@marlowe1 I was not saying that Chicago as an institution doesn’t stand for something somewhat different than its competitors. It does. I like what it stands for. I have said in the past, and will probably say again, that the commonalities among elite universities are much more important than their differences – they are all pretty much doing the same thing. But the differences can feel meaningful, especially if you are choosing one university or the other, and in any event Chicago has an especially distinctive culture that I like.
What I said – and clearly, having just re-read it – was that I don’t think the universities are really looking for different students now. The universities have their own somewhat different characters, but they want the same broad spectrum of students. Those students will thrive anywhere, and adopt themselves to their institution’s culture.
That doesn’t mean the student bodies at the different universities are identical. The students sort themselves out enough to make a difference. Harvard (oppressively) gets many more people who want to be President and think going to Harvard helps with that – e.g., Pete Buttigieg – than Chicago does. Stanford gets more guys who want to run a tech startup from their dorms. But I am certain that both Harvard and Stanford wouldn’t mind getting somewhat fewer of their “natural” types. And everyone knows that it can be a successful application strategy to apply to an institution where you don’t match the stereotype. In any event, the bulk of the students at any of these universities would be perfectly happy and thrive intellectually at most of the ones they don’t attend.