themselves that make them a fit for that “quirky” group. As someone above said, it’s niche marketing, that’s all, and no one has to apply there who doesn’t like the game. I’m just glad there are schools that want the smart-but-a-little-weird kids; they have an important place in society and deserve to have a great school to attend. (Even the self-consciously weird, which I’m sure many U of C students are.) Chicago seems to want to be that school. More power to them.</p>
<p>mummom- I’m just speculating here, but are you mad at Chicago because they didn’t give your son enough money to attend? I can understand being disappointed, but attacking the school on multiple threads???</p>
<p>My son was accepted EA to Chicago and again as a transfer and declined both times, but he recognizes the strengths of the school and that the environment is different in many respects (some good, some less good) from the school he attends. When I was a law student there I decided I could never have fit in as an undergrad. That’s fine. I hadn’t applied there and the school functioned just fine without my presence.
This thread is funny, really. I guess the only worthy schools are those which accept our kids and throw money at them to attend.</p>
<p>(cross-posted with NSM- great minds and all that)</p>
<p>ok sry to enter this tread without anything relavent, but can someone tell me how to start a thread?</p>
<p>I have to admit, I lost a bit of respect for Chicago when they mistranslated (or, at least, poorly translated) one of their prompts from Japanese. (The prompt included the original Japanese, thus how I could tell).</p>
<p>“Even IHateUofC has a right to his opinion.”</p>
<p>No one disagrees with that. Some of us are wondering about why someone would create a CC name that puts down a college. Some of us also are wondering why some people seem to take Chicago’s essay prompts as personal affronts. If one doesn’t like Chicago, fine: Enjoy applying to and attending colleges that one does like. </p>
<p>Fine to dislike Chicago or to prefer other prompts but since there are thousands of other schools in this country where students can matriculate, why go on a campaign against Chicago unless one has very personal reasons for caring so much such as if one was rejected or was denied the funds to attend it?</p>
<p>LOL mummom-- I said that the OP<a href=“greenery”>/u</a> started another thread about this U of Chicago essay, NOT YOU. Geez. Are you so self-focused that you think everything is about you? Try reading a litttle more carefully next time!</p>
<p>And as for your not liking it when posters are mean to other posters- I seem to recall your saying someting rather insulting to poster Dbate in his thread about his grades at Yale, like that if he ever becomes a doctor you would bever want to go to see him (or something like that-- I forget exactly). That was a sweet and kind thing to say.</p>
<p>Whatever, mummom. I have no personal interest in Chicago. Didn’t go there, didn’t consider going there, not the right place for either of my kids, over and done. But the first time I ever saw you on these boards was in the newmassdad/Rhodes scholar discussion, where you came out of nowhere and called Chicago a place for intellectual poseurs, demanded that people explain why they considered it equal to the Ivies, demanded that people explain the difference between NU / Chicago in a very hostile manner (when you KNOW the difference – they’re both very fine schools, but just have different cultures and feels, that’s all). I was struck then by the vehemence of the chip on your shoulder over Chicago, and I’m struck by how it remains. If your son didn’t like Chicago, fine. No one said he’s obligated to, and it doesn’t make him a worse person. It just makes him a kid who didn’t care for Chicago. Great. I sincerely hope he found a place he liked and is happy as a clam there.</p>
<p>Let me help you out mummom. The post (#226) I wrote in this thread
was in response to** nychomie’s post #221**. He posted a quote from your beloved NYT comments by someone named Diana, who hypothesized about Rohan’s (the essay writer’s ) background, and that race or social class may have played a part in the U of Chicago essay. To me, that was a baseless hypothesis (Rohans background) and unnecessary pot-stirring. I sugggested that one could inquire about his background by simply asking the person who, ** in the other thread started by Greenery** said she was his girlfriend, so that no one here (nychomie or whoever) need make this thread about race or class (as MOWC and oldfort had already said in posts 223 and 224). Now pray tell, what in my post #226 was (a) critical or (b) about ** you** ??? My post was an attempt to avoid this thread becoming one about race or social class. It was intended to be a solution to confirm or refute a hypothesis about Rohan’s background. It was meant to be HELPFUL and it had NOTHING to do with YOU or your cronies. Whatever your issue is with the posters here or U of Chicago (which, like pizzagirl, I have no issue or affiliation with one way or the other), let it go.</p>
<p>From Pizzagirl:
"Who cares you hate UofC? That says more about you – that you bothered to create a screen name – and UofC’s “hold” over you – than it does about UofC. </p>
<p>Simple solution: Don’t apply; don’t go. Problem solved!"</p>
<p>Um, a little too late. I graduated in June. I loved the school when I applied, my hate comes from experience.</p>
<p>What did you hate about it?</p>
<p>Do you agree that the enrolled students are largely or entirely “quirky”? Are they substantially different from students who apply to excellent publics, to excellent LAC’s, or to Ivies?</p>
<p>Please enlighten.</p>
<p>Seems that instead of hating U of C, you’d have been better off transferring to a school you’d love . Meanwhile, I know people who went there or who go there and who love it. I’m interested, too, in what you hate about it. I don’t have a dog in this race, but am curious.</p>
<p>I’m also curious about why you applied there and decided to attend.</p>
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<p>Do they have to be? There are undoubtedly many students at excellent LAC’s or other t20 schools who would have enjoyed U of Chicago … and many U of Chicago students might very well have enjoyed some of those other colleges too. That really has little to do with anything, though.</p>
<p>Could someone please humor me and tell me what it is about Chicago’s essay prompts that are “put downs” of other institutions and / or the students who attend other institutions, as was alleged in post 270?</p>
<p>Post 297:</p>
<p>I think my questions, and NSM’s, have integrity on their own, and I think we should all let the poster we addressed respond to those questions rather than pre-editing his reply.
:)</p>
<p>(They could easily answer yours as well!) :)</p>
<p>Great, but it sounds like there are 2 separate questions on the table.</p>
<p>1) Hey, you who just graduated from Chicago, do you see the kids there as quirky and / or appreciably different from kids at other top schools? (BTW, how would he know, especially if he didn’t transfer from Chicago to another school midway through?)</p>
<p>2) In general, what about Chicago essay prompts make some posters on here feel put down personally and / or that Chicago’s intent is to put down applicants / patrons of other schools?</p>