College Ranking
Every year, US News and Report comes out with the Best Universities in the US. Today, they posted the ranking of top colleges. Reading through the Chicago Tribune article, it mentions that the formula to calculate the ranking includes alumni donation to the alma mater. Well!! No wonder Harvard and Princeton are tied for first. How many U of C alum actually donate money, considering the school doesn't really teach us how to make money (rather, the pursuit of knowledge is far more important). No wonder U of C is ranked under... BROWN!! My goodness.. BROWN. I suppose alumni donation is an index of how the alum appreciate their experience at the alma mater.
It comes back again and again to the U of C community that the lack of recognition outisde of the academic world is the Achille's Heel to this school. President Randel once commented that the U of C does not advertise to students because this school is not for everyone. In essence, students who know about U of C are the ones likely to apply and attend, where as the students who don't really know what U of C is about, probably won't fit in. Heck, I can mention University of Chicago to people on the street and I will probably get some responses like "is it a state school, are you talking about the University of Illinois at Chicago, or the Chicago State University." In a materialistic world, name is everything. Hell, most everyone in the world has heard or Harvard, MIT, Oxford, etc. I want to know what percentage of the world's population knows U of C!! Oh wait, I'm not talking about the University of Calgary, or the University of California.
Every school has its unique teaching environment, and I sense a lot of ostentatious attitude on campus--we are simply better even though the rankings don't show it. It's almost hypocritical in the sense that the U of C doesn't care about the rankings, yet secretly, it does. It's analogous to the saying that numbers (GPA, MCAT) aren't the only aspects to applying for med school!!
One way to improve the student body and to get better students to apply/attend is to get the name out. With the new additions on campus, I feel that U of C has a lot to offer, more so than before. This is a great institution for higher learning. Are we just too smart for our own good. I wonder sometimes...
Every year, US News and Report comes out with the Best Universities in the US. Today, they posted the ranking of top colleges. Reading through the Chicago Tribune article, it mentions that the formula to calculate the ranking includes alumni donation to the alma mater. Well!! No wonder Harvard and Princeton are tied for first. How many U of C alum actually donate money, considering the school doesn't really teach us how to make money (rather, the pursuit of knowledge is far more important). No wonder U of C is ranked under... BROWN!! My goodness.. BROWN. I suppose alumni donation is an index of how the alum appreciate their experience at the alma mater.
It comes back again and again to the U of C community that the lack of recognition outisde of the academic world is the Achille's Heel to this school. President Randel once commented that the U of C does not advertise to students because this school is not for everyone. In essence, students who know about U of C are the ones likely to apply and attend, where as the students who don't really know what U of C is about, probably won't fit in. Heck, I can mention University of Chicago to people on the street and I will probably get some responses like "is it a state school, are you talking about the University of Illinois at Chicago, or the Chicago State University." In a materialistic world, name is everything. Hell, most everyone in the world has heard or Harvard, MIT, Oxford, etc. I want to know what percentage of the world's population knows U of C!! Oh wait, I'm not talking about the University of Calgary, or the University of California.
Every school has its unique teaching environment, and I sense a lot of ostentatious attitude on campus--we are simply better even though the rankings don't show it. It's almost hypocritical in the sense that the U of C doesn't care about the rankings, yet secretly, it does. It's analogous to the saying that numbers (GPA, MCAT) aren't the only aspects to applying for med school!!
One way to improve the student body and to get better students to apply/attend is to get the name out. With the new additions on campus, I feel that U of C has a lot to offer, more so than before. This is a great institution for higher learning. Are we just too smart for our own good. I wonder sometimes...
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