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Is University of Chicago even that good? Genuinely curious, as I know nothing about it. I live here in Chicago, and feel like I never hear about it, compared to

Is University of Chicago even that good? Genuinely curious, as I know nothing about it. I live here in Chicago, and feel like I never hear about it, compared to say Northwestern or like UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago). Why would anyone ever pay that much for college yearly, if it wasn't like the #1 school, by a landslide, in the US? EDIT: I guess it is good? haha The more you know. Just surprising that I've been here in Chicago for almost 10 years now, and feel like I never hear about it compared to other colleges in the city. Maybe it's cause they aren't downtown or something? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

sorenn111 7y ago
From US News, its #6 in national rankings so its pretty good. But the way the economy is structured around knowledge work and with the effect of credential signalling, our society is convinced of the need to get into the best school possible. This belief could be utter bullshit, have some truth (top rated schools teach better), or be somewhere in between. What is probably very true is that getting into a top school is a signal that you did very well in the competition of getting into a good school. And employers absolutely pay attention to where you went. so getting into a good school becomes a societal self fulfilling prophecy in terms of importance.
- Merrill 7y ago
  According to US News, University of Chicago is "Unranked in Best Engineering Schools". https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/university-of-chicago-02453 https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering... The high school student needs to ask the question, "where is the best place to get a undergraduate degree in a specific field"? Generic rankings, especially ones that are heavily influenced by the university's research record, are pretty useless for undergraduate education quality.
  - OrangeMango 7y ago
    The University of Chicago doesn't have an engineering school, per say. They recently started a "School of Molecular Engineering" with a large donation from the governor of Illinois. But that is certainly not a general engineering school and isn't going to be, so it will never show up in these kind of ratings. > Our program was established as the Institute for Molecular Engineering in 2011 by the University in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory. In 2019, in recognition of our success, impact and expansion, and the support of the Pritzker Foundation, the institute was elevated to the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering—the first school in the nation dedicated to this emerging field. > At PME, our educational outreach initiatives begin with K-12 students. We offer youth-focused events, internships, and workshops throughout the year, from teaching molecular engineering fundamentals to extracting DNA from bananas. We also have a partnership with City Colleges of Chicago. The multi-year program connects city college students interested in STEM fields with our faculty and labs, with the goal of helping more students transfer into four-year STEM degree programs. https://pme.uchicago.edu/about/ https://pme.uchicago.edu/about/
    - Merrill 7y ago
      They do seem to have a decent CS grad school program. They are tied for 30th with 6 other universities in US News. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-sch... But Urbana-Champaign is 5th and should be somewhat less expensive.
      - OldHand2018 7y ago
        UChicago is respectable, sure. But they also host the Toyota Technical Institute: > TTIC offers a graduate program leading to a doctorate in computer science, and is currently focusing primarily on theoretical computer science (algorithms and complexity), applications of machine learning (computational biology, computer vision, natural language processing, robotics, and speech), and scientific computing (including numerical analysis, numerical optimization, and signal processing). > Both regular and research faculty receive endowment-provided research funding sufficient for equipment and normal academic travel. Research faculty are not expected to raise external funding. However, regular faculty are expected to eventually raise their summer salary and to support their students with external funding. > Research faculty are in non-tenure track positions with no teaching requirements. This is similar to a postdoctoral fellowship, but comes with endowment-provided independent research funding. Regular faculty are expected to teach only one quarter per year. > TTIC is located in Hyde Park on the University of Chicago campus and has a close affiliation with the University of Chicago Computer Science Department. An agreement between the University of Chicago and TTIC allows cross-listing of computer science course offerings between the two institutions, providing students from each institution the opportunity to register in the others courses. Faculty and students enjoy full privileges of the University library system, athletic facilities and other services. https://www.ttic.edu/about/ https://www.ttic.edu/about/
patentatt 7y ago
Yes. It’s a top tier university.
big_chungus 7y ago
University of Chicago has amazing economics, and is know for its unique approach. The Chicago school is descended more from the right-leaning Austrian than the left-leaning Keynesian that essentially every other school has. One of the best places you could hope to study for economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics
- freeAgent 7y ago
  The UChicago Economics department has not been super friendly with "Austrian" economics. Hayek, for example, was not a faculty member in the Economics department.
kingbirdy 7y ago
It's ranked #6 in the nation by US News & World Report
iskander 7y ago
I grew up on the North side of Chicago and also didn't feel like UChicago had a very large presence. Now that I work in the research world (both in CS and biomedicine), it's very obviously the dominant institution in Chicago. Northwestern comes in at a distant second and UIC isn't really in the race. I'm not sure about their undergrad education but if a student wants to have access to teachers who are also leading voices in their fields, UChicago would be a better bet than other local options. Nationally you would have to look to places like Harvard or Stanford to do better.
- bluetidepro 7y ago
  Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's a mix of not being in that field, and probably just cause UIC/Northwestern/Columbia all have a campus/extensions here downtown (I see them every day on my way to work), I think of them more.
  - freeAgent 7y ago
    UChicago's business school has a downtown presence in the Gleacher Center, but it's pretty well hidden if you aren't looking for it: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/locations/gleacher https://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/locations/gleacher
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
rayiner 7y ago
As a Northwestern grad--this is hilarious.
- jfb 7y ago
  I also find this hilarious -- as a Chicago grad.
  - viklove 7y ago
    > Maybe it's cause they aren't downtown or something? I nearly spit out my drink when I read this. This guy doesn't seem to be aware of the existence of half the city, and he's lived here for 10 years!
notfromhere 7y ago
They don't have the same kind of PR as other major universities (Stanford, Harvard), even though they compete on that level. UIUC has a similar problem that its a top school but isn't well-know outside the immediate region
mdasen 7y ago
Yes, it is a top school in the country, equivalent to an Ivy League school. In terms of the price, a few things come into play. First, most other schools have similar pricing. Northwestern is $54.6k and U Chicago is $58.2k. Yep, it's $3,600 per year, but is a 6% difference that meaningful? Maybe not given that university education has lots of other expenses. Room and board might end up eating a grand or two at another school out of that $3,600. Plus, as a student, often you don't get full choice. It's not like going to the store and being allowed to buy whatever phone you can afford. The university has to pick you first. Beyond that, the sticker price isn't what most people pay. For students coming from families earning over $110k/year, the net price is $40.8k. Northwestern's sticker is $3,600 cheaper, but the net for rich kids is $40.3k or only $500 cheaper. Not only that, for lower-income students, U Chicago is cheaper. In the $0-30k bracket, $3.2k vs $13.4k; $30k-48k, $6.3k vs $7.4k; $48k-75k, $7.9k vs $10.7k. So, is U Chicago more expensive? If your family is making half a million a year, maybe you're paying sticker everywhere and your family has to pay more for U Chicago. However, the sticker price isn't that meaningful given the parental income based sliding scale that universities use.
nkrisc 7y ago
It was also the home of the first nuclear reactor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1
viklove 7y ago
You live in Chicago and you don't know UChicago is more prestigious than even NW? Damn son, you haven't been here very long have you? ARENT DOWNTOWN??? UChicago is in the heart of Chicago! You know Chicago doesn't end at Roosevelt, right?? Let me guess, you grew up in the suburbs and moved to Lincoln Park 10 years ago?

sorenn111 7y ago

From US News, its #6 in national rankings so its pretty good. But the way the economy is structured around knowledge work and with the effect of credential signalling, our society is convinced of the need to get into the best school possible. This belief could be utter bullshit, have some truth (top rated schools teach better), or be somewhere in between. What is probably very true is that getting into a top school is a signal that you did very well in the competition of getting into a good school. And employers absolutely pay attention to where you went. so getting into a good school becomes a societal self fulfilling prophecy in terms of importance.

Merrill 7y ago
According to US News, University of Chicago is "Unranked in Best Engineering Schools". https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/university-of-chicago-02453 https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering... The high school student needs to ask the question, "where is the best place to get a undergraduate degree in a specific field"? Generic rankings, especially ones that are heavily influenced by the university's research record, are pretty useless for undergraduate education quality.
- OrangeMango 7y ago
  The University of Chicago doesn't have an engineering school, per say. They recently started a "School of Molecular Engineering" with a large donation from the governor of Illinois. But that is certainly not a general engineering school and isn't going to be, so it will never show up in these kind of ratings. > Our program was established as the Institute for Molecular Engineering in 2011 by the University in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory. In 2019, in recognition of our success, impact and expansion, and the support of the Pritzker Foundation, the institute was elevated to the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering—the first school in the nation dedicated to this emerging field. > At PME, our educational outreach initiatives begin with K-12 students. We offer youth-focused events, internships, and workshops throughout the year, from teaching molecular engineering fundamentals to extracting DNA from bananas. We also have a partnership with City Colleges of Chicago. The multi-year program connects city college students interested in STEM fields with our faculty and labs, with the goal of helping more students transfer into four-year STEM degree programs. https://pme.uchicago.edu/about/ https://pme.uchicago.edu/about/
  - Merrill 7y ago
    They do seem to have a decent CS grad school program. They are tied for 30th with 6 other universities in US News. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-sch... But Urbana-Champaign is 5th and should be somewhat less expensive.
    - OldHand2018 7y ago
      UChicago is respectable, sure. But they also host the Toyota Technical Institute: > TTIC offers a graduate program leading to a doctorate in computer science, and is currently focusing primarily on theoretical computer science (algorithms and complexity), applications of machine learning (computational biology, computer vision, natural language processing, robotics, and speech), and scientific computing (including numerical analysis, numerical optimization, and signal processing). > Both regular and research faculty receive endowment-provided research funding sufficient for equipment and normal academic travel. Research faculty are not expected to raise external funding. However, regular faculty are expected to eventually raise their summer salary and to support their students with external funding. > Research faculty are in non-tenure track positions with no teaching requirements. This is similar to a postdoctoral fellowship, but comes with endowment-provided independent research funding. Regular faculty are expected to teach only one quarter per year. > TTIC is located in Hyde Park on the University of Chicago campus and has a close affiliation with the University of Chicago Computer Science Department. An agreement between the University of Chicago and TTIC allows cross-listing of computer science course offerings between the two institutions, providing students from each institution the opportunity to register in the others courses. Faculty and students enjoy full privileges of the University library system, athletic facilities and other services. https://www.ttic.edu/about/ https://www.ttic.edu/about/

patentatt 7y ago

Yes. It’s a top tier university.

big_chungus 7y ago

University of Chicago has amazing economics, and is know for its unique approach. The Chicago school is descended more from the right-leaning Austrian than the left-leaning Keynesian that essentially every other school has. One of the best places you could hope to study for economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics

freeAgent 7y ago
The UChicago Economics department has not been super friendly with "Austrian" economics. Hayek, for example, was not a faculty member in the Economics department.

kingbirdy 7y ago

It's ranked #6 in the nation by US News & World Report

iskander 7y ago

I grew up on the North side of Chicago and also didn't feel like UChicago had a very large presence. Now that I work in the research world (both in CS and biomedicine), it's very obviously the dominant institution in Chicago. Northwestern comes in at a distant second and UIC isn't really in the race. I'm not sure about their undergrad education but if a student wants to have access to teachers who are also leading voices in their fields, UChicago would be a better bet than other local options. Nationally you would have to look to places like Harvard or Stanford to do better.

bluetidepro 7y ago
Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's a mix of not being in that field, and probably just cause UIC/Northwestern/Columbia all have a campus/extensions here downtown (I see them every day on my way to work), I think of them more.
- freeAgent 7y ago
  UChicago's business school has a downtown presence in the Gleacher Center, but it's pretty well hidden if you aren't looking for it: https://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/locations/gleacher https://www.chicagobooth.edu/about/locations/gleacher

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

rayiner 7y ago

As a Northwestern grad--this is hilarious.

jfb 7y ago
I also find this hilarious -- as a Chicago grad.
- viklove 7y ago
  > Maybe it's cause they aren't downtown or something? I nearly spit out my drink when I read this. This guy doesn't seem to be aware of the existence of half the city, and he's lived here for 10 years!

notfromhere 7y ago

They don't have the same kind of PR as other major universities (Stanford, Harvard), even though they compete on that level. UIUC has a similar problem that its a top school but isn't well-know outside the immediate region

mdasen 7y ago

Yes, it is a top school in the country, equivalent to an Ivy League school. In terms of the price, a few things come into play. First, most other schools have similar pricing. Northwestern is $54.6k and U Chicago is $58.2k. Yep, it's $3,600 per year, but is a 6% difference that meaningful? Maybe not given that university education has lots of other expenses. Room and board might end up eating a grand or two at another school out of that $3,600. Plus, as a student, often you don't get full choice. It's not like going to the store and being allowed to buy whatever phone you can afford. The university has to pick you first. Beyond that, the sticker price isn't what most people pay. For students coming from families earning over $110k/year, the net price is $40.8k. Northwestern's sticker is $3,600 cheaper, but the net for rich kids is $40.3k or only $500 cheaper. Not only that, for lower-income students, U Chicago is cheaper. In the $0-30k bracket, $3.2k vs $13.4k; $30k-48k, $6.3k vs $7.4k; $48k-75k, $7.9k vs $10.7k. So, is U Chicago more expensive? If your family is making half a million a year, maybe you're paying sticker everywhere and your family has to pay more for U Chicago. However, the sticker price isn't that meaningful given the parental income based sliding scale that universities use.

nkrisc 7y ago

It was also the home of the first nuclear reactor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1

viklove 7y ago

You live in Chicago and you don't know UChicago is more prestigious than even NW? Damn son, you haven't been here very long have you? ARENT DOWNTOWN??? UChicago is in the heart of Chicago! You know Chicago doesn't end at Roosevelt, right?? Let me guess, you grew up in the suburbs and moved to Lincoln Park 10 years ago?