<p>In yet another example of the "new" UChicago, first year student Kelsey MacLeod was named the winner of Ann Taylor's most recent online "Style for Students" competition.</p>
<p>I'd like to make two comments here.</p>
<p>First, congratulations to Kelsey. She sounds like a very bright and obviously well-turned out person.</p>
<p>Second, wow, times certainly are changing at UChicago.</p>
<p>Ann's</a> Blog</p>
<p>We still have a long way to go from having students like Lena Chen. I hope those days never come.</p>
<p>^ So I did my due diligence and researched this “Lena Chen” person. </p>
<p>On the one hand, she’s apparently quite skilled at monetizing herself through various online media.</p>
<p>On the other hand, yikes.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Let’s not go overboard. Ann Taylor is something of a Dress Like Your Mom brand. Of course, there’s no way of knowing whether these women were true fans of Ann Taylor or only playing dress-up to earn money and prizes. For the most part, these clothes communicate not so much stylish self-confidence as desperation to conform and uncertainty how to show that. Presumably, there has been plenty of that on interview days at Chicago for a long time.</p></li>
<li><p>A few years ago there was an undergraduate RSO soft-core porn magazine, Vita Excolatur. Not certain whether it is still around.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What they really wear is Replica Chicago.</p>
<p>^^ But at least this disproves the all UChicago women are ugly conjecture.</p>
<p>This one article doesn’t show much. I think a more interesting trend to examine would be the growing greek community on UChicago’s campus. I believe there are about 20 greek orgs on campus now (significantly more than I attended), and I imagine close to 15% of the student body is involved in Greek life specifically - which is considerably more than when I attended.</p>
<p>(I could only find an outdated Chicago Life guide on this topic, and haven’t seen any more recent stats, but I imagine greek life is growing at U of C.)</p>
<p>Well, actually, Ann Taylor has had contests for several large/prestigious (I guess?) universities before, where girls can model their favorite work clothes and win money. I’ve heard of it happening once a year for at least all 3 years that I’ve been here. I think it’s just a fun way to pretend to be a model and make some extra money.</p>
<p>Vita still exists, although I don’t know if they’ve put out a regular, as in on a regular schedule, magazine this quarter. I know several people who have posed for Vita, and they’re a nice group of kids. A lot of them are involved in journalism, especially the social justice-y kind.</p>
<p>When I visited Chicago during prospy weekend, almost all the people I saw were very well dressed and put together; I would’ve felt uncomfortable going to class in sweats. On the 2016 facebook group, there were some students who were going to be interning in the fashion industry (Zac Posen, etsy, etc) this summer. </p>
<p>In addition to Vita, there’s also RACK, the BDSM group at UChicago. And I like Lena Chen.</p>
<p>
It’s definitely true that there a lot of well dressed/put together people here, but can’t imagine where anyone would feel “uncomfortable” going to class in sweats (in any sense of the word). You certainly wouldn’t be judged for it at the U of C.</p>
<p>The BDSM group puts out one of the great Chicago t-shirts:</p>
<p>The University of Chicago – Whip Me, Spank Me, Make Me Read The Iliad</p>
<p>Speaking of the Ann Taylor student, when Charles Percy–later to become a multi-millionaire business person and Illinois senator–he was entrepreneurial and started several business earning him the title "richest student ever to work his way through college. When the legendary president, Robert Hutchins, met Percy, he reputedly said, “We usually don’t let student like you in here.”</p>
<p>One of Charles Percy’s greatest skills was time management. In addition to being the president of his fraternity (Alpha Delt), one of his first business successes in college was starting a campus-wide laundry service for his fellow students. Rumor has it that he graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA. A truly remarkable young man, that Chuck.</p>
<p>Around the same time in Hyde Park, a young man by the name of John Paul Stevens also enrolled as an undergrad at Chicago and eventually became a rather well known Supreme Court Justice. Unlike Percy, Stevens, a Lab School grad who knew the lay of the land, had the good sense to join Psi U.</p>