@marlowe1 - why must their be consistency in my position w\r Chicago, over time?
I’d equate my “position” to be akin to a pendulum - in the 90s, I did indeed look with envy at places like Harvard and Yale, Duke and Stanford.
But, zoom forward 25 years, post Varsity Blues and post Harvard law suit, post skull and bones controversy and post US News rankings scandals, and my position has changed.
Now, I cast spite at this great, perverse machine of elite higher ed. The system, it seems, has grown only crazier over the past couple decades, and no one is happy. Ask AOs like the ones interviewed in the NY Times Trinity College article, or ask scores of administrators who are both part of the bloat and toiling away - the entire system now simply exists to feed the beast.
Again, marlowe, the pendulum can swing. (But rest assured, I’m not pining to return to my college days! Although I do wish I paid more attention when O’Neill or Abbott or Sahlins - those “fossils” of yesteryear decried the commodification of higher education.)
@Zoom10 will tell you that’s how the market works - virtually anything can be commodified. But, I’m past the point of lauding this fact.