<p>I agree with you completely, but I think it’s hard for students and parents to have this kind of foresight. For them, what you take with you once your four years are over is not necessarily a great education, but bragging rights and a solid, marketable degree. If an enlightening education comes in that mix, that’s great, but I think there’s a reason that so many families are willing to spend so much on college when there’s a solid state school only a few hours away.</p>
<p>U of C definitely delivers that academically enlightening experience. I’m in the middle of talking to many of my friends after their first years of college, who are working hard and having fun at other top schools, and while we’re all angered at the high percentage of smokers at our schools and completely obsessed with playing Super Smash Bros., it seems that Chicago really stands out from every other school in the emphasis placed on teaching and on learning. That’s what sold me on the school.</p>
<p>For other students, though, they might be concerned about how others view and evaluate them, and they might want to feel like they can hold their heads more highly if they go to a better recognized school. This name-recognition tends to backfire, at times… my good friend is going to Harvard next year, and I can’t begin to talk about the garbage she gets about going there from other students who didn’t get in. When she proposed that the college admissions process should be more private and that parents should not share information about their children and other students in their grade, she was shot down for being the “whiny Harvard girl.” She is also being criticized for attending the school only because it’s prestigious, etc.</p>
<p>What other people don’t know is that she doesn’t particularly love Harvard-- it was her favorite of the schools she got into, but that’s not saying much.</p>