"@ThankYouforHelp: A Harvard/Amherst comparison has little relevance to a UChicago/Amherst comparison. For example, in the NYT article you link to it states that at Harvard after four years some undergraduates do not know a faculty member well enough to get a letter of recommendation. UChicago is highly committed to undergraduate teaching and we both know that. When I was an undergrad faculty were most accessible and I got to know several very well. The summer after my junior year I was invited to live with the family of a faculty in return for taking care of the couple’s two sons. I published a journal article with the professor in my senior year.
In addition to being a college alum, my contacts with the UChicago’s econ department and the Booth School of Business include co-authoring a paper with a Ph.D. candidate who did the econometric analysis. It was published six months ago in a top accounting journal. IMHOP UChicago has unmatched opportunities for studying economics and other business fields. If a student is the right fit for a highly academic and intellectual environment, the college experience there is outstanding."
Relax. All that is fine, But your experiences perhaps were a bit atypical?
Either way, I am just pointing out that the college experience at Amherst also is outstanding. It’s just a different type of outstanding, and for most students, a more intimate and supportive experience. The success of the graduates of both schools is undeniable.
For example, last year, 13 Amherst students got Fulbright awards out of a graduating class of 450 or so. Meanwhile, 26 U of C students got Fulbrights out of a class of 1400 or so. Both outstanding results. Pick any metric, med school admissions, whatever, it will show you similar equivalencies when size is taken into account.
Plenty of students turn down one for the other, depending on what is most important to them. Turning down the greatness of the U of C economics faculty for the undergraduate teaching focus at of the two historically great LACs is a legitimate choice. That’s all I’m saying.