UChicago Braces for $220M Deficit

[JBStillFlying]

@Cue7

@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.

• Cue, why do you think there is currently commodification of higher ed? Are you thinking that adcoms today admit less holistically than they did back in your time? Also, do you believe that high school students might also be more of a commodity these days than they used to or are they more distinctive one from another compared to your day?
• In your research of AO's who feel they are feeding the beast, have you run across any at UChicago like that? Tonight I listened to a joint admissions talk (College/Law/Booth) and I have to admit that Nondorf was fun to watch. Very positive and gave great advice especially tailored to the realities of quarantine, cancelled test dates and no campus visits this summer. We were there for the law talk but I have to admit I enjoyed Nondorf's way more and found it more substantive. I'm sure that had I been a college junior I would be looking very thoroughly into UChicago right now! (edit to add: and I readily admit that this is a skewed perspective!)