<p>A recent discussion I had with a U of C undergraduate admissions officer I know socially was about the difficulty she was having convincing applicants and potential applicants of the value of a liberal arts education. That was perhaps the biggest reservation applicants and potential applicants to the U of C were having.
I attributed this to the pre-professional orientation many young people have today. I work with U of C undergraduates everyday and there has been a clear change in the last ten to fifteen years in the Chicago student body toward a higher percentage of those who are contemplating and planning a professional career from the moment they arrive on campus. For many of them, the U of C was not a first choice, but the best academic school that accepted them. There has been some discussion on campus about U of C students becoming more like the students at most other schools and criticism of the admissions office on that account. But I tend to attribute this the echo-boom overflow from the Ivy League. Certainly the undergraduate student body today is much stronger than it was ten years ago.
There are liberal arts educations and liberal arts educations. Somehow or other I don’t imagine Brown admissions officers spending much time convincing prospects of its value. It is not completely clear in my mind why this is so. But I can imagine some future doctors thinking various core courses are a waste of their time.</p>