Would you have said the same a decade ago? Back then, the U of C was ranked 15th, below the likes of Hopkins, Northwestern, and (gasp) Cornell.
ED, development admits, and Common App aside, the College hasn’t changed that much since 2006. Then, UChicago was as good as, or better than, its ranking. Its ranking now may be slightly inflated (and Dean Nondorf is paid to keep it that way). The US News rankings aren’t hard to game for a school with resources, and the U of C is gaming them now. This means more whimsical applications and more donations from happy alums (the latter was one argument for the move to ED, according to a friend in admissions), but hasn’t made the College a noticeably better (or worse) place. IMHO.