<p>My S1 is a third year at U Chicago. I just LOVE the school based on everything I learned over the years and what my son is telling me (he is deliriously happy with his choice of school).</p>
<p>That said, I think IN GENERAL, Columbia and Penn do get better mind share than U Chicago and Duke (I live we NJ).</p>
<p>We can all come up with some esoteric data points here and there to prove that U Chicago is better than its peers, but this exercise is really silly. Because one can come up with all sorts of data that can prove X school is better than Y school - for any pair. </p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, U Chicago’s mind share is below where it should be vis-a-vis its outstanding qualities compared with its peers in general. So if U Chicago decides to move up, then there is healthy room for doable (read: very manageable and achievable) improvement -which is a good thing. It will be much tougher if U Chicago is lacking in some fundamentals that cannot be easily addressed with good marketing and PR work.</p>
<p>But I agree with a lot of opinions stated so far: that is, at the level of top 10 schools or so, it’s the fit that matters most. The student’s future prospect is not going to be measurably different because s/he chose U Chicago over Duke or visa versa.</p>
<p>Below HYP, the next 5-10 schools can easily be described as peers. And, even including HYP and next top 10 schools or so, the fit between the student and the school is the most important factor for success.</p>