<p>U of C is really prestigious in our prestige-conscious wealthy suburb but I just noticed the average person in Chicago doesn’t recognize it at all. I was actually wearing a U of C sweatshirt once in the city and some guy came up to me thinking I was an alumni of UIC! Another time, I was talking to this girl and she told me she goes to “University of Chicago.” Through the course of the conversation, I found out she actually meant UIC! She didn’t even know U of C existed even though she’s a Chicago resident! I was speechless…I would hate to think there are other UIC students out there who actually think they go to “University of Chicago”… haha wow. Finally, I tried taking a cab from the airport to U of C. I assumed the driver knew what I meant, but he ended up taking me to the UIC campus and when I told him it was wrong, he didn’t even know about U of C, let alone where it was! lmao. Don’t you guys agree…U of C needs to get to work on its brand recognition among the masses? It’s really prestigious among the elite but for the rest, forget about it.</p>
<p>Spare us! It has already tried a “perfect murder” (Leopold and Loeb), a sort of fascist cult (Leo Strauss), neoclassical economics (Milton Friedman and many others), collaboration with a brutal military coup to remake a country’s economy (the “Chicago Boys” in Chile), and mongering one of the most misguided military adventures in U.S. history (Paul Wolfowitz and Iraq). How much more promotion can we take?</p>
<p>(Of course, there’s also that guy in the White House, but I like him . . . .)</p>
<p>As someone posted on the Penn board a few days ago:</p>
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<p>I don’t think it matters all that much to be honest.</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, I think one has to realize that just because you’re smart and you go to a highly selective college does not mean that the world is going to come over and tell you so. If UofC wanted more name recognition with the “average person,” it would need a huge sports empire.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people in Los Angeles have heard of Pomona and how many people in Atlanta have heard of Emory. I don’t think it’s a UofC-specific thing at all.</p>
<p>I can assure you that most people in Atlanta have heard of Emory.</p>
<p>^ Seconding this.</p>
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<p>Completely agree.</p>
<p>EDIT (because I had some other stuff to say but didn’t want to double-post): Honestly, every UChicago student has to confront this problem (I’m getting the question “where are you going to college?” from everyone and the conversation, 99% of the time, ends with “no, not UIC” because I live in Chicagoland). Regardless of Chicago’s academic reputation among the elite, it’s true that the name doesn’t have the same effect as “Harvard” or “insert other similarly selective school here”, even though it should. And I find that that’s the ultimate complaint of the OP; regardless of the lost time in the cab incident or whatever, the OP’s complaining about the lack of prestige. It’s a vanity thing. You sign a contract with the sentence “no, not UIC” when you send your deposit. If you want someone to automatically say “congratulations” when you tell them where you go to college, go to “insert other similarly selective school here”.</p>
<p>I personally think that if UChicago had that brand recognition, it would not be as unique as it is… All of the typical applicants would be washed up underneath the “2400/4.0” candidates with essays that are a tad more general. Having less recognition, in the long run, helps them I feel. The students who do apply usually know what they are getting themselves into, despite the amount of essays. Not to mention the whole prestige “issue.” The most known thing about Chicago is the “Where fun goes to die” saying, which only deters less informed and less enthusiastic applicants (again, better for Chicago in the long run).</p>
<p>Just my opinion though.</p>
<p>That’s one of the things that interested me about UChicago in the first place. Finding out it was one of the top universities in America and not having heard of it led me to research more about this hidden gem.</p>
<p>Ah well, are you attending a high prestige college for the name or for the education? Although I can see how this would get annoying at times.</p>
<p>@wofbharatj: Actually, I think that process of “All of the typical applicants would be washed up underneath the “2400/4.0” candidates with essays that are a tad more general.” has already begun. The amount of advertising they are doing through mails is really… extensive. Plus, they’re going to have a sub 15% acceptance this year… which no more makes it ‘self selective’ IMO. Does anyone else get the slight feeling that UChicago is having an identity crisis? Although, to be fair, from what i’ve seen, the ea acceptances are typical UofC people.</p>
<p>Well, if you think of the alternative name, Rockefeller University, University of Chicago starts to sound better.</p>
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<p>I think UChicago is doing a great thing with the advertisements, at least for now. In the past, Chicago was only able to attract the people who were not only fits but also knew it existed. The acceptance rate was 70% at one point in time. The first thing the advertisements have done is let more people know that UChicago exists. There are plenty of “typical” Chicago students, they just did not know Chicago existed. My worry is that they begin to enjoy this success so much that they eventually lose their identity along with the “typical” applicants and Chicago becomes just like an Ivy League school.</p>
<p>When the school’s acceptance rate was 70% is was because the administration had completely abandoned the college. I would go as far as to say that in recent times (past 2-3 years), most of the typical Chicago students know/knew of its existence. I think thats why its called ‘self selective’. And i’m not sure about you, but to me it seemed that they were trying too, too hard to sell the college. No other University or College (elite or not) has ever sent me more than two mails, which are usually extremely short and most of the times are a reminder or point to a link. Also, I got the sense that they were falsely selling, I thought the email about athletics to be completely dishonest. Even when I visited, during the information session, the guy (who also probably admitted me) was trying to sell the school as athletic and stuff… I don’t think they are any more comfortable in their own shoes and want to slowly inch towards an HYPSM, like you said. However, once again, I have to admit that the early admissions have not proved this to what i’ve seen.</p>
<p>I think Uchicago, since Nondorf has become dean of admissions, has worked really hard on Brand recognition (maybe too much). People have argued that it may lose its intellectual atmosphere because of the increase in apps (180% in last 10 years). I don’t think that is true, but I’ve never gotten more emails and snail mail from a school advertising itself. (Life of Mind book, poster, humanities department letter, etc)</p>
<p>These documents and school visits really changed the notoriety of Uchicago, even though it may not be Harvard in notoriety, it is becoming more popular.</p>
<p>It really sucks for me, because I have a really small chance of getting in due to scores… And if I do somehow get in, I have to think about financial aid, and that just ****es me off.</p>
<p>:( Send less letters, and give more aid!</p>
<p>This is not unique to the University of Chicago in and around Chicago. I graduated from Amherst and, even within Massachusetts, people would assume I was talking about the University of Massachusetts, whose main campus is in Amherst.</p>
<p>I think the big issue here is that beyond the ivy league (or some big sports schools and state schools), few even supposedly educated people have the imagination or interest to appreciate the other equally great (and in some cases even better) colleges in the U.S… Not sure that there is anything that can be done about this, but happily the top grad and professional schools are better informed than the average Joe.</p>