As someone who went to grad school at UIUC back in the 80’s and took an econ course taught by a UChicago prof (this was actually at U of Iowa where I I spent a semester before transferring to UIUC) that I count amongst the best I’ve had, I must admit to a soft spot for the Midwestern work ethic and the complete lack of agenda except the desire to really delve into the subject and appreciate the beauty underlying the analysis/math. Unpretentious about sums it up.
Coming from the top engineering and business schools in India (IIT and IIM) I was particularly struck by the high quality of teaching that this UChicago prof epitomized. Too bad there weren’t many like him during my time at UIUC though several others came close.
For my son I’m hoping for a really productive, fun, intellectually stimulating 4 years of undergrad education that he will cherish for the rest of his life and UChicago seems a good candidate. He actually spent a couple of weeks at Yale this summer (YYGS program) and came away quite excited about that school so @CU123’s strategy makes a lot of sense in terms of how we approach the application process.
Thanks to everyone on this thread for their insightful comments! I’m so glad I stumbled upon you all!