<p>To hyeonjlee: </p>
<p>Yes, the admissions office equivalent of the invisible hand is here, although I (anon.) will be replacing the normal PSAC moderator until the beginning of the school year.</p>
<p>I think that’s an excellent suggestion- having UChicago undergrads who are waiting for school to start as PR people for local high schools. I will DEFINITELY bring this up within the admissions office as a potential idea for this fall. Since we do start school so late, students who don’t come back as O-Leaders, RAs, etc. often end up twiddling their thumbs for the last two weeks or so.</p>
<p>In terms of replying to OP:</p>
<p>1+2) The acceptance rate, as others have mentioned, is high because of a significant amount of self-selection. The “Ivy League” gets free PR in the form of a well-propagated reputation, and accordingly will get applications from all kinds of students who have no idea how higher education works. As a result, their tiny acceptance rates reflect the fact that they can safely and easily deny a majority of students. UChicago typically gets more students ‘in the know’ about higher education- it’s the same phenomenon reflected in University & College rankings, which will always have UChicago in the top ten even though it’s less well-known to the average parent/student. UChicago is best known within academic programs, professional schools, well-known companies which know how it operates, but less well-known to the public.</p>
<p>3) UChicago has pretty diverse and highly-ranked academic departments. That is, all four schools (Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences) have internationally-recognized faculty, but some departments get more attention than others. Physics and Economics always get a lot of publicity because of the Nobel Prize winners, but other disciplines like English and Mathematics are just as important here. </p>
<p>On a semi-related note, I pretty much came here because I knew that we were good at everything. =) Not knowing my path as a potential undergraduate, I was looking for a school that would have talented professors across the board.</p>
<p>Hope the above information (along with that provided by other posters) is helpful to OP and others. Additionally, thanks again to hyeonjlee and others for the suggestions.</p>