<p>Oh, I think if you moved UChicago to, say, Boston and put it on the common app, more people would apply. Fortunately, that is not likely to happen.</p>
<p>Blacknblue, as an intellectual game you may want to think about the hypercompetitive schools in a slightly different sense. When you are rejecting 9 of 10 applicants (as Harvard and Princeton do) you are going to have to select for academic perfection in nearly all cases for the academic admits. A couple of B’s and off you go to eat worms at U of C. But all this perfection does not necessarilly translate into spectacularly successful grads. Many times, it is the much maligned athletes that succeed beyond expectation (see the Parent’s forum for details - there are several lively discussions going on). </p>
<p>What I’m trying to get at is that when you have to cut so many, you will cut some that you shouldn’t. At Chicago, all you pick won’t love you, but many will. Most of the parents I talked with at the Snell Hitchcock master’s reception at orientation (before UofC chucked the parents out, lol) said that UofC was their kid’s first choice. I saw one girl that was not happy - either she will come around or transfer - and one young man that had that deer in the headlights look. Not too bad out of the 50 or so kids I saw.</p>
<p>Places like Chicago and MIT are clearly not for everyone - these are two schools that I always implore people to visit - you will love them or be profoundly uncomfortable - nothing in between.</p>